F355 Catalytic Converter - Pics - The Good the Bad and the Ugly

As far as I know, there are no posted pictures of what a bad cat looks like. So I'm posting my bad cat pictures for the good of all.

 

The Good
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The Bad
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The Ugly (after busting the remains out with a cheater bar)
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Nice post.

So are you gonna replace both of them, or just hollow'em out?

 

So as you can see, the catalyst separates from the walls of the canister then slowly grinds itself away from vibration until it is small enough to turn within causing an obstruction because; 1) the exhaust can no longer pass through the honeycomb structure and 2) the now sideways structure is obscuring the outlet causing excessive backpressure.

THE END.
If you have stock catalytic converters monitor them carefully. They will lead to other problems up and down the exhaust path - for instance I have to replace the headers now and I might have a piece of catalyst in the muffler because it was completely gone from the other converter - not problem though - it'll disintegrate eventually

 

Great post !!! ....................a big reason to w/metallic cats ...............

 

This is the 1st year I've had the car and, of course, there were some hidden costs (like this) so for this year I'm going to get by with them hollowed out (commando style, HA!) No regrets though, every car/hobby is a learning experience. It wouldn't be worth it if there weren't any surprises

 

LOL

 

One other note - I think it was setting off my SLOW light since the catalyst would have been resting against the temp sensor. Won't know till I get it back together. The other SLOW light was going off to and I didn't find anything left on that side.

 

Is your car OBD1 or OBD2? If it's OBD2 you may get some check engine lights thrown at you.

 

Metallic cats appear to be superior, but there would seem to be no reason the ceramic cats would not last the life of the car if ANSA would have properly secured the ceramic cores in the first place. I have a bad cat sitting on the shelf in my garage that is has the same symptons, it broke loose and was rotating and rolling around inside the core. I was able to find a good used condition oem replacement from FerrariAds.com though.

Brian Crall (aka "rifledriver") has mentioned that you can have the factory cats recored by Miller Catalyzer Corp. for half what a Hyperflow costs. Just another option. http://www.millercat.com/

 

You are correct !! ...............

 

You wouldn't know until you took your car to get smogged and it failed. The only other thing that might tip you off would be slow down lights from the catalyst getting hot.

 

FYI: Russ over at Ferrparts has 6 or 7 sets of used decent condition ones on his shelf. He's aware of the problems with the OEM cats as well since he's had two 355's. He's a great guy and he'll make you a deal. Call him if you're in a pinch... if you brave enough to use the OEM cats again... which reminds me of a quote:

From IMDB.com memorable quotes; Dirty Harry (1971)

Harry Callahan: I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

LOL

 

I have the '95 OBD1

 

There are dealers offering replacement cats for less than $500 each. These units do have restrictions as they do not meet CARBB rules. Anyone used them?

 

What dealers?

 

@EFerrari34

 

On EBAY BigRed Auto Parts listing DER Converters for F355 at $532.50 each with free shipping also another dealer is selling the same part for $501.93 each. Also CARiD is selling Pace Setter for $407.68 each. The above converters come with holes for sensors. They also sell a cleaner called Cataclean for cleaning the system. Cost $25.99

 

I had Miller Cat rebuild one of my oem 355 catalysts with a new metallic core. Worked for a few months then started throwing "low catalyst efficiency" codes. Sent it back, they recored it, and it lasted a few more months, then threw the code. I installed an O2 sensor "extender" on the post catalyst O2 sensor port and that stopped the code...but not a real fix.
The Motronic seems pretty sensitive to using the appropriate catalyst. I ended up finding a brand new 355 catalyst with the metallic core, as used on the 1999 model year 355s. That fixed it for good.

I had a couple friends use aftermarket cats on their 355s (one had Hyperflow, now out of business) and they ended up having to use O2 extenders as well to prevent the "low catalyst efficiency" codes.

Just be aware if you use an aftermarket catalyst you may end up with the code and have to use an O2 extender.

OEM catalysts are the best to use, and the metallic cored ones from 1999 are the ones to get.
What is interesting is before I bought my 1997 355 in 2004, I noted that in 2002, it got all new exhaust manifolds and catalysts as a "good will" repair by FNA at the Ferrari of Seattle. But instead of using the later metallic catalysts, FNA sent them the older ceramic ones. Rumor I heard from a tech was Ferrari had a ton of new ceramic catalysts still in their warehouse and used them up on "goodwill" warranty fixes, until they were gone, then switched to the metallic cored ones. I had on acquaintance that got a "good will" fix just on the catalysts in like 2007 and they installed the metallic cored ones.

 

How about some links? None of these come up in a search