I'm so unbelievably pissed off right now

[dj_zero]

So my car's been acting funny since this weekend, it's had a total lack of power, was making some rattling noises, etc. I take it to my mechanic friend, who tells me something might have happened in the cat to plug it, which would explain both the loss of power and the rattling. On the way home, it gets much worse. Totally choked off, barely makes it up the last hill. I get it jacked up, start it up, and sure enough, rattling coming from the cat which is really really really hot. So since I want to make it to work tomorrow, I spent the 3 hours working with what puny tools I had available and finally hacked the thing off (it was an aftermarket cat that was welded on) I put it back down, go to fire it up... nothing. Cranks and cranks but won't start. It's got a full tank of gas and I'm *fairly* certain I didn't hit any gas lines in my hacking (would've smelled it). I let it sit for a while, left the key in 'on' and let the fuel pump run for a while... Nothing. I feel like screaming I'm so so mad. Any suggestions would be helpfull.

 

[DevilSperm]

being a dsm it could be a number of things first thing id try is check your fuses on your battery cable....maybe somehow your mpi fuse got blown and its not getting spark...post back if that isnt it..i just got off work and am too tired to think any harder

 

[dj_zero]

I'm starting to realize that with this car... I'm not with it right now, so I can't check the fuses, but on my way in to work today I was thinking that (again, being a dsm) that mitsubishi may have used the exhaust pipe as a ground for the fuel pump (as I've seen multiple ground straps going to the downpipe) so maybe now that the pipe is no longer connected, that the fuel pump isn't grounded. Is this the case or is the fuel pump grounded elsewhere?

 

[DevilSperm]

I'm starting to realize that with this car... I'm not with it right now, so I can't check the fuses, but on my way in to work today I was thinking that (again, being a dsm) that mitsubishi may have used the exhaust pipe as a ground for the fuel pump (as I've seen multiple ground straps going to the downpipe) so maybe now that the pipe is no longer connected, that the fuel pump isn't grounded. Is this the case or is the fuel pump grounded elsewhere?

its grounded elsewhere, i have no more grounding straps and i dont have any issues...but, its possible that something did blow...freakin cars

 

[dj_zero]

Well, had it towed to my mechanic, ended up the fuel pump and the cam (crank? I dunno) position sensor both shat out on me at the same time. So, $613 later, I'm back on the road, and with $20 to my exhaust guy, a piece of pipe is in place of my f'd-up cat and it no longer sounds like a pissed-off warthog in heat.
So, what did I learn? Next time car doesn't start, I guess I'll check the fuel pressure

 

[DevilSperm]

$613!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAS off ebay = $40, Fuel pump $90 sucks to hear you paid that but at least its on the road...you got a good job though, thats pocket change

 

[1LE]

CAS off ebay = $40

...and people wonder why these cars are unreliable. Nothing like replacing an old broken part with someone else's old part that is probably nearing failure now

 

[DevilSperm]

well its that or 900 from the dealer