[misfitt006]

Ok so I've got a 99 Suburban LS 4x4 with the 5.7 and only 109k miles on it. I just got it less than 2 weeks ago from a reputable dealer in trade for my 02 silverado (needed a bigger vehicle now that my kids outgrew the backseat of the truck).

Yesterday I had to take it into the dealership for them to repair the A/C that they agreed to fix when we bought it. When I went out and started it there was a horribly bad rattle coming from the undercarriage. Told the mechanics about it when we got to the shop and we both chalked it up to a broken hanger on the exhaust pipe (sounded good at the time and the sound matched the explanation). The rattle was gone by the time we got to the shop so we couldn't duplicate it and it didn't return when we picked it back up so I put it out of my mind.

My wife took it to a business meeting today 60 miles from the house and right as she was getting into the city things went massively wrong. This is the story as she tells it.

She had the cruise control set at 55 mph and she said it kicked off right as the exhaust started blowing a huge cloud of black smoke, it started chugging and then died as she was driving. She got it pulled off the side of the road and called me. She tried to start it as I was on the phone and it would turn over but not start so I drove out to her (thankfully we have a 2nd car).

When I got there I tried to start it and it fired right up but the rattle was back and the Service engine soon light was on. I crawled underneath it to investigate the rattle and saw 2 cats on the exhaust. Laying on my back and looking up there was 1 cat close to me and another one just to the rear of the vehicle and tucked up higher than the front one. The front one was shaking like an epileptic having a seizure and sounded like it had marbles rolling around inside of it. With the vehicle off I can smack that cat and hear things rattling around inside it, the other cat does not mimic this. I figured "ok the cat blew apart on the inside and it's done".

I was able to limp it to a Pep Boys that was a couple of blocks away and they read the codes for me. It came back with a MAF sensor fault and a multiple cylinder misfire fault (didn't see the actual fault code numbers) but nothing cat related which absolutely shocked me.

I pulled the MAF out and one of the guys cleaned it for me and we put it back in and I took it for a spin around the block. The rattle was back (no shock there) but it wasn't as bad. The service engine light was now gone but the truck ran like crap. It was chugging and sluggish and after goosing the gas a little on a side street it died when I stopped at a stop sign. Started back up again and drove it back to Pep Boys and parked it.

I find it hard to believe that the MAF sensor would cause all of these problems but hey stranger things have happened. Pep Boys wanted $375 to replace the sensor but I know that I can get the part cheaper elsewhere and replace it myself in 5 minutes. They said I can do that and they'd reset the computer and codes for $45. Is that my best bet? I'm trying to avoid having to pay for a tow 60+ miles back home.

Can anyone give me some advice?