dead cat killed my van

[crazyvwvanman]

Put a used engine into my 87 daily driver a few months ago. Ran great, very strong, better than I expected given the history of the motor. A couple weeks ago it started to stumble under load. Got worse by the day until I had to stop driving it except very close to home. A couple days ago the engine stopped while I was a few blocks away. It restarted and I crept home at a few mph. I had a good idea what the problem was from the rattling it had begun making at idle when the problem first came up. Today I pulled the cat and when I saw the chunks way inside the muffler intake pipe I pulled the muffler too. This is what shook out of the muffler. About half of the cat guts are missing from the cat.

Mark

[0to60in6min]

AMAZING ...

what are those... look like rocks... beach rocks..

where are they come from?

[insyncro]

Where was the stumble in the RPM range...just curious?

[syncrodoka]

[nickma]

I have been thinking my WTB was kaput. Found the same rocks in the muffler.

I have blown exhaust seals now and oil leaks in few new places. Everyone should take their cat off once in few years.
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I need more torque.

[crazyvwvanman]

If I look in the engine side of the cat the honeycomb structure looks fine there. Looking in the muffler end of the cat, it is empty about half way through. A big broken chunk of cat gut is rattling around trapped inside the empty half. It was turned sideways wedged in the exit hole and may be the blockage that stopped the engine. I poked at it and now it rattles around but is too big to come out.

An occasional stumble started at highway speeds. It got worse in stages over a couple weeks. I wasn't driving it much distance so I'd say it happened pretty fast as far as miles go but who knows.

Mark

[rubbachicken]

i was worried about the kitty cat for a minute there mark
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lucy our westy

lucy's BIG adventure

meet 'burni'


markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.

619 201 0310 or 617 935 4182

[jmranger]

Wow.

My cat started rattling a few weeks ago, only at cold idle. I was leaving for a 1000 miles trip the next day. I ended up postponing the trip to get it fixed. I'm glad I did.

Thanks for sharing.

[bluebus86]

Should have cleaned it out sooner if now you got oil leaks I guess. too bad I never imagined that a clogged exhaust would cause so much back pressure to cause oil leaks. Maybe the leaks have stopped, as maybe it was just blowby out the breather????

at anyrate that catalyst is likely no longer going to allow you to pass smog, so hollow it all out, then install a new cat only for smog testing, use the hollow cat for between testing use. the new cat will last decades if it sits on the shelf, and will never clog your exhaust again!!!!!!!

I'm more of a rabbit person anyway, not a fan of cats!!!!

Ps that don't look like my cat, my stock one is a cylinder shape. is that an aftermarket one?

Also then rocks are rich in platinum. make some jewelry out of hem!

[shadetreetim]

Sorry for the loss of your cat. When I lost mine recently, I didn't pull the muffler off and shake it out. Now I'm thinking I should.
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Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[bluebus86]

[adv rider]

My cat. started rattling last year, would cause power loss at times. I removed and used Large pry bar to break up and remove pieces. No power loss or rattle anymore.

Luckily i have no smog insp. to deal with
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86' Wolfsburg weekender 2.1, 4spd, , merian brown

[LandSailor]

I am both relieved and somewhat disappointed that this thread is about a catalytic converter.

[Wildthings]

To say a "dead cat killed my van" would imply that a dead cat somehow destroyed your engine, car body, etc, such as a dead cougar fell out of a tree and went through the windshield and caused you to drive off the road.

Instead you experienced a minor easily fixable catalytic converter failure that probably did little other damage.

[crazyvwvanman]

My cat died, failed catastrophically. As a consequence, I was driving along and my van died. Ergo, in the vernacular, a dead cat killed my van.

Mark

[geo_tonz]

I was expecting something like this:

But if thread title weren't open to interpretation then the "Betty Blows Another Tranny" thread would be a little more interesting...and gross...Like a dead cat killing your van.
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"Ron Burgundy": 1991 Vanagon Multivan (Weekender) 2.1L Auto - Driver/Camper

[denwood]

Had the same issue in the spring. Van ran, but very poorly with the broken cat. In my case there was no rattle as the broken pieces were "ejected" through my two stainless straight-thru mufflers, however a large piece was jammed sideways at the cat exit. The aftermarket "sport" cats don't seem to last anywhere as long as OEM.

It would be interesting if a few folks with properly running vans with new cats could check temps with an infra-red thermometer at entry, exit and middle of the cat. That would be a nice reference down the line for those troubleshooting catalytic issues..or just wanting to check on health. Checking with a fully warmed up van, (warm up drive followed by idling for 3 minutes) would likely work great.
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Cheers,
Dennis Wood
The Grape

[insyncro]

Sport CAT = hollow