Hi fellas!

I'm currently having issues with my 2001 Accord catalyctic converter. It's been making huge rattles for a little while, and i simply can't stand it anymore. I made sure to check if rocks weren't stuck between the heatshield and the cat, or that the heatshield itself wasnt loose.

I'm 99% certain that the interior part has become loose, but not enough to come out of the tailpipe in little pieces (hehe). Funny part, i don't even have a CEL code for the secondary O2 sensor. Only the primary, wich i forgot the CEL#, but it's "primary oxygen sensor heater malfunction". Still, my car is normally driveable, well, for a 320 000km Accord.

I was wondering, if i were to take off the Cat. and gut it, put it back, it would most certainly cause a secondary O2 malfunction, but, would the car still be driveable, in a way that it would retain what's left of performance/fuel consumption at the same level of a "Pre-Gutting-operation-with-already-half-bad-primary-sensor"?

I know it's not the best of solutions, but i have no revenue (i'm broke as *****), and i cant stand that noise anymore. It would just have to do the job for about 2 months, until i get myself a new complete exhaust (header, o2 sensors, cat, etc.)

So, what should i expect out of it!?

Thank you.

 

You will throw a cel. Find $100 and get a cat from summit. It's really not that hard to get $100.

 

While it would be environmentally irresponsible, you could remove the catalyst from your catalytic converter and have the car operate normally. The secondary oxygen sensor doesn't affect drive-ability in any way, but will throw a check engine light. I believe the primary oxygen sensor code could possibly affect mileage and engine performance. (Doesn't the heater serve to "clean" the sensor as well as pre-heat it?)

 

Ironically, i'm the first one to b*tch around when people talk about getting the cat off to free a few hp's..

I'm not 100% sure about the cleaning thing, but it's been this way (primary o2 problem) for a while now, ever since i hit/bottomed out on a huge dip at ~100km/h. Driveability was never affected, but fuel-mileage might have be; still, it's hard to say on a 300 000km+ engine, i'm still happy i do ~600km on a full tank.

I just dont want to have issues until i get enough money to do a proper job on it. Trust me, i feel bad thinking of doing it, but i cant stand that sound anymore, plus, my exhaust already smells the "un-properly filtered" kind :/

Oh, btw, i'm already stuck with a CEL, so it wont bother me that much

 

Gut it.

Gutting the cat throws a CEL from the secondary o2 reading an incorrect exhaust ...and you already have a CEL from the Primary o2 sensor.