Bust cat..can it get in muffler?

[DocG]

Any validity to this? I have a busted cat...not sure if its busted on the inside or just a weld or something on the outside, but I'm thinking its on the inside. I'm dying trying to be patient in getting a cat-back until the mid-pipe is replaced by Ford. Has anyone ever seen or heard of pieces from inside the cat flowing into a muffler and getting stuck? I don't want to ruin a 500 dollar catback by being impatient.

 

[Mike97gt]

i have seen peices of the cat material break free and get stuck in mufflers. so yeah i would wait.

 

[03ghoststang]

yup they sure can i have seen it first hand i had to replace the whole exhaust on a S500

 

[trailblazr81]

Ya its kinda fun watching pieces spit out of exhaust. Watched this happen to my buddies 5.0 while it was sitting in his driveway. And on a couple occasions Ive heard rattling and taken exhaust off my old Blazer 4x4 to find empty pipe where cat should be. Never had or seen it actually damage muffler tho...

 

[stng]

I used to have hi-flow cats and I have one of them come apart on me too. When I asked the guy at the muffler shop he told me that most likely it would blow out the tail pipe. While we were under the car he just shook the whole exhaust system and listened for anything inside the muffler rattling around, and we heard nothing. A month or too later I replaced the mufflers and there was nothing inside of them... Thats my personal experiance, but could there be some remnants of your cats stuck inside the muffler, yes there could be. I would crawl under the car and shake the exhuast and see if you hear anything rattling...

 

[DocG]

Not to sound stupid, but how do you shake the exhaust? Mine is pretty snug, did you have to loosen it first?

 

[CRZYHRSGT]

Not to sound stupid, but how do you shake the exhaust? Mine is pretty snug, did you have to loosen it first?

I would usually go thru the exhaust and give it a good beatin' with my hand or maybe a rubber mallet. That seems to be enough to make anything loose rattle inside.

 

[Mindstatic Pro]

A soft mallet should work. Being that the exhaust is dangling fom rubber hangers, is should move enough to jolt any pieces of catalyst around.

 

[03ghoststang]

Not to sound stupid, but how do you shake the exhaust? Mine is pretty snug, did you have to loosen it first?

i use a dead blow hammer and it shakes whatever is inside just enough to make a sound that is if its broken