has anyone ever had the guts come loose in a cat and rattle beyond belief? mine is rattling, and at first i thought it was coming from trans. sounds terrible. not so bad when it warms up. has anyone ever cut off cat and cleaned it out and re-used it. is there any way to solve this other than a new cat?
one more question. my guages (temp and oil pressure) everyonce in a while my temp guage wont get above 130, and heater wont be warm. then the next time, it will get about 180 and be fine. Thermostat sticking? next is oil pressure guage. sometimes it registers about 80 and dont move even at idle. then next time it will register 40 at idle and about 80 at 60mph. any ideas?

 

I would just have cat replaced with performance one, you will see big improvement over the one you have now. If you gut it you may see codes get thrown.

You may need to replace thermostat and flush system, go with the180* stat when you replace, not the stock one.

Could be your oil pressure sending unit is bad, If there are no knocks from motor you can replace it fairly easy. I usually run 80psi @ startup and around 40 psi when @ operating temp (idle), but this will depend on age and type of oil being used.

Do a search for Merry Christmas thread, download the manual it is pretty much all info you will need................goodluck

 

if i just cut it out will this cause the check engine light to stay on, or will it just put codes in the computer. if so, i can live with that

 

if 1 of the o2 sensor is on the cat and u cut the cat off yes you will get a code.. plus depends where you liveyou mite have emission laws..

 

dont have emission codes here, and just as long as ce light stays off, i can live with a code in computer IF thats all it does.

 

If your going to cut it off and gut it just get one of the aftermarket replacment cats for $99 off ebay. I cut a flap in mine and gutted it but it sounded like crap after so i welded in one of the replacment ones. Didn't set the check engine light after gutting it.

 

I had my cat cored. we drilled a small hole in the pipe at the bend coming down from the exhaust manifolds. We welded it shut and ground it smooth when done the check engine light doesn't come onunless I ampulling a heavy load and a little old gets burnt. But even without the cat, it past the arizona emissions test.

We decided to core the cat only after having to replace it twice in six months. I talked to a dealer service buddy of mine a fe times and he says the facotry cats are crap, and he has had to replace many of them.

 

cut the cat off and a code is thrown, then the truck in a sense knows what you did and is gonna dumphuge amounts of fuel into the engine. mine actually clogged up. so i took a drill and just drilled several holes into the POS to let the exhaust flow until i could get enough cash to get a new one put on. stupid me joined the forum to late and put an OEM replacement instead of a high flow on though. ended up costing me almost 300 bucks to get it all done. then had to replace the front o2 sensor due to all the fuel being dumped and the engine couldnt burn it all, and in turn f***ed up my o2 sensor....mine threw a code before i drilled holes indicating the clogged cat...then threw a new code when i drilled holes in it.

 

Depending on the year of your truck there was a recall for "rattling" convertors. I own a 96 1500 ram and just got mine replaced at the dealer just before christmas free of charge. Check the recalls at the top of the page or give your local dealer a call.

 

Dodge had lots of problems with the original cats so much so that they paid fines and extended warranties.

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2005/Dec..._enrd_688.html

See page 12 of this:
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cert/recall/420b06001.pdf