I've heard people say that diesels don't come with them but i have a 97 e-350 and it sure looks like theres one on there. I don't think it's a resonator because they usually look like a cherry bomb muffler don't they?

 

my '97 has a catalytic converter, until I get home next week and Sale at Tymar sends my 4' exhaust.

 

yes the 94.5 to 97's and some 99-03 have cats. but they seem to disappear all the time. I just can't seem to keep one in my truck! I think the neighbor keeps stealing them from me! LOL

 

why is it that ford was the only one to put cats on diesels. Chevy and Dodge didn't have them

 

i know a guy with a dodge and his does. cut it or gut it!

 

want to your cat to me???

 

pull it and sell it on ebay, mine was 1/2 plugged

 

I was talking to one of my mech-engineering profs (who worked for Ford for 12 years before leaving to teach) on friday about this exact question, why they put catalytic converters in some vehicles but not others. The cat that Ford put in my 97 (and most likely the 94 up to 97, he couldn't remember) is not a full blown cat like every gasoline engine has. It is an oxidizing cat, it only takes care of unburnt fuel. Diesel engines, when programed right, burn very clean, and will only output between 10-150 ppm (parts per million) of NOx in the exhaust, which is very small; CO2 numbers are similar. All the ox-cat does is reduce this already small number, so when we remove the ox-cat, we aren't really doing much damage to the environment. Newer PSD's might not need the cat because of how they've programmed the injection system, exhaust recirc, etc. I installed my new exhaust last night, and in the process took my cat off and 30 minutes later after some time with a crowbar, the cat no longer has any insides. It was a mess though, if you plan on banged out the insides of that thing, wear a mask. I was spitting and blowing black snot all night last night, bad news. Really bad headache too. Definitely should not have breathed that stuff in.

 

You should have just cut it off and put a straight pipe in it's place with 2 clamps.

 

Yea I wanted to but I was stuck a the shop and didn't have time. I go to the Naval Academy and had to get back on base, and I need the truck in working order. I can always go back and delete out the cat and the muffler later I figured.

 

I think i have one on mine. I hate to take it off and it was just a resonator. Did your look like a flowmaster muffler?? Mine i measure the pipe and it's about 3 1/2 inches

 

When mine fell off I was lucky enough to be at a muffler shop and had them put in a piece of straight pipe. I did not want to gut it because we have to go though emissions. It passed no problem.

 

Mine is similar to that, put a straight pipe in WITH stack breakers in case you have to go for visual inspections too. In Idaho you have visual as well AND you have to have both a CAT AND a MUFFLER!!!

I straight piped both out and swap at inspection time, went through in November - total change out time (Straight to CAT/Muffler to Straight) 40 minutes....