2011 QX56 rattle

[pjdavep]

The wife came home the other evening and said the car is making a weird noise. I've had the 0420 code for a while and know I need to replace the driver side cat. I also have a passenger side valve cover leak that I was going to get fixed when it's time for the next oil change. The oil did look a little low from this leak, so I topped it off, but no change in sound that I can tell.

Here's a video. Any ideas? Could the cat have broken apart that is rattling?

2011 qx56 rattle - jacksonvillephotographer

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Thanks!

Dave P.

 

[primov8]

I’d remove that bank 1, secondary cat-converter to inspect it and most importantly, to be able to inspect the primary cat-converter.

 

[pjdavep]

I was under the car earlier and there's only one bolted connection spot after the secondary cat and the rest are welded connections. May be a result of me going to a muffler shop to have them swapped out the first time (~125k miles). Guess I'll try to take it to the shop tomorrow, but I'm nervous that driving it may cause more problems.

update - it was the driver's side cat that started breaking up and was rattling, supposedly damaging the downstream cat too. $1100 later at the muffler shop, I have all new driver side cats and the noise is gone.

 

[primov8]

Good you caught that in time and better the debris went towards the secondary cat-converter and not sucked backed into the engine. You'd be seeing another 0 added to the end of that $1100 total had it gone the other way.