Will a intake manifold gasket leak cause my catalytic converter to fail? I was told i need my gasket replaced... Catalytic converter failed on me last night... Need to figure out what caused it to fail so my new one wont fail either!!! Help please

 

I don't know but I have heard it will cause it to fail also. However, the intake manifold leak would be a priority over the cat in my book.

 

Get that gasket fixed asap! Then and ONLY then do you replace the catalytic converter.

 

In what way did your Cat fail?

 

98 v6 camaro

 

When a cat "fails" it means that it no longer able to cause the chemical reactions that 1) reduce oxides of Nitrogen to elemental N and O2 and 2) oxidize/burn up the unburned fuel that has left the exhaust manifolds and entered the exhaust system.

The cat can be contaminated. This happens if you use leaded fuel. It's called poisoning the cat. The structure is still sound but the cat is reactively inert.

The cat can be structurally damaged. This is usually caused by overheating it due to a malfuctioning injection system, a leaking injector, a bad EGR valve, etc. The cat's ceramic matrix gets so freakin' hot (1000F +) that it melts and breaks into pieces. This can cause your car to catch on fire while you're driving it but not always.

There's also physical damage from driving over something.

How did your cat fail?

 

The intake leak can result in a lean mixture causing random misfires. Even though the mixture is lean the resulting misfires will dump raw fuel into the exhaust. This can cause the cat to overheat in an effort to bur off the excessive fuel, and get damaged n the process.

 

not sure how it failed. i will take it to shop tomorrow to find out