What are the symptoms of a bad cat or pre-cat? I have the 2.5 and starting yesterday it started to idle rough like it was a diesel and there is a rattle when I step on the gas and it started to run a little hot, past the middle hash mark. Now today it won't even warm up and it seems like it has lost all of its horses. I checked the wires and cap/rotor and I didn't see anything loose or broken. I spoke to a friend of mine who is a mechanic and he says that might be the cat but he needs to hear it first and he can't till this saturday. This truck is my daily driver/work truck and I need it. Is it a bad cat? What will happen if I continue to drive it like this?

 

IF* it is the cat.. then it will do what it is doing and get worse.. basically the engine pack pressure will limit the amount of exhaust it can expel.. the engine works harder to do the same job and heats up more and could warp, blow a head.. or gasket.. Think of it like a balloon.. I would really get it checked.. if it is.. then a mufler shop should be able to take a look for free and tell you if you need one or not..

 

Hit the cat with a hammer(rubber mallet preferably) and listen for a thud or a hollow sound. This will at least give you a good idea if the cat is bad or not.

 

Thud=good Hollow=bad ?

 

If you hit WOT a couple times and it looks like this, it's bad.

 

I've been told hollow/rattle= good, Thud=bad

 

Wow blown was that your truck?

Exactly, hollow means that is can still pass exhaust through, a thud means that it is getting clogged up and won't let exhaust through as easily.

 

another easy well to test is to unbolt the collector off the manifold on both sides and move the pipe just enough so the exaust can get out and see if it starts and runs ok this way your bypassing the cats

 

Well, I had to drive it on Tuesday and it was really rugged. Then I heard a little snap like a rubber band(not the belt) and it felt like I had only 1 horse. I was flooring it in 1st only getting 2K rpm and going about 3mph. I immediately pulled over and the truck was steaming hot. I got a tow and when it finally cooled down I started tearin into it and there was a nice puddle in the intake manifold and the exhaust manifold was cracked. Checked the dipstick and sure enough it was milky. Now my dilemma is wether I should spend the money on fixing it since it does have 223k on it or should I just swap?

 

dont spend any more money on the 4 banger! swap it please or get a used v8 dako.