HFC Failure, ever have it happen?
 

Just curious if anyone has experienced a HFC or stock cat failure. Google searching suggests you'd hear rasp, increased foul exhaust smells, and/or loss of power. Considering HFCs already add rasp and some stink, I'm curious how you would determine you had a failure early to prevent engine damage. I'm not having any issues currently...just being a hypochondriac and worrying about my engine in the future.

350z owners had problems with aftermarket cats cracking and also with the inside stuff falling apart and clogging the y pipe.

If any of the catalyst material breaks apart you are going to hear it clunk around in the pipes. Just had to have a cat replaced on my gf's CLK 500.

Does this crap get lodged in the muffler as it works its way back from the cats? Sounds like a potential mess that could screw up a catback exhaust.

I looked over at the 350z forums and they had a number of complaints about Berk cats breaking apart. I'm guessing that it may be an issue with any HFC core potentially. Given the vast number of people with HFCs on this forum and the absence of complaint threads about failures, I imaging it's rare to have the cats disintegrate...?

this is why I had asked in another thread about the quality of the HFCs insides. I know companies like HJS have very good cats and Berk said they use magnaflow. I dont know if Magnaflow is as good as HJS, but dont think so. That may be why some HFCs right now are kinda cheap cuz the insides might be too. Its all a craps game at times.

It really depends on how the catalyst breaks up. Large chunks could get lodged anywhere from the break point back and impede airflow. It's possible these could get stuck anywhere in a chambered muffler or within tight bends in non-straight-through mufflers. Since you have the Stillen CBE, I would imagine any catalyst debris would have a better chance getting caught up in your muffler than mine (FI, straight through).

In the case of my GF's CLK, the catalyst separated but remained within the converter housing and just rattled around a lot. I'm assuming this is how most failures would play out... the catalyst would crack up but the majority of it would remain within the housing, making lots of noise.

Thankfully we were still covered by the emissions warranty (good to 80,000 miles) which saved us $1800 to replace one OEM cat... lol.

Any idea of average life expectancy of the HFC options (Stillen, FI, Berk, ERZ)? Given the plethora of HFCs out there, there seem to be very few threads about them failing. I wonder if it's not really that common. Who would buy these things if they have a 6-12 month life expectancy?

Honestly, I think any fears of immediate failure are blown out of proportion. I've been heavy into car modding for a long time and have never heard of someone having an issue like this with any aftermarket HFC.

Obviously, at some point, the catalyst is going to degrade and the unit will eventually fail, but I'd expect it would be good for years.

If the government expects OEM emission components (including cats) to last a minimum of 80,000 miles I don't think you need to worry about your HFCs crapping out in 6-12 months. Failure shouldn't happen that quickly unless they are defective.

Also, I have ripped HFCs open before and the honeycomb catalyst is fairly tough stuff.

I think you're right. It's easy to read a few posts here and there and then generalize them into a hysteria of impending problems. That's really the only downside I've noticed with my forum trolling. Great info, but you shouldn't over-interpret the good or bad experiences people have.

Yeah -- like the ester oil and oil cooler debates here. :bowrofl:

I think its great to read what people have to say about products on forums. But to be honest, I think if your truly sold on a product youre gonna buy it unless multiple experience the same issues. I have heard bad things about Forged Performance. I ahev heard bad things about GTM. I have heard bad things about Volks. But its just one problem and the 2 shop issues were misunderstandings. But the forum is stilla great place for reviews by REAL people which is good since a vendor will sugar coat the hell out of a product.

:iagree:
Same here! I have not seen a cat failure... the only type of failure is from a engine backfire were their have been mufflers torn apart from the explosions..... other than that their pretty reliable...

Day-um!

would the fact that a HFC has less material in it, especially the 200 cell one, cause it to degrade faster? If OEM is around 80,000 miles and those are prolly 400 cell cats then 40,000 miles for 200 cell cats?

And even if thats right then 40,000 should be 2.5 yrs for me.

I doubt the relationship is that simple. I think HFC failure is more related to the associated mods, tuning, and driving style changes that are associated with the HFC addition.

For example, these people are more likely to have other bolt-ons, forced induction, performed some level of tuning and ECU modification, are more likely to run race gas, may drive in trackdays/races, etc etc etc. All of these can lead to situations where cats can 'see' extreme driving conditions, incomplete fuel burn and detonation, higher engine temps...

...all leading to failure.

On a side note, Berk posted in a different thread that they use Magnaflow cores and suggests that these are higher quality cores than those in other HFC options. Is it just me, or is Magnaflow more often associated with inexpensive products and lower quality? I don't think top-of-the-line when I hear about Magnaflow anything.

Im kinda in the same boat as you there, Ive never heard of them as a top of the line thing but who knows maybe they are. I do know that HJS cats from Germany are top of the line cats. I had a full TBE from Milltek on my last car and they used 200 cell HJS cats, I would get a cel light once every three months but the exhaust was about 2 grand for the full one.

theres a guy on the evo x forums that had his hfc fail, piece broke off and clogged his exhaust flow. in the end when they figured out what happened with his car he went from a little under 300whp to above 400whp.

I have never had any issues with Magnaflow. Maybe things have changed, but back in the early 2000s they were regarded pretty highly in terms of quality. I know the kit I bought for my Mustang was nicely done... though every Flowmaster-loving Mustang driver referred to them as Magnajunk.

chiming in way late but i blew my my left cat yesterday does anybody know what the insides of an invidia gemini muffler look like? worried its clogged