i know, redundant, right?

anyway, i recently had a metal-on-metal clanking sound coming from underneath my car that i couldn't identify with 100% certainty, but i knew it wasn't the exhaust hanging too low and slapping anything, because i jacked up the exhaust while the car was running, and the sound remained the same.

so i take it to a local shop and have them inspect it, because i thought it may have been the clutch or something related. well, they tell me the next day that it's the catalytic converters. some of the honeycomb was broken loose and rattling around in there.

so i was going to buy some used cats off a member here, but someone else mentioned that if my car is newer than 8 years old and has less than 80k miles (both of which apply), that i could get the cats replaced for free from the dealership, due to some Federal Clean Air Act or some such.

so i take it to the local Chevy dealership and drop it off. they say that even though i've had the problem diagnosed by another shop, that they would have to inspect it as well. if it turns out to be the cats, they will replace them for free under warranty. if not, it would be the cost of labor, which is $42.25 per 30 mins, plus whatever other small fees there are.

so a couple days later (today), they say that there's nothing wrong with the cats, but that the insides of the muffler have come loose and are rattling around. so i go up there, pay them for the labor (i didn't have them replace/repair ANYTHING) and drive off.

the thing is, now the sound is totally gone, and there is an SES light on the dash. before, the sound would appear within a minute of cranking the car, and it was REALLY loud....you couldn't mistake the metal-on-metal sound....almost like there were some thin metal washers clanking around inside the cats. but i just got back from driving the car, and driving it hard, doing several WOT runs, and.....nothing......no clanking noise, but the SES light is on. the sound was DEFINITELY there when i dropped it off to them.

i'm thinking they just straight up lied to me that there was nothing wrong, and just unbolted the cats, dumped out the little chunks of honeycomb that were loose, bolted them back up and made me pay for the labor....and leaving me with an SES light. due to which, i can't even get my car inspected yet (and it's past due already)

i think i'm about to go up to Vato Zone and get them to scan the code to see what it says, and if it comes up with something about the cats, i'm gonna raise hell.

what do you guys think?

 

thts some bs....get the code scanned and if its bc of the cats take a semi trailer and drive it through their showroom haha

 

and ya it def. sounded like the honeycomb broke apart in ur cats, mine did the same exact thing tht urs was doin

 

I'd see what the code(s) is first, if it's P0420 or P0430 probably a cat. Dealer should've been able to diagnose them though. Tap on the muffler and cats with a rubber mallet and see if you can duplicate the noise. BTW GM extended the cat warranty on 00-02 F cars to 10 years/120K back in December 2006.

 

Same here, happened more than once to me, though I don't really slow down for speed bumps as much as I should.

 

well, it's definitely the passenger's side cat. went to Auto Zone, and it came back with P0430....and i also took it back to the first place that i had look at the car, and he scanned it also, but a lot better than Auto Zone did. he pulled the code first, and got the same one, then started the car up and ran a diagnostic at both idle and when giving it gas, and made sure the O2 sensors were all functioning correctly, and they were.

i went back to the Chevy stealership, and bitched to them about it, so they're gonna fix it. they didn't have the cat in stock, so they had to order it, and it will probably be in on Monday. i'm gonna make them refund that BS labor charge also, they said they would need to wait until it all gets fixed, though....if they try to get away with not refunding the whole thing, i'm gonna raise HELL.

but in the meantime, i'm still stuck with a non-inspected car, and can't go get it inspected because of that goddamned SES light for the cat that "doesn't have a problem".....

i guess those bastards at the stealership thought i was some punk college kid that doesn't know **** about cars or something, and were just hoping & praying that the SES light wouldn't come on, just because it hadn't come on before i took it to them.

 

They should give you your money back, the letter extending the warranty I got even came with instructions on how to get your money back if you had a cat(s) replaced before they extended it. You can also look up the code description/diagnostics for P0430 at gearchatter.com and arm yourself just in case.