how would i know if my cat was clogged? anything that i would hear, see, etc.? or how could i check? like.. going under and looking at it? or something.. ?..

 

Hearing rattling, exhaust smelling like rotten eggs, and cat glowing at night are all signs of a bad cat.

 

hmm.. i gotta check to see if it glows.. i cant really tell if it rattles because of how poor the car runs.. and the smell im not sure of becasue it has gas from about 8 years ago in it

 

My 2.8L ran perfectly fine for some time, than suddenly would bog down, flooring it would not rev the engine past 3500, stall, seem like it was misfiring, and all sorts of run like absolute crap, then suddenly it would work fine for another few miles.

It wasn't until I kicked the living bejesus out of it until I heard it shatter and "tinkle" all the pieces back into the muffler did it run better all the time. That happened 2 years ago and nary a problem with that part since.

Incidentally I found all those pieces today. I was kicking the crap out of the rusted out muffler trying to get the corroded pipes to separate when I recognized the honeycomb pieces and the "foil".

 

mine runs like crap and does sound like its misfiring.. but sometimes it runs better than others.. dunno.. i guess i should look at it .. havent done on accoutn that i have to drop the gas tank and re-do the gas lines

 

My Catco cat went bad. Car just ran worse and worse tell it stopped. Cat just kept getting more & more restrictive.

Removed the cat and the contents just pored out like sand.

Sent it back to summit and they replaced it no problem.

Getting it off the Y pipe was a P.I.T.A

 

sounds like it

 

If the gas is 8 years old, I'm guessing the car has been sitting. 8 years old gas will definatley make it run like crap. A full tune up should be in order first if you haven't already started.

 

oh ive started and am in the process.. next im dropping the gas tank to get cleaned and replaceing the gas lines.. than depending on the way things go i might be pulling the engine for the winter to rebuild.

 

There are 2 ways to test for a bad cat. 1-remove the o2 sensor and install an exhaust back pressure gauge...should be less than 2psi backpressure. 2-messure in and out temps with an infared thermometer...should be at least 50 degrees hotter at the rear. Any other readings and you have a bad cat. Hope this helps.

 

almost forgot...you need to rev the engine a couple of times before taking temp reading.

 

=D thanks

 

If the gas in that car is 8 years old.. it is not gas anymore. it is varnish.. and if you tried running hte car, you re going to need to take apart all the area's where gas goes (tank, lines, carb (or TB and injectors and rails) and get all of them cleaned to get all that gum out of them. And you are lucky you could even start it with 8 yo gas lol.. so i suppose it would run like crap.

 

8 year old gas??? Argh. Drain the tank, don't even try to start it with that stuff. Change out the fuel filter. Try to purge the gas lines.

Go get a big bottle of Techron fuel system cleaner.

 

=) already ran the tank out.. ran some of the old gas out thean filled it with new adn ran that completely out.. tank is being dropped.. fuel lines replaced etc.. all that good stuff