ACSViper

can anyone tell me how i can tell if my catalytic converters are fried? one day my exhaust just got louder and vibrations within were much more. my friend, a mechanic, suggested it mite be the cats. my friend who's cats were friend on a mountaineer said he smelled sulfur when they went on his. anyone have experience? wat options do i have to fix the problem? new midpipe?

ben790450

I was a little disturbed by the title of this thread. . . but usually it kinda smells like rotten eggs. . . But when real cats burn they smell like chicken . . .actually when human flesh burns it smells like chicken too. . . . Its really disturbing to see and smell it up close and in person.

2000GT4.6

If the cats are messed up it should be throwing a CEL code, because the rear 02 sensors would know that they are no longer functioning.

If they are messed up, and not throwing a code, unless its bothering you I don't see what harm it will do. If they burned out and nothing is in them now they just offer less restriction.

02StangGuy

like ben said, it would smell like nasty eggs. my toyota highlander has a bad cat and its smells like a$$ haha. i have a slp catted x pipe and decided to gut my cats one day so its not gona hurt anything, just gut them if u dont feel like buying new ones

96GT226410

You'd get a code for catalyst efficiency if your cats were bad. A vibration would have absolutly nothing to do with bad cats. Ask your friend his logic in that. Anyway, a few ways to check your cats would be to get a rubber mallet and hit it and see if the catalyst inside is ratteling or broken up and another way is toget an infared thermometer and read tempature before and after the cat. There should be about a 75 degree drop from before and after the cat.

arcticman37

you'd be getting a code, but congrats on the free o/r pipe!