Re: Rattling Cat box

[zm@mhcnet.att.com (Zafer Mehmood [209])]

>           Just wanted to share a brief story with all about my rattling 
> catalytic conv. box. I went into a muffler/brake shop today because I've 
> had this annoying rattle coming from under the car for about 3 months 
> now. Guy puts it up on the rack and immediately says 'yep. converter's gone!'
>  I knew what the problem was all along and said, 'no I think it's just 
> the box that encases the cat' I had been underneath there earlier and knew 
> this. He insisted that it was my cat. conv. and said it'll run me about 
> $500-700 for a factory replacement!!!!!!!!! I said 'Why don't we try to 
> weld just the ends back to the pipe itself' as it had obviously just 
> broken loose the original welds. He said ok, and I'll be damned if that 
> didn't cure the whole problem!  He was so embarrased that he didn't even 
> charge me! 

I have the same car and a similar story. Did it two weeks ago. In my
case, I know the muffler shop owner so he didn't charge me and didn't
try to sell me a new cat. Seems like the welds let go at around
the same time (8 years) on these cars.

Zafer
'87 5000 TQ