Cat rattling

Is this a sign of imminent failure ?

to late its already failed !!! its melted, I should imagine you have had a misfire, the only thing you have to be aware of is that the remainder of the monolith might block the exhaust, you will know when it has as you wont have any go !!!

Probably just the heat shield has come loose, they do that. Makes a metallic buzzing/rattling noise. Friendly local mechanic should be able to tag it back on with a spot of weld for very little. Or just do what I did and rip the rattling one on my old Rover off! (I can't recommend that in case you park on some long grass and it catches fire though)

Mike P

As Sarah hasn't mentioned any poor running or engine management lights, misfires etc, I think you're probably wrong and it's just a very loose heat shield.

Mike P

I've experienced this; the brick inside had broken and come loose, rattling around inside the can. It was under warranty though, so I had it replaced FOC

That's what I thought mine was at first so I left it a while before getting it checked. I took it back to the garage who fitted it (3 months previously, the original cat was FUBAR) when I got a couple of tyres and asked them to have a quick look while I was there. But it was the cat itself that was rattling, and they replaced it under warranty.

Only recent problems were a dud lamba sensor which was changed (but whilst the fault was on the car my hubby drove about 90 miles with the engine management light on) the lamba probe was changed, and the error code cleared and it didn't return. Perhaps he damaged it cos he drove while his car was not 100% ? there was no poor running, or misfires ?

forgot to ask is it an easy to replace part ? (mk4 golf 1.6 01) ... There about £50/80 on ebay at the moment which doesn't sound expensive unless they are crap ones.

The one on my Pug 306 was £105 fitted. It *did* break shortly after it was fitted, but like I say, there were no quibbles with a warranty replacement. It must just have been a duff one, the replacement has caused no problems in about 20k miles.