G'day Scotty
I have a 2003 Honda Jazz, I believe you call them Honda Fit's in America. It's a naturally aspirated 1.5L engine with a 5 manual transmission with 212000 kms on the clock. (131730) miles. I hear this rattling sound coming from underneath the vehicle at certain times and RPM's, at one time the rattling got so intensely noticeable and loud that I could hear it at any RPM. That day, I inspected it and located it coming from the exhaust system, then my father came out and had a look with me and he pointed to the catalytic converter, he put a metal pole against it and found that's where the noise was coming from. And I say certain times at certain RPM's because now it's only noticeable at those unbalanced/low RPM's and pretty quite. I did a little research on rattling catalytic converters and there is no loss in fuel economy and no check engine light. It does however while driving feel like it has a miss fire or boggs, both while under that tiniest bit under loads and at higher RPM's, sometimes. Like a bad fuel pump. My thoughts where a blockage in the exhaust. I'm now running it on premium fuel to try and keep it running as good and possibly clean out the cat.
From what I've provided, can something in the exhaust system couse this bogging/miss and how easy is it to replace a catalytic converter with basic tools and equipment?
Thanks.
Make sure it's not the heat shield around the catalytic converter that's rattling. It's extremely common and easily fixed with rivets or screws or hose clamps or whatever.
if the actual insides of the converter are rattling then that's a totally different story. You would need to weld in a new one and really it's best left to a competent professional.
I've checked the heat shield it's not broken or lose, that was the first thing I looked at. I don't have a welder but a could buy the catalytic converter set around from somewhere. I'm researching and getting second opinions before I make my choice. Lucky here in Australia they don't do emissions testing. Unless your selling it.
Cheers
here in Australia they don't do emissions testing
sure, but what about emissions laws. How much is the fine if they catch you without one?
Forget about the fine, I’d hate to be featured in one of the Highway Patrol episodes..
The cat's still on it but I think it's just inefficient, so that's one thing. But no I don't plan on removing it, I'm just asking for second opinions and see if it's worth replacing or not.
And the fine for removing the Catalytic converter is $10,000. But like I said, I haven't removed it.