ROUTE 66

Not a Z06 but possibly the same engine. My son has a 2019 Camaro ZL1. He bought new. Took it to dealership where he bought it. [ T Town Chevrolet Tulsa OKLAHOMA. ] It had check engine light on for about 3 months. [ He is working out of state could not get it in for repair. We were told today the catalytic converters are burned out. nothing inside. I was told by service writer they will not warranty a replacement set because they have been removed by someone. and the material inside had been removed. They have never been off the car tell their mechanic took them off. I think the C7 Z06 and the ZL1 have the same engine.
My question is have any of you had a problem with your converters burning part or all of the inside element? If so, what was done to correct it? Your help on this matter would be most appreciated. The car has about 31,000 miles on odometer. Thank you, Ellis,

jaywoo

I’ve never heard of that. Heard of them clogging up over time. I really can’t see how they would have “nothing” inside. If he isn’t worried about a warranty, just have the car tuned and the check engine light eliminated and run it as is. Or it’s a good time for a set of long tubes.

SS2001SS

Maybe your son gutted the cats and didn't tell you?

ROUTE 66

Maybe but I want to believe he is telling the truth. He drives the car hard not in a distrustful way just racing.

Internets_Ninja

Unfortunately it would be far more likely that your son is lying vs both cats having the material completely gone due to racing. In fact I would call it pretty much near impossible. MAYBE if the car had a two step it could have exploded the cats apart but that would still leave chunks attached and likely caused clogging issue vs anything else.

As much as you don't want to believe it, someone removed the inside of the cats. There is no other reasonable explanation. I'm sure your son doesn't want to disappoint you and maybe that is why he isn't being forthcoming about what really happened.

laserdude2215

It is possible that the engine was running very rich for a long period of time - weeks. This will burn the material out of the cat.

ss2z06

That would be kind of tricky to gut those cats because on the zl1 or all 6th gen camaros it is a 1 piece system from the cats all the way back to the exhaust tips. If the car is 100% stock to gut them and get the material out would be very difficult with how large and awkward that system is. Now if the car has had exhaust work done then this changes that because it has been cut. If it is stock has the car had misfires or other issues prior that maybe caused them to break down? If so, some of material may be stuck inside the system further back.

BubelCorvette

where are you located?

rtv900

I totally disagree on them having to have been "gutted" by a person to be empty.
I had several cats on an 04 accord that I had back in the day fail and end up with literally nothing inside.
The cats on that car was a single piece with flanges on each end so it was only a foot long, making it very easy to see inside.
I heard slight rattling for months, eventually constant check engine light, when it finally got annoying enough for me to replace that is what I found, totally hollow section.
I assumed the honeycomb simply failed littler by little and ended up shooting down into the muffler or possibly out the tailpipe in little pieces.
In one instance there was actually one single golfball sized piece left over that jammed in the outlet of the cat and basically disabled the car due to the backpressure, other than
that golfball there wasn't a single shred of honeycomb left.

Bottom line, not that I think it's common, but they can absolutely fail in such a way that leaves them empty inside because I sure as hell didn't gut mine, and a theif sure didn't gut it and then take the time
to re-install it on my car along with the 02 sensor that threaded directly into it. . . . . . . . .twice.

ROUTE 66

[QUOTE=rtv900;1605867755]I totally disagree on them having to have been "gutted" by a person to be empty.
I had several cats on an 04 accord that I had back in the day fail and end up with literally nothing inside.
The cats on that car was a single piece with flanges on each end so it was only a foot long, making it very easy to see inside.
I heard slight rattling for months, eventually constant check engine light, when it finally got annoying enough for me to replace that is what I found, totally hollow section.
I assumed the honeycomb simply failed littler by little and ended up shooting down into the muffler or possibly out the tailpipe in little pieces.
In one instance there was actually one single golfball sized piece left over that jammed in the outlet of the cat and basically disabled the car due to the backpressure, other than
that golfball there wasn't a single shred of honeycomb left.

Bottom line, not that I think it's common, but they can absolutely fail in such a way that leaves them empty inside because I sure as hell didn't gut mine, and a theif sure didn't gut it and then take the time
to re-install it on my car along with the 02 sensor that threaded directly into it. .


Thank you. It is comforting to hear others have had this problem . . . . . .

ROUTE 66

It looks like it has been rich for some time. I For what i think is about 3 months. Thank you I appreciate your input on this.Ellis