what r signs of a bad cat.

698 Views 8 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Cooper, Feb 9, 2002

lovr6wagon

Discussion Starter · Feb 7, 2002

maybe n need of a new one....has anybody had problems where there's

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DeLTA_SHocK

· #2 · Feb 7, 2002

Re: what r signs of a bad cat. (lovr6wagon)

Clawing the curtains, hissing at other cats, vomitting uncontrollably...

Whew, it's bed time. Goodnight, Johnboy.

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Re: what r signs of a bad cat. (lovr6wagon)

You've got problems Delta.....that's funny though.
lovr6wagon,
I suckered myself into thinking that after my 150-something thousand miles the catalytic must be worn out. I replaced it with a TT high flow but upon inspecting the old one I noticed that it was like new, completely clean and clog free.
If you have not had major engine trouble and have not run rich I would bet that the cat is just fine.
I kept the high-flow cat on anyway because it makes the car sound even better.....if it actually improves the car's performance then that's just icing on the cake. BTW, my butt dyno tells me that it did help performance but I don't know if the additional power is propertional to the cost.

[Modified by CarlosFL, 9:18 AM 2-7-2002]

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b4after53b

· #4 · Feb 7, 2002

Re: what r signs of a bad cat. (lovr6wagon)

Signs? Loss of power, rattle from that area under the car, rotten egg smell...there are others. Get a hi flow from TT...

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dagmando

· #5 · Feb 7, 2002

Re: what r signs of a bad cat. (lovr6wagon)

RATTLE, RATTLE, RATTLE. This is usually the only way the dealer will fix it under warranty unless it comes in red hot and then you can say it's clogged. When a catalytic converter goes bad, it usually is pretty obvious with the noise and/or sudden loss of power and burning smell after coming off the highway.

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lovr6wagon

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 8, 2002

Re: what r signs of a bad cat. (dagmando)

thank you, i have all of those sign especially the smell after coming of of the highway

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djstewart

· #7 · Feb 9, 2002

Re: what r signs of a bad cat. (dagmando)

I had the rotten egg smell for a while, then it went away. After that, the rattle started. It only rattles real badly when it's cold, and almost disappears when it warms up. I got a quote from Midas for around $250.00 to replace it with a reman cat, but haven't done anything about it yet. I can't detect any performance loss. My emissions test comes up in a few months, and I'm kind of curious to see if it'll pass. The guy at Midas said that the rest of my almost 9 year old exhaust system is in good shape. I don't think you'd get that with most Japanese or American cars...

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RAD GTI

· #8 · Feb 9, 2002

Re: what r signs of a bad cat. (djstewart)

I too have that annoying rattle during the colder mornings, but haven't noticed any rotten egg smell (yet). I had the car e-tested just under a year ago, at the time I was told that both the O2 sensor & cat were shot. Only replaced the sensor & warmed up the cat before the test. Passed no problem. That might help you when its time for your test.
I'm thinking about going with a high-flo cat when I replace mine. Figure I might as well upgrade while I'm at it. But I'm also looking at a new exhaust, mine's kinda swiss-cheese at the moment and the syncro systems ain't cheap

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Cooper

· #9 · Feb 9, 2002

Re: what r signs of a bad cat. (DeLTA_SHocK)

I was thinking the same thing. Our large male cat has taken to jumping up and peeing in the bathroom sink if he see you sitting on the toilet. Seriously, he walks by, sees you in the bathroon, and must think, "oh, it's time to pee? O.k." It really is sort of funny.
Although the rattle can be the internals of the cat falling apart, also crawl under and hit the heat shield. I used to get pebbles that would work their way between the heat shield and cat every now and be slightly too big to fall through the holes. Really does make a racket.
Edit:
Have you noticed any fall-off in performance? I have a friend that had the converter collapse. The great increase in back pressure really kills performance. A mechanic put the car up on a lift, loosened the exhaust manifold, and the car started running much better.
This is after one of the major tire/repair places wanted to replace the transmission.
We then took the car to another place, Aamco, I believe. The mechanic took us out for a drive in the car, and said that he wasn't sure what it was, but he was sure it wasn't the transmission. He then told us to go up the street to a friend and ask that he put the car on a lift and loosen the exhaust manifold to see what happens, as he suspected the converter was the problem.

[Modified by Cooper, 9:13 AM 2-9-2002]

[Modified by Cooper, 10:31 AM 2-9-2002]

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