I have a 2004(AT) that was having compression issues. I bit the bullet and got a full rebuild. I got it back three days ago and took for a proper drive yesterday. After only about 20minutes I noticed a lot of heat radiating from the seat bracket (right hand drive car). I know this is most likely caused by the CAT, but I never had an issue until now. Before I take it back to the guys who did the work, can anyone think of something that they may have/have not done during the rebuild that would cause the issue? Any help would be much appreciated. I've just forked out $8k so really don't want to be throwing anymore money at it so soon. Thanks in advanced

 

Often poor ignition leads to plugged CAT...to engine loss.

Wouldn't be the first that had that progression

Don't drive it with the CAT plugged up. Either gut the CAT or replace it before you overheat the exhaust side of the motor

 

Thanks for the reply. The cars running perfectly, no performance issues at all. If the CAT was gone would there not be some other symptoms other than the hot seat rail?

 

Best way to find out is pull it down and visually inspect it.
Just because you're not showing any symptoms doesn't mean it's not clogged.
But better to be sure than broke...

 

You need to drop the pipe completely and scope the rear of the pipe.

More often than not the rear of the CAT breaks loose/clogs/burns etc before the front shows signs.

Travis

 

If you don't mind a bit of an odor when idling you could pick up a length of 1/2" steel round bar at home depot, a mask, and gut the cat. Takes an hour IF you don't have any bolts rusted tight. Even then it's not too bad. It's illegal though and you won't pass the sniffer test for emissions. My state just looks for a CEL so I can just clear the code before I drop it off to them. Not that I would do that since it's illegal. Nope.

 

Thanks for all the responses. Ripping the guts out tomorrow. Thankfully here in NZ they only do emissions testing once when the car is imported into the country so don't have to worry about that side of it.