Wardsweb

I just took my car in for a rattle in the exhaust. I was told the catalytic converter is breaking up inside and that they are on national backorder. That it might be a few months before they can replace it. That I can drive it as it, but it may start to rattle louder as it furthur breaks up, until it guts itself and then the exhaust will be loud.

So, what happens when this stuff clogs the outlet to the cat? Should I get it in writting that it's ok to drive the car as is. Just incase it hurts something in the engine?

amdeutsch

Get it in writing. You never know when it will come in handy.

rtking

The catalytic converter brick is a honeycomb material. It WILL break-up if it's damaged and rattling. The problem is that the brick will break into pieces and it'll flow into your muffler and get stuck (due to the baffles in the muffler.) If that happens, you'll have to replace the muffler if you can't shake-out the pieces.

The engine may not be damaged if the catalytic converter gets plugged (or the brick plugs the exhaust pipe), but it may not run properly. If there's too much backpressure, you'll lose performance and may even suffocate the engine to the point that it won't run. (It happened to my old Audi Coupe Quattro.)

The catalytic converter is part of the emissions system and falls under the extended emissions warranty (it's a separate warranty from the bumper-to-bumper 4 year, 50K mile warranty.) It's considered an emissions AND a safety issue. I would take it back to the dealership and make them provide you with a loaner until the part comes in.

Bob

Wardsweb

I'm going to have to do something. Either get in writing that it's ok to drive, so if something does happen, they must cover it, make them pull one off a new car or get me a loaner. I suspect they will want one of the first two options, as they said with the numbers of failures, they are on national back order. Meaning they are making new ones over seas and it may be two or three months before they get them.

Buellwinkle

Texas is probably more lenient on smog but in CA, if your car is tagged as a gross poluter during it's bi-annual inspection, for the life of the car it has to be taken to special test centers.

What you should do is get it in writing that they can't fix it because parts are backordered and write to these gentlemen and copy Daimler-Chrysler Office of the President saying that MB, through it's negligance is causing you to drive a car that is out of compliance and harming the enviroment -

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Vehicle Programs & Compliance Division (6405J)
Attn: Warranty Complaints
401 M Street, SW
Washington, DC 20460

Outland

Its 7 years on emissions stuff.

Get it fixed now. As someone else pointed out, the muffler isn't a big coffee can, the stuff just doesn't blow out.