Socha, were you refering to my service contract....cause I wish I still had it. It expired about 2000 miles ago

 

All right guys, Here are the results from my "tests" or as best as I can do while on campus, since i'm not going home for a couple of weeks. The tried and true rattle test was a negative, its as solid as a rock. As for the heat tests, thanks to a nice guy at tires plus I know, the front of the cat is almost the same temp as the outlet. Is this a good thing? I cant pull the O2 sensor because its kinda tight...and all i have is a pliers. I'll pull it next time i'm home. Should I start looking for a new cat? Thanks guys!!

Evan

 

it's the cat. it's not working correctly. the inlet temp should be very noticably lower than the exit temperature. at least there should be a very noticable difference between the two.

sorry to hear that you're having the issues... sounds like now you've got it figured out. you might be covered by the factory recall. call and ask the dealer. if not i'd look into getting the magnaflow hiflow cat. seems to be pretty popular and better performing.

 

What's "almost" ... IIRC it's supposed to be about 20 degrees hotter on the back side of the cat. If it's about the same temp and it's not rattling ... maybe someone gutted it?

At any rate ... if it's not rattling ... it hasn't collapsed inside. That's what causes the problem ... blocked exhaust flow.

 

Don't know if it matters in this case, but my first factory cat rattled really bad and dealer replaced it under warranty. When I put my duals on, the 2nd factory cat was about 70% clogged. It looked like what ever coating was on the honeycomb had melted over. I never noticed any loss of power and the cat didn't rattle. Even after it was cut off and fell on the floor it didn't rattle. Eventually it would have lost enough power for me to notice it, but the honeycomb wasn't even cracked so I'm not sure it would have had the rattle. Just a thought. Hope it helps. Jeff.

 

Call a dealer up and tell them your VIN and how you think your cats bad. They should be able to run the VIN and see if your part of the extended warrenty.

The extended warrenty is a very grey area. Some people say its not real, or its more like a recall, but its not the recall. Some people call the dealer and they know exactly what they're talking about and gladly check the VIN and test the cat, other dealers have no clue what your talking about and won't check it and just want you to pay to get it all checked. Like I said, its a very grey area and every time its brought up a new discusion usually begins. Its worth a shot though.

 

Last winter I got an official notice from Chrysler that my '96 was covered by the cat recall - the letter called it a recall. Everything from the headers to the cat was replaced as well. But not the pipe to the muffler, that fell apart a few months later - fixed on my dime.

Dealer was glad for the work. Did it the same time he replaced my hood - hood flew up on the highway because the latch failed. The hood latch was also a recall, but issued earlier when the original owner still had it.

Chrysler knew I had the truck (they sent me the cat recall notice) and their records showed the hood recall had not been done, but they did not notify me about the recall. I was a bit PO'd and asked them to cover the damage. And they did - 100%: latch, cable, hood, springs and some other bits.