Rattle trap

[tilliepeople]

My 04 became a rattletrap
Sounds like the exhaust bouncing around but everything is tight and i put a new muffler on a couple months ago.
I've never heard of a catalitic converter rattling but that's were the sound seems to be coming from.
Am I just hearing things or can the converter fall apart inside and rattle like that ????
Thanks
Bill

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

My 04 became a rattletrap
Sounds like the exhaust bouncing around but everything is tight and i put a new muffler on a couple months ago.
I've never heard of a catalitic converter rattling but that's were the sound seems to be coming from.
Am I just hearing things or can the converter fall apart inside and rattle like that ????
Thanks
Bill

Catalytic converters have an inside honeycomb of metal that is coated with the catalyst of precious metals. They can deteriorate and crumble.

You can get under your vehicle, with the engine off, and tap the converter(s) with a rubber mallet - and you should be able to hear the inside rattling if the converter is failing.

 

[Aspen03]

The heat shield on our navigators cat was loose and rattled like crazy at Idle. Sounded terrible. If that's loose it's pretty obvious once you stick your head under there. It'll move freely

 

[tilliepeople]

Thanks
The sheild is still solid so I am going under with a mallet today and do a little banging. maybe i can loosen it up enough to stop rattling

 

[99WhiteC5Coupe]

Thanks
The sheild is still solid so I am going under with a mallet today and do a little banging. maybe i can loosen it up enough to stop rattling

If the interior honeycomb of the catalyst(s) are broken and loose, it can often partially block the exhaust flow and cause reduced power and reduced fuel mileage.

 

[Broncoholic]

The driver's side secondary cat on my 2003 5.4 developed a loose element inside of it 3 or 4 years ago. It would rattle around 2k-2.5k, or if I manually downshifted to use engine braking. I laid under the truck and had my wife increase rpm until it rattled, then I could find it easy.

Florida doesn't have vehicle inspections, so I cut it out and welded in a section of straight pipe. I did the passenger too for balance. The O2 sensors are before and after the first/primary cat, so no issues with codes.