I took my 2002 toyota tacoma offroading yesterday and now I hear a rattling noise from my catalytic converter, could a rock have gotten in there, and what should I do
loose heat shield, but really why is your first thought to post about it on the internet instead of just looking?
Lol this was my first thought as well.
Put it on a lift and have it looked at......
Heat shield or you broke the honeycomb loose inside the cat. Wait til it is completely cold and use a rubber mallot and tap on pipe going into the cat not on the cat and you will see if it is the shield or in the cat.
I'm guessing you broke the internal baffling inside the converter. You'll know easy enough if you check it though.
I had a similar issue on my old forester. The exhaust heat shield came loose and would rattle especially when revving the engine up. Ghetto fix is to crawl under there and see what is moving that shouldn't and JB weld it back together. Make sure to use whatever JB weld can withstand high heat or else it can start smelling when the car gets hot. The actual fix is to use a real welder to weld it back together but who has time for that.
My guess since you were offroading is that you hit a rock on the exhaust or cat causing your rattle sound
i've use a $10 pop rivet gun to make heat shield repairs