Alright, last July I bought a hi-flow cat. converter, and by Oct 02 I had burned the fucker out completely and the car threw a CEL. I pulled the cat out and could feel the honeycomb inside the cat sliding around.

What could cause me to burn up a fully stainless steel cat in 3 months? I was told with the mods I have (I/H/E and obviously cat.) I could be running lean? The car still sits at the same temp. as when it was bone-stock, but I don't know how accurate that gauge is...

Any suggestions? I don't want to have to replace the cat again...

I had a problem with my car running too rich for a while and un-burnt fuel getting sent down the exhaust. The fuel reacts with the stuff inside the cat and causes it to break apart. Did you happen to pull the code just to verify it was the cat and not something else as well? I haven't heard of exhaust gases being "too hot" to burn the cat out...of course I there is a lot of stuff I haven't heard too. Oh well, best of luck to you :D

Originally posted by jam013200
I had a problem with my car running too rich for a while and un-burnt fuel getting sent down the exhaust. The fuel reacts with the stuff inside the cat and causes it to break apart. Did you happen to pull the code just to verify it was the cat and not something else as well? I haven't heard of exhaust gases being "too hot" to burn the cat out...of course I there is a lot of stuff I haven't heard too. Oh well, best of luck to you :D

Yep, hooked my friends datalogger up to the ECU and the CEL it read was Catalytic Converter.

er um...if your running lean your EGT'S will be hot...not your coolant temp. unless your producing an INSANE (read unlikley on a 2gnt even with turbo) or your coolant system is malfunctioning thats the only reason your temp gauge will go up. and no, those mods arent gona cause that much of a problem with your a/f ratio. thos are just minor bolts ons. if you truly think your runnin lean (you need to hook up to a wideband, or at least an a/f gauge) then you can tune a bit...but i dont see that as the problem. i doubt your running lean at all anyways, but if you did changing your upstream sensor would do the trick. if you want my honest opinion you probably ended up with a cheaply mfg'd cat, and it just fell apart.

and as far as gasoline affecting the insides of a cat....the honeycombs are made of ceramic and stand up to a few thounsand degrees of EGT's and harsh chemicals.....a lil gasonline isnt gonna screw with it.

and yeah, if you totally waste or remove your cat, in most instances your car will throw a CEL. the entire reason that the rear o2 sensor is there is to monitor the effeciency of your cat and to trigger a warning if its not functioning properly.

Originally posted by 96eclipse2nr
er um...if your running lean your EGT'S will be hot...not your coolant temp. unless your producing an INSANE (read unlikley on a 2gnt even with turbo) or your coolant system is malfunctioning thats the only reason your temp gauge will go up. and no, those mods arent gona cause that much of a problem with your a/f ratio. thos are just minor bolts ons. if you truly think your runnin lean (you need to hook up to a wideband, or at least an a/f gauge) then you can tune a bit...but i dont see that as the problem. i doubt your running lean at all anyways, but if you did changing your upstream sensor would do the trick. if you want my honest opinion you probably ended up with a cheaply mfg'd cat, and it just fell apart. and as far as gasoline affecting the insides of a cat....the honeycombs are made of ceramic and stand up to a few thounsand degrees of EGT's and harsh chemicals.....a lil gasonline isnt gonna screw with it. and yeah, if you totally waste or remove your cat, in most instances your car will throw a CEL. the entire reason that the rear o2 sensor is there is to monitor the effeciency of your cat and to trigger a warning if its not functioning properly.

Well the Catco that's on there now seems to be holding up fine, I guess time will tell..

Originally posted by 96eclipse2nr
and as far as gasoline affecting the insides of a cat....the honeycombs are made of ceramic and stand up to a few thounsand degrees of EGT's and harsh chemicals.....a lil gasonline isnt gonna screw with it.

Actually unburnt fuel can mess up a cat:

A catalytic converter can also fail because of:

* Bad exhaust valves on the engine
* Fouled plugs causing unburned fuel to overheat the converter

for entire article: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question482.htm