How do I know if my Catalytic Converter is failing?

How do I know if my catalytic converter is failing? Welcome to Mercie J, where compassion and craftsmanship come together, I'm Rick Smith.
So a catalytic converter can fail catastrophically and if it melts down, it can plug the exhaust and then your engine will either not run or have very little power. It can also come apart of rattle, some of the shields on it can rattle around. So those are some more of what I would call mechanical failures.
A catalytic converter can also fail because it's not as efficient as it should be and when that happens it turns the check engine light on. Now it's tax season and a lot of people will want to be fixing some of these more expensive repairs so let me just give you a word to the wise on catalytic converters.
Let the buyer beware on price, because often times you can buy an inexpensive one, it'll get your light off, get you through emissions but then about 4 months later the light comes back on. Also if you have an engine that burns oil it will typically take out the catalytic converters a little more often. I hope this has been informational to you until next time safe travels and blessings to you

[@kalani1987]

I have an engine that burns oil, and now have a cat converter check engine code. I assume that I would have to fix the oil burning before I replace with a new cat?

[@MercieJAutoCare]

Without seeing the vehicle for proper diagnosis, we can't really know what the situation is.