O.K. Klaus, I need your professional opinion again. Just dropped over $500 at a real good Indy Volvo mechanic to tell me that my catalytic converter is done.
He said he had to replace the rear bank O2 sensor just to get it to pass the emissions test and now both sensors work fine but the readout on the rear is the same as the front. He said that is not normal. He told me that my cat converter is the culprit all this time with my CEL that would not go out.

With that said, of course this mechanic tells me that they only recommend the O.E. Volvo cat converter which runs about $1,200 or so. He said any aftermarket converter just doesn't have enough of the precious metals (platinum/rhodium) inside to last very long. In your opinion, is this the truth? I don't even know how I would find out how much precious metals each manufacturer would include in their product. I have read that aftermarket converters might only last a few years where as the Volvo one will last 10 years. I do plan to keep this car for a while longer but the $1,200 price tag is not looking real good right now.

Anyone chime in please.