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Correct, catalytic converter is welded to the center piping - have to cut it off to replace it.
How many miles on the car? If over 100K miles, possible the cat is dead or dying, as they have a finite lifetime - though much of that depends on operation. My 2002 is still on the original cat and both O2 sensors, I have 200K miles on the car - almost exclusively highway driving, 80-100 mile daily commute.
If you clear the CEL and it comes immediately back with a P0420 - then either the cat is bad, the downstream O2 sensor is bad, you have an exhaust leak, or some combination of the above. Should be able to quickly test if the cat is bad or not - if the shop has an exhaust analyzer, the readings should indicate emissions limits pass/fail. A detector wand can also be used to find any exhaust leaks - you can do a visual inspection, looking for that tell-tale sign of carbon and soot close to the leak - but that can be tough job unless you have access to a car lift.
Bank 1 refers to which side the cylinders sit on, since this is an inline-4, you only have Bank 1. What to pay attention is the sensor number. Sensor 1 Bank 1 = upstream or pre-cat O2 sensor. Sensor 2 Bank 1 = the downstream or post-cat O2 sensor. If you find that the sensor is bad (need to backprobe it with an oscilloscope and verify waveform) - then I'd highly recommend sticking with a Denso replacement sensor. Many others found that running a non-Denso sensor adds to problems down the road.
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2002 Corolla S, 1.8L 1ZZ-FE VVT-i
2003 Matrix XRS, 1.8L 2ZZ-GE, VVTL-i (RIP)
2009 Matrix XRS, 2.4L 2AZ-FE VVT-i
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Linear Mode
