This paper measured unsteady temperature fields of uncoated-monolith and catalytic monolith under real engine operating conditions using thermocouples. A multi-dimensional flow model of the turbulence, heat and mass transfer, and chemical reactions in monoliths was established and numerically solved in the whole flow field of the catalytic converter. The purpose of this paper is to study unsteady warm-up characteristics of the monoliths and to investigate effects of inlet cone structure on temperature distribution of the catalytic converter. Experimental results show that the warm-up behaviors between uncoated-monolith and catalytic monolith are quite different. Simulation results indicate that the established model can qualitatively predict the warm-up characteristics. Increasing the inlet cone angle can improve the light-off characteristics of the catalysts due to high flow velocity and high temperature in the center of the monoliths. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.