540i Catalytic Converters

I'm sure this has been discussed and covered but I can't get the search to work for some reason. I have a 2001 540iT purchased about 3 months ago. Previous owner had replaced cats with ones from eastern Catalytic. They have maybe 6k miles on them. Started getting a really bad rattle on cold start a few weeks ago. Narrowed it down to coming from right side exhaust, thought it might be a heat shield. This morning rattle got really bad on startup (it was in the low 30's here in MD today) and then went away. This evening while working on car in garage, it stumbled a little, then spit a large piece of honeycomb out muffler.

My question is this - has anyone ever tried to get Eastern to warranty a cat ?? previous owner is looking for receipt and it is supposed to have a 3yr/50k warranty. or would it be easier and cheaper and better in the long run to go to a different aftermarket cat ? If so, which ones work the best and best place to get them ?

thanks !!

FWIW - my aftermarket cats from BAVAUTO lasted less than a year (10Kmiles) before the CEL started appear. Not worth the $1000...

YMMV,
Larry

Hello, in response to your question above. Eastern warranties are 5yr./50,000 miles, which ever comes first. As far as rattling is concerned, it is ceramic block inside the converter that broke apart. Now, as far as warranty goes we cover manufacture defects.Warranty is NOT applicable if vehicle emissions equipment caused the unit to go bad. Such as eng. codes, misfiring,oil or antifreeze coating or clogging block. Keep in mind that a converter is a stationary part. Not something that can just go bad on its own.Something caused the unit to malfunction.If this is the case then further diagnosis needs to be addressed.Manufacturer warranties are as follows: Convereter leaking exhaust gas,fit problem,O2 placement,flange rotation,mis weld on heatshields.

Nope, no codes, no bad running, no misfires. Bought car in Florida, thought I noticed a slight rattle on the way up and it got progressively worse. Cat shows no outside sign of any damage (dents, etc). Original owner can't find receipt but did find packing slip and sent it to me. Cats were purchased in 05/10 and have less than 6 k miles on them. So what you're telling me is that there is no warranty on these units for this failure ?? I'll have the magna flows welded in instead.

sorry for the first, slip of the finger. How cool is this? A cat spitting up a ceramic hairball?