Car ran fine for a while need some quick help.

[dacheat]

huh. i just went with the 'it's got 247k on it, it can't be good' method and replaced mine. when it was finally off the car i could look inside it and see the molten sludge that the broken catalyst had turned into; massive heat buildup due to blockage here and there; dunno what actually shattered the catalyst. but it was pretty cool looking. and stinky.

edit: some good news - if this is your issue, once you replace it you might find you have a lot more power than you did before. it was impressive to me the performance my car had with the new cat on. a hill in town that i'd normally have to downshift to 2nd and floor to climb i could pull in 3rd with hardly any gas at all.

 

[93civicracer]

Well I'll be trying out a test pipe, since ebay test pipes are only $25-30 shipped anyway. Should free up some power . I have trouble even just going over frickin highway overpasses and maintaining 60-70 mph.

 

[dacheat]

werd, i'm pretty much solid that's what it is. keep me/us posted.

 

[93civicracer]

Will do. I'm ordering the test pipe tomorrow.

 

[AHHVTEC]

yea id like to know myself run it a few days after you get it and less us know

 

[Aleaf.CRX]

Does it smell sulfurous??

 

[93civicracer]

Yup, so I'm pretty sure now it's the cat. Sulfurous = smells like straight burning BUTTCRACK right? (yea you can sig that one) I dunno I've never smelled sulfur haha but that'd be my guess because now that I analyze the sound a little better, it DOES sound like something's clogged up in the exhaust.

 

[Aleaf.CRX]

Yeah. I was just curious. My boss's car did pretty much the same thing, but it turned out it was something with his O2 sensor. I dunno, probably not, but it's an idea and I wanted to contribute!!

 

[93civicracer]

The car ran fine today, and I haven't even checked for codes I'll do that tomorrow. I DO have a check engine light, but it's because of that Goddamned IACV...the car idles perfect there's nothing wrong with it and the coolant is fine I've bled it multiple times but that stupid code won't go away. Tried 3 different (one of them brand new) IACV's and it's STILL there.

 

[dacheat]

the fact that it's sometimes ok/sometimes not kinda solidifies my theory for ya .

 

[AHHVTEC]

the fact that it's sometimes ok/sometimes not kinda solidifies my theory for ya .

the same for my theory

 

[dacheat]

you're still saying clutch?

 

[AHHVTEC]

you're still saying clutch?

yea lol, see it could be the cat but in my experience a cat will only smell when they are brand new, and all the cats ive saw that are bad are bad not just half way, but that dont mean it cant be the cat just replace it with a test tube and you will see

 

[93civicracer]

Yea I was leaning towards clutch...but then after listening to the sound more and more it really sounds like something's clogged up, and you don't FEEL it at all you just hear it and smell it which is really what's making me think it's just the cat.

 

[AHHVTEC]

Yea I was leaning towards clutch...but then after listening to the sound more and more it really sounds like something's clogged up, and you don't FEEL it at all you just hear it and smell it which is really what's making me think it's just the cat.

well it it was the clutch or the cat you should feel it unless the cat is just in the very first stage of failing

 

[93civicracer]

Yea like I said it's only been doing this since shortly before I bought the header, it started like a month ago tops.

Can't wait for that test pipe so I can find out.

 

[haao13]

does it smell real bad when you go up a hill?..and sulfur smells like rotten eggs

 

[Aleaf.CRX]

Yeah, like when people fart sometimes and it has that disgusting rotten egg smell, that's what I was getting at...sorta lol.

 

[93civicracer]

Well here's something weird...

It never does this in 1st gear, well around 11:30 when I got off work it started doing it in 1st. So I got really pissed off and yelled something like "FUCK YOU PIECE OF SHIT HURRY UP AND JUST BREAK THE FUCK DOWN" pushed the clutch and started revving it up like crazy, and right around 6,000 rpm I let off the clutch and spun the tires all the way across the parking lot, then after I left the lot, car was doing GREAT I mean it was driving like a dream compared to recently, felt like it had much more power and didn't have any problems...til I stopped at a light and made a turn and it started bogging/decellerating after 1st like always.

I was really pissed cause I got off way too late tonight.

 

[93civicracer]

Alright the test pipe is in! But..I opened up the hood to check fluids out because I'm paranoid like that and when I looked at the coolant reservoir...it was like an inch over max mark and nearly BLACK. There's oil in it..some metal shavings. Looks like I got a bad head gasket, so I'm getting a ride to O'reilly's tomorrow for a Z6 headgasket, and I'll be taking advantage of the situation and buying some ARP head studs if the price is right..should be a little better for nitrous.