Catalytic Converter

[chop92]

How would I know if my catalytic converter is plugged up? I think I have an exhaust blockage, but am not sure.

[mcalvo]

If your catalytic is plugged, you could get a "rotten egg" smell pal, really bad. Also, you can tell because your car is not delivery its normal engine power and the gas compsuption is near the clouds in the sky.

In here, you take your car to a exhaust shop, they take the catalytic converter off, open it all the way up, unplug it (in case it is plugged) or just check it over (in case it is not). If there is no way to get it back to life, then you can change it at once.

Hope this helps you out.

MC.

[SnCf]

I have a catalytic converter question. I have a 1996 Geo Metro. I love it. Anyways the exhaust pipe just forward of the catalytic converter rusted off. The car was really loud. I took it in to get it fixed. The mechanic said it was illegal for him to weld on to the coverter itself, so it had to be replaced. I knew he was telling the truth, because I saw it was rusted off right at the converter. So I said, make it so. It was changed, the loud "missing muffler" noise went away. One week later, I'm driving down the road, and the car sounds kind of loud. I turn off the music, and what do you know. It sounds just like before the converter was replaced. I figured maybe they welded it bad. I parked the car, and could tell the noise was at the catalytic converter. When it cooled down, I felt around the welds, and converter, to see if I could feel anything. On top of this brand new catalytic converter, there is a perfectly round hole. It is big enough to put my whole finger into the body of the catalytic converter. Now my question is, are catalytic converters supposed to have some kind of plug on top that can pop off. I'm asking because this hole is perfectly round, and doesn't seem to have any sharp edges. I just want to be well armed before I return it to the muffler shop. Thanks.

[spy1309]

There s more than one type of catalytic converter the most used are the honeycomb design witch looks like a bee honeycomb and the pellet one either one of them uses a platinum coating to render gases harmless thru catalytic conversion ( chemical reaction) it seems that yours was the pellet kind and the hole you found is used to fill the catalytic converter withh platinum coated pellets.
The bad news is the cap is gone so are the pellets so your brand new converter is useless and will fail any air quality test .
Have it replaced don t get duped.

[mcalvo]

Go back to the mufler shop and ask them to replace your catalytic. They were suppose to check everything before to put it on you car, in first.

MC
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