Clogged Catalytic Convertor

[02V8Sport]

I had my car at the dealer the other day for a rattle under the car, they told me it was the inside of the cat convertor coming apart. So now its 7-10 days for the cat to come in. I was driving down the highway at 70 and the more throttle I gave the slower she became to the point where I was going 35 in a 55 down the highway with the car floored. Anyone ever have this problem? I searched and found nothing, this is on a car with 5000 miles on it. Ive never experienced anything like this before.

 

[mharrison]

This is exactly what happens with clogged cats. Your car is being suffocated. It's like trying to exhale through a snorkel with somebody's thumb over the end.

When the new cat is installed, it should be fine.

However, this sounds EXTREMELY odd for a 5000 mile car..... Probably a defective catalytic convertor.

 

[00ls-sport]

i bet he means 50k miles. anyways, mine were destroyed at 73k miles. i had the muffler unit replaced under warranty as well as parts of the cats were rattling in the mufflers. complete new exhaust for free.

 

[95Marklll(Kingcobra)]

Cut them off, dont let the cops find out, and enjoy the power and better fuel economy. lol

 

[then399]

I have a coworker with an 04 that has something loose in his cat, under 5,000 mile, 5K miles. He's also waiting on an order

 

[02V8Sport]

i bet he means 50k miles. anyways, mine were destroyed at 73k miles. i had the muffler unit replaced under warranty as well as parts of the cats were rattling in the mufflers. complete new exhaust for free.

no it is only 5K miles

 

[beaups]

you guys get the sulfur smell with that? I am getting it bad and can't figure out why. any time I drive even a little aggressive...rotten egg smell...bad! and I have some power loss. wondering if cats pooped out on me.

 

[02V8Sport]

There is no smell with mine, just no power.

 

[00ls-sport]

you guys get the sulfur smell with that? I am getting it bad and can't figure out why. any time I drive even a little aggressive...rotten egg smell...bad! and I have some power loss. wondering if cats pooped out on me.

mine stunk real bad, and then was bucking.

 

[2001LS8Sport]

sulfer smell is usually from either bad gas or bad calibration. Try a different brand of gas first. If that's not it, the next place I would look are the O2 sensors. They could be very slow. I've seen them where the cross counts were slow enough to cause problems, but not so slow to toss a code.

 

[beaups]

I've been using all sorts of different gas (and always premium), same rotten smell after even mildly aggressive driving. I'm really curious about maybe a plugged exhaust, especially considering the sound sort of changes when the tach hits 3K or so.

 

[beaups]

how would you suggest checking the o2 sensors?

 

[00ls-sport]

disconnect the negative battery cable. safely get the car off the ground. locate o2 sensors. realize there is no way to test them. bring to dealership. get raped having them run a flow test on the ngs. find out they are ok and the cats are junk. :biggrin: :N

 

[02V8Sport]

just got the beast back, it runs better than it ever did. I bought the car with a faulty cat, so I didnt see the full potential of this car with Torries XCAL2 tune. It really moves now and my CAI problem went away as well with the hesitation problem under heavy throttle.

 

[ez2h8]

I have a coworker with an 04 that has something loose in his cat, under 5,000 mile, 5K miles. He's also waiting on an order

Mine too. How about less then 300 miles and bad cat!!!! No lie. I think it was a faulty batch of these because I didn't have the car less then a week(brand new) and when I took it back, they didn't question the problem, gave me a new rental and said don't worry, see you in 5 days.

ez

 

[2001LS8Sport]

how would you suggest checking the o2 sensors?

O2 sensors are "tested" by a scan tool or a DVM and a break out box. I know of no break out box for this car. Any scan tool capable of reading data on this car will give you the information you want. Watch the O2 sensors (you are concerned with the front ones) and check how fast they switch from high voltage to low voltage. Remember....when I say high voltage, it's still less than 1 volt. You are looking for them to switch above and below appx .45 volts. That's a cross count...and it should be very quick. An experienced eye helps. When they start to degrade, the cross counts slow down.

But things such as a MAF sensor, etc can also cause problems that can give you a rotten egg smell. It's usually because the cats can't handle what you're throwing at them. But usually these later designed cats don't give you the rotten egg smell you used to see years ago. Still possible though.

 

[beaups]

So does the smell point to a lean condition or a rich condition?