is there any way of visually identifying a catalytic converter thats given up?
ie is it very obvious when they fail.. do they appear melted or something similarly drastic?

just looking at mine and it appears as a fairly normal greyish honeycomb. a fair few cells are blocked. what do you think?


is it toast?

[Edited on 19/5/07 by Dillinger1977]

Am i the only one who thought of this ?Image deleted by owner

Usually they look perfect.
That one is well past its best well choked - not only will it cause a lot of back pressure but it will be very inefficient at its job.

Even a new cat causes a lot of back presure.


The other main failure mode breaking up it is usually because of severe missfire or physical accident damage.