Ok, my cat went bad today. Car went crazy, wouldn't run, practically pushed the thing home. Started out like a bad miss, then of course got ten thousand times worse, tried to stall, couldn't idle, had to put it in neutral at stops to keep her running, wouldn't get over 25, tried to rev it up, wouldn't go, engine light came on, blah blah blah. Hubby is sure the cat went, the smell was like death, LOL! Anyhow, I think the exhaust system has been modified in some way, first of all he didn't even see the converter that is supposedly on the front of this car, only one in the middle. Mind you, he's used to working on older cars, where you just took everything off and ran a pipe and got over it. Anyhow, point is, I dont have 5-600 dollars today to get a converter, and I have to have a car, NOW. We do not have emissions here. I know all the law stuff about having to have the thing, but until I can afford it, our choice is, straight pipe, that's all. Now, what should I buy? Does anyone have a list and measurements of what I need to get to at least keep exhaust fumes out of the cabin so my kids dont get poisoned for a little while longer, and so the car will run well without leaving me on the side of the road. I'm kind of tired of sitting there with this car, or my van, I'd like something to run, LOL! Oh, I have a 2001 Max SE automatic 3.0. I'm sure someone here has had to run this way at some point, right? Please help if you can! Thanks!

 

The front cats do a real good job of hiding under heat shields and blending into the exhaust piping, fyi, but odds are they're still there.

That being said, sounds like what you need to do is remove the Y-pipe assembly and gut the catalytic material out of the turtle shells. I believe there's a useful flange just downstream of each of the manifolds, that's where I'm gonna break mine loose at up front. The "middle" one your hubby spotted, you'll prolly have to cut the front and rear bolts off to get it out, and drill out the remaining studs, but just re-attach it with some new hardware once you're done.

This is on my list of things to do, sorry I don't have any experiences yet to share with you, but basically you just take a long screwdriver or prybar and start "working" on the honeycomb material in there. Keep a garden hose handy to keep the dust down- you don't want to breathe that dust in.

Think roto-rooter and your septic system, then put it all back together. Your external exhaust piping will not be changed or affected in any way. You'll prolly want to buy new exhaust gaskets for the joints you crack apart, but that's a helluva lot cheaper than new cats.

If I'm thinking correctly, there are 5!! cats in our exhaust systems altogether, right guys? 2 in each arm of the "Y" and then the middle/rear one your hubby's already spotted, which BTW, isn't even monitored, how useless, just purely an exhaust restriction serving no purpose

Good luck

 

If it is the main cat, you can simply replace it with a test pipe on a 5.5 gen and you won't get an SES light since it isn't monitored.