.nate

Hi Everyone... I was reading in a earlier post that a clogged (bad?) cat can cause some serious problems... how can I tell if my cat is bad or not? I'm trying to figure out if I can fix a problem Im having with the car not wanting to crank sometimes after it was been driven... I'm thinking its the TPS, because it idles pretty erratic, but lately the car has really been feeling sluggish (it needs a clutch kit.. im thinking I have about 15-30% left on it). But the main question is about the cat, and how do I tell if its bad or not. Thanks!

3.3.3

do you get that nasty rotten egg smell????

.nate

hmm no it smells normal to me :/

DragII

kind of hard to tell till it craps out. it will start stinking..like the above post said. and you will start noticing some performance problems. you may also throw a code.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. if you ever unbolt your header from the cat, and chunks of material come out.

you can pretty much say that it is Toast in all certainty.

Spade

The sluggishness could be alot of things....when is the last time you had a valve job? That is the problem with my EX right now. The sparatic idle is another cause that I can think of. I am going to get the valve job on the EX probly in December so you will probably know before I do but, give me a buzz when ya get the problem fixed.

Have you had the same clutch the whole time? You can tell if you need a new one by putting the car in 5th and flooring it....the engine will break free of the clutch cause the gear is too tall.

.nate

So like I should be able to drop it in like 5th from 2nd or so and floor it and the RPMs should go up and the speed shouldnt?

About the valve job -- what does that all entail? Im just starting to really learn about the engine internals, so Im not really sure what they will be doing, and I kkinda wanna learn Also around what would I be looking at in parts for a valve job? I have a good buddy who is a mechanic, so I would probbabally be doing it myself under his supervision (that way I learn :D).

I'll yank the cat and see if crap starts falling out... I dont remember if it did when I installed the cat-back or not :/



[Modified by TheFLY, 2:45 AM 11/1/2001]

DragII

well, in general...if you mash the gas, and the rpms go up, but the speedo doesn't, thats a definate sign of a dead clutch.

.nate

Yeah I tried it from 2nd and the rpms didnt go up but neither did the speed... :/

.nate

Yeah I tried it from 2nd and the rpms didnt go up but neither did the speed... just hovered at about 2500 :/

Spade

Kewl then yer clutch is fine.
Does it sound like a sewing machine under the hood? If so you need a valve job.

The valve job requires a special tool....do a search cause someone posted a pic of it earlier in the month. I think that that tread also gave a link to a site that had a specific page for the how to on the valve job as well.....I might be doing one this weekend.


[Modified by Spade, 7:45 PM 11/1/2001]

Spade

Good god!!!! Do a search for "valve"....I just did there must be a hundred treads on valve jobs.
snap on part# YA8895 is the adjustment tool. http://www.c-speedracing.com/howto/v...lveadjust.html is the link to a B18C but still VERY helpful.



[Modified by Spade, 5:03 PM 11/1/2001]

.nate

awesome... I think thats what I need