1999 3.4l v6 Cat Leak question

Just bought my first Tacoma yesterday. Its in amazing condition for the year, 200,000 miles, and is running strong.

The seller mentioned a "small exhaust leak" after the catalytic converter. It's pretty audible, but not ridiculously loud. After getting underneath, it seems that its coming from in-between the aft side flanges of the cat. I'm pretty sure its from the gasket inside there. I'd like to replace it to see if that is the solution (oh, forgot to mention that I plugged in a cheap obd-II reader and it gave me a not ready for the cat, I'm a dunce and forgot to see what code it was. I'm assuming its the leak that is causing the code).

Anyway, the bolts are rusted to all heck. I am going to soak them with pb blaster for a few days and hopefully they will come off.

My question is, are the flange gaskets before and after the cat the same exact part? ie, can I just buy two of the same kind of gaskets from auto zone and they will fit? Also, I'm planning on replacing the bolts/nuts afterwards, Anyone know what size I need?

Thanks!

Zayne

 

Yes they are the same go ahead and replace them both while you're at it. As far as the hardware no I can't remember the size but I just took one off (if you can get at least one without cutting) and went to lowes and compared. Got some heavy duty stainless steel and some locking nuts

 

Yep, what he said.
OEM on the left, aftermarket on the right.

 

Thanks guys, exactly the information I was looking for. I picked a pair up at autozone yesterday (the ones they stock are bright turquoise, ha). I am day 3 into soaking the nuts/bolts with pb blaster, another day or so and I'm going to tackle the job.

 

Just thought I'd give an update:

After soaking the bolts in pb blaster for 5 days, I tackled the job. Ended up having to bore out the back two bolts, and after some serious elbow grease, got the front two bolts off without having to bore. I replaced all 4 with washers, bolts, and locknuts. Got rid of the problem. Turns out I also had a serious muffler leak as it was blown out the side. Got that replaced as well.

Thanks for all the info!