What are some signs of a faulty catalytic converter?
 

I know my cat is bad. My car smells like rotten eggs sometimes. I have been doing some shopping online and found a replacement cat. It is the pipe from the header down to the back of the cat. It has the cat and that little resonator i believe it is. http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/de...e&apwidBPwafL1 MY question is, do you need any kind of torch or welder to get this on? it looks like it's bolt on. I also have another question. My car has a ticking noise when turning, from past experiences this has always been the CV boot, or a half shaft. I took it in to les schwab and they told me the boot's were good on both sides. Lastly, could a faulty cat make the car shift funny? or even a half shaft. My car has been shifting really hard from 2nd to 3rd usually when its cold. Any help on these issues would be greatly appreciated, thank you. EDIT: My car is a 1997 Saturn SL 1.9L SOHC/Automatic Tranny.

That exhaust piece is flange mount on both ends -- no welding -- you will undoubtedly need new mounting bolts + nuts and the right flange gaskets. The slightly thicker portion in middle is flex pipe not a resonator -- that's after the cat

Someone else pls weigh in on ticking and tranny....

Thanks for the help derf. Can you get the gaskets and mounting studs at any auto parts store? How much do they usually run?

When you say mounting studs, you mean the rubber hangers?

yes you should be able to get the gaskets at any decent auto parts store.
Flange on each end has 3 holes through it -- the mounting bolts go through those holes to hold the pieces together and are held on by nuts (corrected terminology above)

Use stainless for the nuts/bolts

I'm not going simplistic on you, so don't get offended, but the only thing I've used Schwab for in the past was a paint job (showing my age, I guess). Secondly, I'd get another opinion WRT the CV joints - the boots may be good as Schwab says, but the CV joints themselves can be bad inside .....

Thanks again derf. Ocean, I don't really trust schwabs but, it was free and they looked at it really quick. The ticking noise isn't THAT loud but it is noticeable from time to time. I've had cars with bad CV joints and Half Shafts. I'm not some professional mechanic but most of the time I can usually get a general area of where the sound might be coming from.

I have been a mechanic since before Cat's and my experience says if it smells bad it is because it is doing it's job, burning unburnt fuel ( too rich). just make sure all is well with the "tune-up"(including wires)