Clogged Catalytic Converter?

[my dreamt dsm]

What Are the Symptoms of a Clogged Catalytic Converter? | eHow.com

Has any one of you guys experience a bad/ clogged catalytic converter. I have been having trouble with my car lately and the car will loose tons of power when the a/c is on or I have 3 passengers with me. I did everything I can think of. BLT, compression, plugs, wires, fuel pump, fuel filter, coil, wideband is reading steady 14.xx ... the last thing I haven't check is the catalytic converter.
Will I took it off, shook it, no sound or signs of broken combs. I could see the light at the end pointed straight to the sun and see about a dime size light, very dim.
I also failed smog, tech said it was a bad cat. But I'm never to sure about smog tech's advice's???

 

[DSM1G90]

Yeppers, I've been there and done that. Drill a 1/8" hole at the header of the CAT-past the bolt flanges - and see if your performance suddenly increases. If it does, CAT is plugged good.

Well, a 4G63 four cylinder motor with AC on full bore, and all four seats occupied in a vehicle that weighs a ton and a half, bounds to be under some serious stress from all that extra weight, and 15 HP being robbed off the front end of the crank from spinning the compressor's pulley shaft that has six pistons attached to that shaft inside that compressor that are pushing and pulling the compressor oil through the system.

Have to think of this one fact: a four cylinder motor with AC are not the best thing to have together since the compressor really robs HP off the crank. This is why, to really have great AC, is to have either a V-6 or a V-8 that has tonnage of shaft torque to easily handle the power draw of an AC compresor.


You could have a bad O2 sensor, causing a rich mixture - why you failed smog testing.

DSM

 

[my dreamt dsm]

I failed smog because of high nox and hc... burning to hot so I change plugs.
Will when I had passengers back then with the ac BEFORE the lost of power problem. I never notice anything. And with all the mods I have now till when it was stock, it should of kept up with power losses compare to stock form. Honestly right now, with all my mods. It does not pull EVEN as hard as my all stock car with the t25 when I first bought it.
My o2 sensor is brand new, innovate one that came with the wide band, no more then 300 miles of use. I also thought it was my o2 also but evoscan logs and wideband has been reading good.
BTW car has about 126xxx miles.
I changed everything I could think of dealing with power losses/ bad fuel economy. I even changed to all new temp stuff, like thermostat, radiator, coolant sensor etc.

Edit:
You know what, I've been googeling a lot and they did say bad cat will increase temp. Could that be it???
Also when the car starts to go. I assume a massive combusted gases flow through the cat, causing stalling issues... man could it really be my cat. It's starting to make sense after 2 years of this crap
Also after years of this problem, the car is getting weaker and weaker (loosing power)

 

[Tyeler18]

Have you done a compression test?

 

[DRTredHEAD]

Are you getting full boost? When my cat clogged I went from 12psi to 7.
Also suffered a huge loss of mpg

 

[blakkat]

High hc's indicate either a toasted cat or a misfire. High Nox could be a lean mixture from a vacuum leak.
The heat your talking about could be more so from a plugged exhaust as a result of the cat more so than a result of the cat not fuctioning .

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Have you done a compression test?

Comression is good 185- 190 on all four

Are you getting full boost? When my cat clogged I went from 12psi to 7.
Also suffered a huge loss of mpg

That's the thing. I will build full boost but my car isn't going. I dont think it could be a clutch issue. I adjusted the shit out of it

 

[miguelmcv]

It does sounds like a clogged Cat,,, Work him hard at night and open the hood right after you stop, If your manifold is red, then is 90% your Cat is clogged.

 

[blakkat]

You have dsmlink right? Can you post a log of your secondary o2 sensor output at idle?

 

[my dreamt dsm]

High hc's indicate either a toasted cat or a misfire. High Nox could be a lean mixture from a vacuum leak.
The heat your talking about could be more so from a plugged exhaust as a result of the cat more so than a result of the cat not fuctioning .

That's the thing also. My two different set of spark plugs show good condition r6e and r7e's that have been ran for thousands of miles. My vacuum on my boost gauge is reading a steading 17 -19 hg.

It does sounds like a clogged Cat,,, Work him hard at night and open the hood right after you stop, If your manifold is red, then is 90% your Cat is clogged.

All give it a shot.

You have dsmlink right? Can you post a log of your secondary o2 sensor output at idle?

I have evo scan but I'm not on my laptop at the moment.

I'm praying it's my cat. Easy to change since I've taken it out before. Honestly I spent so much money trying to get this thing JUST TO RUN as fast as it was when I first bought it with the t25.
My dad's telling me to sell it, it's just "MITSUBI SHIT"

 

[blakkat]

Alright well see if you can get a graph of your secondary o2 sensor, also let me know what your boost gauge does when you tap the throttle, if it slowly creeps to 0 after you have already let off. That's an indicator of a plugged exhaust.

Reason I am asking for that is if the graph looks like a sine wave then it's a toasted cat forshure.

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Alright well see if you can get a graph of your secondary o2 sensor, also let me know what your boost gauge does when you tap the throttle, if it slowly creeps to 0 after you have already let off. That's an indicator of a plugged exhaust.

Reason I am asking for that is if the graph looks like a sine wave then it's a toasted cat forshure.

I can't remember how fast the rpm climbs. But I read that if you rev the car to 3k and it slowly drops that also indicates a clog cat. But I dont have another eclipse to compare it.
I'll log and check when I'm home.

 

[vingasoline]

Instead of drilling holes, pull the o2 sensor out and go for a drive. If there's a power increase, the cat is plugged

 

[blakkat]

Idk if ill be able to look at the file but here is the pattern you are looking for

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Do evo scan logs open in excel like accessport logs do?

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Instead of drilling holes, pull the o2 sensor out and go for a drive. If there's a power increase, the cat is plugged

I'll give that a list of things to try.

Idk if ill be able to look at the file but here is the pattern you are looking for

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

Do evo scan logs open in excel like accessport logs do?

I remember seeing waves but i cant remember the particular pattern. And yes evoscan logs open in excel.

 

[blakkat]

Alright good. I'd be happy to check them out for ya. The secondary o2 should be dead flat voltage without any large waves like the primary makes. If the secondary is oscillating the cat is dead as can be

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Alright good. I'd be happy to check them out for ya. The secondary o2 should be dead flat voltage without any large waves like the primary makes. If the secondary is oscillating the cat is dead as can be

Thanks guys. You guys have been tons of help. I'll report back tomorrow if I can get my hands on it. All your suggestions won't go to waste.

 

[blakkat]

Anytime man, that's what the forums
are for.

 

[Tyeler18]

Also a good way to test, drop the downpipe and run it. 2 bolts and it's out. I hate dealing with o2 sensors.

 

[coop1985]

I had a cat clogged on my Tahoe one time. I took out the O2 sensor and took it out for a drive, and it ran alot better. Thats when i knew i had to replace them.

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Will the car was still cold and battery of my laptop wasn't to full and about to die so I did like a minute of log.
Purple and yellow are oxygen sensor.
edit: where the oxygen sensor spiked towards the end. I gave it some gas.

 

[blakkat]

You want it warm to where the cat is at light off temp but it doesn't look to be switching alot like what would indicate a dead cat

 

[DSM1G90]

True - all tests are to done when system is fully warmed up to be more accurate. Including sniff tests, timing, et.al. ...

 

[jared98gst]

Go unbolt the thing and see? Lol

 

[my dreamt dsm]

Ill run another log tomorrow. I did it quick before I went to work.

I haven't tried out taking the rear o2 out yet because I have work later and not time to mess with it.
Here is the graph of my o2's. Car was warmed this time.

Thoughts?