My cats are rattling...Any way to make them stop?

[sunil6784]

My cats rattle when warmed up. I was wondering if there was anything I could do to make them stop without buying a new pipe. If I gut the cat how will it sound ? If the cat is coming apart, can I still test that with a vacuum gauge?

 

[dragnazz5.0]

it could just be the heat shield on the cats. have you gotten under there too see. youre better off either replacing them if you have to pass emissions or getting rid of them all together

 

[xhatchetboyx]

i agree with drag, but you could always just get a drill and screw those suckers down! *not recamended*

 

[Flavadave4]

take of the midpipe and use a broom stick to gut them......they will sound a little better and will get rid of the rattle

 

[TheUser]

if it's a metal-to-metal sound, it's probably the heat shields; I had an exhaust shop weld mine and no more rattling. My Jeep cat broke up inside and rattled around, you could hear it bouncing around in there...if that's the case then you could either gut it, cut it off and replace w/ pipe, or replace it.

I assume it would be a little louder w/ gutted cats, but many people have said it sounds like ass.

 

[Flavadave4]

He's right, it doesnt sound that good

 

[mob]

order an o/r mid pipe, problem solved

 

[Daggar]

I cut my heat shields off in the driveway. No muss no fuss.

 

[LtDavis]

gutting out the cats will NOT sound good at all. It will have a very tin-y like, hollow metal sound. If you HAVE to gut them out, put a straight pipe through the empty cat, but thats more work than just ordering a new mid-pipe.

 

[rdharper02]

Used hose style clamps on my covers. Cant remember what size (bought at a tractor supply store). No Rattles, no removal. Believe they were around 3.50 each.

 

[Vinnietbird]

I saw a couple of used off road h-pipes going for cheap on E-bay.That's the way to go,or an x-pipe (which is what I'm installing on my car).

 

[sunil6784]

How do you cut off the heat shields ? Just with a dremel tool maybe ?

 

[crazypete]

If it's rattling, that means the welds on one side broke already. Just find the offending heat shield half and break it off by hand. I did this by the side of the road once when I got tired of "t-t-t-t-t-t-t-t-cl-cl-clank-clank clankity cl cl clank".

If none of the shields are loose then the problem is internal.

Dont gut your cats either way. MA is terrible about emissions. I should know.

 

[Daggar]

How do you cut off the heat shields ? Just with a dremel tool maybe ?

Once you get up under there, you'll be able to see the spot welds. I used a cutting wheel and just zipped em right off. I was pretty happy for the rattle to finally go away. Made sure to spit upon them as they hit the ground. hehe

 

[LtDavis]

I just grabbed the loose end of my heat shields with a pair of channel locks and twisted em a bit and then ripped them off.