I believe it's my catalytic converter that rattles.
Every time I start my car, drive at a low RPM, or a slow take off at a traffic light
It sounds like there are rocks in my catalytic converter

Any suggestions what it is?

Thanks

 

The heat shield around the catalytic converter can rattle. Mine had a crack where the two halves bolted together.

If you find that this is the case, you can use a large hose-clamp to help keep it together or replace the heat shield.

 

Yea I already checked that...I thought the screw were loose or something
but the heat shield seems fine & I checked along the exhaust piping & nothing loose or cracked....

 

Check the A-pipe, your car should use #7 (instead of #8). See if you can tell exactly where the noise comes from. Some years that A-pipe is a double-walled pipe, and the inner pipe can buzz against the outer pipe.


If it's actually the converter (internal catalyst crumbling?), you should be able to hit the converter & make it rattle, with the engine not running. The buzzing A-pipe is nasty, because when it happened on my 95 Integra there was no way I could duplicate the noise by banging on anything. It was caused by the motion of the engine under acceleration. I wasn't willing to hang under the car while it was actually running down the road...

 

Thanks I'm gonna give it a try sometime this week....
(Will you able to hit the catalytic converter with the heat shield)

But it is the A-Pipe just like you said...is it a pain to take the A-Pipe off?
Cuz I know taking the catalytic converter off is a pain in the butt

 

Hitting the flanges at each end of the converter usually gets it to rattle (if the ceramic core is crumbling). But those cores are more robust & don't fall apart like the ones they used 30 years ago.

Taking off the A-pipe is theoretically easy. But usually the nuts & bolts are all rusted & need a couple hours soaking with PB Blaster. Then they often break anyway. Get new gaskets (#10 & #17). I usually have all new bolts so I can remove the old ones with a sawzall when the wrench doesn't work.

If you leave the converter bolted up to the "B-pipe" (#14) then you'll want to use a jack or something to support it.

The whole exhaust system grows longer as it heats up, so when cold, you have to stretch the rubber hangers to get it lined up.

Those are the kind of difficulties you'll run into.

 

I SEE O.O
Good thing I don't have the B-Pipe which I've never seen one before....

Do you think it's easy to remove the bolts using an air tool or a cordless power drill?
But either way the bolts need to soaked with lubricant, correct?

Thanks

Oh I got a quick question....when I was checking my heat shield for the catalytic converter & making sure it was tight I broke one of the bolts so I just remove the heat shield...
So does it do any harm if I remove the heat shield?

 

You must have a B-pipe, it's the next pipe after the cat. It's #14, the long pipe with the middle muffler in that drawing...

If you live in Arizona where it takes 100 years before anything rusts, then maybe the bolts will come off easy. You'll never know until you try.

Lots of people have removed the heat shields from their cats. But you have to be aware if you park over dried grass or leaves, you may start a small fire... And the upper part of that heatshield protects the underside of the car from getting too hot if you idle the car a lot.

 

I just experienced a similar problem with my heat shield. It was hanging and actually dragging on the ground. I ended up snapping it off; it was only being held by one bolt. All of the bolt locations are completely rotted! I'm surprised since the car only has 78K on it; it could be due to living in New England (salt, sand,etc...) I ended up wrapping wire around the cat to hold the top shield on, for the time being. I plan on replacing the shield myself and was wondering if anyone knows how much of a hassle this is? Does the top shield come out or do you have to drop the exhaust? Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

Did you keep the lower part too? You can put it back on & use hose clamps to fasten it.