Jason.
At 08:34 AM 3/14/02 -0500, you wrote:
>Anyone ever had a catalytic converter go bad from driving through water?
>Mine went out on me earlier this year. The guy at the muffler shop asked
>me if I had gone through any large puddles or anything. --snip--
>He said that would cause the cat to break up due to thermal shock.
Normal thermal cycling will eventually cause the ceramic to start to crumble.
Cats are designed to last about 100k miles but if driving is mainly short trips
(every trip thermal cycles the cat) then early failure could result.
Thermal shock will cause the ceramic to break up. Having the car (and cat)
up to operating temperature and driving through deep water for a long enough
period will cause a thermal shock that could cause problems, either plugging
or just large pieces rattling around.
>Just seems strange that I don't hear of this happening more often.
Only a few go to Jon's BBQ :-)
>I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to take the risk with the emissions
>inspections of setting up a straight pipe that I can swap in to replace
>the converter when mudding.
I wouldn't mention anything at the inspection. If they do, just say you
don't want to destroy the cat when you go offroading though water.
That's just my personal opinion. Don't forget to compensate for the
aft O2 sensor as well (or is this for the '95?). Let me know if
you decide to go with the straight pipe and how it works out.
Bob
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