The dreaded bucking/stumbling problem....2008

[gone.h2]

avguy....you're a genius. I never would have thought that removing the o2 sensor would provide enough flow to tell whether the cat was pliugged or not.

I removed the upstream o2 sensor and the thing runs like a champ. So clearly I have a plugged cat. When I opened the hood after a short run with the o2 sensor out, I found metal flakes all over the engine bay. I assume that the exhaust is blowing bits out of the top of the cat.

I've never messed with cats before....but I know that my son is going to sell this car soon so he's not going to want to spend the money on a new cat. What are my options? I've seen articles about cleaning the inside of a cat with citric acid. Is this one likely too far gone for such a thing to work? Can I accomplish this by simply pouring some citric acid into the O2 sensor opening?
Can I just take the bottom pipe off and try to gut the inside of the cat?

Any suggestions on how to let this thing breathe again without spending $300-400 on a cat are very much appreciated, thanks...

I'm going to start a new thread too since now I know it's the cat I need to deal with.

Thanks again for all the replies.

K

[avguy]

hulakai;210759]… my son is going to sell this car soon so he's not going to want to spend the money on a new cat. …

IMO it's likely that the selling price of your vehicle would be chopped down if it has a CEL and a P0420 code (which would happen if the cat is gutted). I bought $100 cat from Ebay for my '05, which worked fine for the 3 years or so until that vehicle rusted away into the boneyard. No idea if you can come close to that amount in Canada, but you might want to check it out. I believe that almost any of the cheap cats would work on these simple vehicles. On mine, the front pipe flange was too rusted to make a good mate, so I actually ended up replacing the entire exhaust system, which was fine because some of the other pipes were also on the way out.

With a sale of your vehicle in the near future, you probably wouldn't want to do that, so you could just weld it on if it can't be bolted back in place. Or, if you don't weld, then a shop probably wouldn't charge too much to do that simple job. But if for some reason you're interested in replacing the rest of the exhaust system, Walker parts from Rockauto are very reasonably priced, and are a perfect fit and an easy installation.

[gone.h2]

Thanks for those thoughts....and I agree. I can get a cat and the pipe that follows it for $200CAD believe it or not...but a) my son is funny that way...he'd rather just dump the car fast and lose money than put in the extra time and effort, and b) it will be ME that has to install the new exhaust and frankly I've worked on his cars enough lately LOL

For now my efforts were just to get him back on the road (and stop borrowing my truck)...maybe if he decides to maximize the sale price of the car he'll want to put the new exhaust on

Car runs great now that the cat is empty. It was totally plugged up...broken chunks on top and the rest that was still intact was plugged beyond belief. It's a wonder the car ran at all. Thanks again for your suggestion!

[EAD15]

Thanks for those thoughts....and I agree. I can get a cat and the pipe that follows it for $200CAD believe it or not...but a) my son is funny that way...he'd rather just dump the car fast and lose money than put in the extra time and effort, and b) it will be ME that has to install the new exhaust and frankly I've worked on his cars enough lately LOL

For now my efforts were just to get him back on the road (and stop borrowing my truck)...maybe if he decides to maximize the sale price of the car he'll want to put the new exhaust on

Car runs great now that the cat is empty. It was totally plugged up...broken chunks on top and the rest that was still intact was plugged beyond belief. It's a wonder the car ran at all. Thanks again for your suggestion!

You may want to have your son reconsider what (if any) legal ramifications there could be for knowingly selling a vehicle that doesn't comply with emission standards due to "tampering" (gutting the cat qualifies). Obviously, someone would need to be looking for it...

While Ontario may not require emissions testing, the vehicle is still required to comply with the applicable standards
https://www.ontario.ca/page/vehicle-...test#section-6
https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/r19457

[gone.h2]

There are no ramifications....I didn't say he was going to sell it and NOT TELL the buyer...you've made an assumption that's frankly ignorant. It's pretty obvious the cat has been gutted just by listening to the exhaust, but there's no intention to deceive a potential buyer.