Catalytic Converter on its way out??
 

Hi all....i own a 91 SE 3.0L V6 A/T blah blah blah


Anyway heres the deal:

Every once in awhile when I first start the car...or when I throw it in park and its just idling I noticed that my exhaust putt-putts a bit! :bawling: My b/f says it sounds like theres a clog in my cat.

Sometime last year, I just replaced everything from the cat back (but not including). So my question is: how do you know when a catalytic converter is on its way out? Does it make your exhaust "putt" a lil or what?

A few months ago I began smelling the rotten egg stench they say is from a bad cat, but I haven't noticed that recently...so I dunno.
PLEASE HELP!

Thanks! :007:

P.S. - I just got the letter for emissions that have to be done by May 16th - would a bad/clogged catalytic converter affect those results? (if that was a dumb question...well...its cause I asked. please answer as kindly as you can!)

with a bad cat you will definitely FAIL emission testing.

putt putt...u sure it's not an exhaust leak instead or engine being out of tune?

Yeah, might be just a dying fuel injector or something too. A "putt-putt" noise sounds like the engine is missing on one or more cylinders. It's hard to tell without looking at the car so you may have to take it to a mechanic, or seeing how you are a 19 year old female I'm sure a fellow .org member would be willing to come and look at it for you ;)

No I am not sure what it is...thats why Im asking - I dont know anything about cars ::sigh:: <<<I really outta take a mechanics class or something lol

It shouldn't be the engine being out of tune...I emphasize the SHOULD part. Cause I just got a tune-up done in early December in which they supposedly tuned my engine as well.
However... when the exhaust putts a bit, I do notice that my car vibrates along with it and that the idle kinda rises and lowers a bit too....now you're scaring me!
How do I check for a leaky exhaust?
I had meineke change the big long pipe that connects the cat to the muffler, as well as the muffler last year when my muffler crapped out on me. (oh and by the way...i definitely would NEVER go to meineke again and wouldnt reccomend you to either) Ever since, my car ticks when I shut the engine off. At first, I thought it was just the new parts working their way in to the old ones...but its been almost a year!!! so i dont even kno if thats normal or what anymore.

How can you check if one of your cylinders isnt running anymore? and how do you check the fuel injectors....I really dont want to have to go to a mechanic until I know what it is (and yes I know...i might have no choice, so I'll save that as a last resort). I dont mind paying someone to fix a problem, but I do mind paying someone to look at something and then having them charge me to tell me something I already know....and then charge me more to fix it :noes:

The putting is not loud, as a matter of fact - my boyfriend only noticed it yesterday when he was about to get in the car (cause I was waiting for him inside with it running) I guess he heard the exhaust putt once when he walked by.

If any maxima.orger is in the southern CT area and has a minute or 2 to stop by and see lil ol me, please let me know. I'm not desperate for someone to look at it, but I would definitely appreciate it! :kiss:

take your car to a good shop, and have them run a test on your car. :idea:

ok here i go again with my dumb q's...

Run a test on what? On the engine/cylinders? on the exhaust? I'm confused :jeffy:

Is there something specific I should say? or just tell them what ive told you all

.org in southern ct
 

any of yall in/around the southern CT area, that is experienced with 91 Maxima SE????

Depending on traffic, i'm 45minutes-2hrs away from NYC. I live right next to Bridgeport, CT.

I will travel to see you, if you cant see me.

http://hometown.aol.com/laurenmarie518

:squint: 45 min to 2 hrs is a huge range.

with the car running , unplug the sparkplug wires one at a time until you find a cylinder that does NOT change the way the engine is running

if you are willingto travel to new york i know a good shop. and it shouldn't take you that long to get to new york, when boston is a 2 and a half hour drive.

Yeah it is, note that I said depending on traffic...thats New York City-Connecticut traffic for ya

other factors include which route you take...i.e. the merritt, 95 and also what time of day it is and what day of the week it is

So, yes, it is a huge range, but an accurately huge range.

and the one that doesnt change a the way the engine is running is the culprit, correct?
I know I sound dumb...cause when it comes to cars I am, so I have to ask for specific answers otherwise I'll be completely lost..please dont mind it. :D

Me again...just wanted to ask, since it didnt get answered yet:

What are symptoms of a bad or clogged catalytic converter...I'm still not totally convinced that it is my engine (but what do i know)
How can you tell if the converter or anything in the exhaust is clogged?

My car doesnt "putt" perce'...I might have misled some of you into thinking that. I'm not sure if you can even call it a putt. Its kinda like a lil hiccup in the exhaust when its just idling (and it is not even consistent, sometimes it happens, sometimes it dont)
It doesnt putt at all or backfire or anything like that when I drop it in gear and actually drive...as a matter of fact, when driving it sounds normal.

Correct, that will tell you which cylinder is not working.
it won't tell you why, but it does tell you which.

Hehe...well I kinda figured it wouldnt tell me why....but thanks for the info. i'll have to ask Joe to try it!

:mardi:

Haha, you shouldnt have mentioned your boyfriend at the beginning of the post, because i bet ten guys would have offered to drive an hour or two to come help you if you werent in a relationship already. But when you're car is idling and it "hiccups", do the RPM's change too when it does that?

by the way the ticking noise you hear after you shut your car off is NORMAL and meineke didnt mess up your car....

so you dont have to worry there.


ps YES a bad cat will help you fail an emissions test.

Nah...I'm not that kinda girl (maybe Im a sucker) but I dont play mind games and mislead people, especially guys into believing something just to get them to do what I want them too..
Besides, this aint a big deal and I dont really care if someone came to see my car or not. I only posted that cause one of the guys suggested to.

Yes, when the car is idling the rpm's change...very little but they do float up and down a bit while its puttin or hiccuping or whatever you want to call it.

you say float do you mean the car seems like it will die or what?? could be a vaccum leak if its right when you go to put it in neutral or when you first pull it out of park....other than that i guess i would find out how old the cat is and if its old, replace it. could easily improve gas mileage.

Well, that ticking noise was never there before I had my muffler replaced...thats why I questioned it, but thats not the reason why I said Meineke sucks.

Meinieke sucks big hairy mooseballs because when my muffler crapped out, it was on a saturday and the mechanic whom I originally wanted to go to said in the worse-case scenario, if I needed everything from the catalytic converter back (which I ended up needing) it would be $275.00, tops. However, he couldn't touch it until that Monday...which didnt work out for me.

So I went to Meineke, dropped it off. They called and said that I needed everything from the cat back and said it would cost me $550.00!!!! Whatta load of $hit that was!! (I think they told me that it would be that much cause they probably figured, and they woulda been right, but they figured im a young girl who dont know shizz about cars, so they prob thought they could make a few bucks on me).
Anyhoo...I laughed to the guy on the phone and said "no thanks" Then he said he could knock it down $100 and do it for $450...I laughed again and told him that I'll just wait til Monday and get it done at the other mechanics shop for $275.00. Then he said, "fine, I can do it for $300.00 even" So I took it cause I really didnt want to wait til Monday cause of work and all...it woulda messed up my entire day. So thats why they suck...theyre friggin rip-offs. I mean come on now, if the job was really worth that much, theres no way they would take off $250 just to do it for me!
Not to mention when I picked up my car..they told me they "threw in" some chrome tips....which 6 months later are already beginning to rust on the outside.....chrome-tips,huh? :russ:

No...Maxine is nowheres near dying...believe me - she runs great the majority of the time. I meant that when the exhaust is putting/hiccuping that little bit, the RPM's do move ever so slightly up and down. However...it doesnt always "putt" only every so often. thats what makes me think it might be a clogged up cat or something...I dont know about cars..but I really dont think its my engine....but that doesnt mean that its not my engine.

Its just a guess...but i would assume that my catalytic converter has NEVER been changed...and I would assume that it is going bad. Only because before my muffler rusted through...my heat guard fell off cause that was rusted pretty bad...then my muffler went...and I also had to change the piping from the catalytic converter to the muffler cause that was rusted...So i would imagine that my catalytic converter probably is due for a replacement since I had to replace everything else under there already!

ok first meineke does suck big hairy mooseballs for that.

second if you got meineke to do cat back it includes the cat. so if they didnt do the cat, you got ripped off for 300 bucks. Just replace the cat if its original, i mean your car is 14 years old. if your car is running really rich it will kill the cat sooner, but i would just drive it to a trusted mechanic and have it checked. they would know better than describing a small putter.

"cat back"...FROM the cat and rearward...it doesn't NOT INCLUDE the cat itself.

is the cat glowing red hot after a long drive? if the cat is done then you would have MASSIVE backpressure and MASSIVE power loss. if you do not experience either then don't worry about it.

Hmmm, I'll check your car out for $550, how does that sound ;)

Seriously though, it probably would be a good idea to just find a trustworthy mechanic and take the car there to have it checked out. There are many knowledgeable people on this board but it's really hard to diagnose a car without seeing it and hearing/seeing the symptoms in person, especially when your problem sounds kind of random.

i agree, and may sure he is knows what he is doing. it will save you time and money.

double negative.

yeah you got me grammer cop...hard to post and work a job at the same time.

Nice to know moderators accept corrections, too. :clap: Good thing, because when you tell someone you wouldn't NOT DO THAT it could be confusing. BTW, it's 'grammar' and I have a job as well. Congratulations! :festive:

What i recommend to you, is to check over everything you can first before you take it to someone..if you think it may be an exhaust related problem, maybe you or your boyfriend look under the car and see if you see anything, maybe buy some ramps. I always try to look for the problem myself first...then i would take it to my work if i cant figure it out...too bad you don’t live around here...damn i wish my g/f had a maxima!!! lol...good luck

ok..when did i say that i'm never wrong? being a moderator doesn't make a person perfect. yeah it's confusing...but you understood what i was trying to say right? sorry forgot to run spell check at 4am. good job n00b. :yeahright

What's up with the negative tones toward DanNY :shy:

As far as I know the moderators manage this board for free in their spare time, someone correct me if I'm wrong. I guess it's just good to show a little appreciation you know? :cool:
And I have a good job too BTW :chuckle:

haters? :gotme:

yes we all moderate in our spare time....WE DO NOT GET PAID FOR BEING A MOD unlike what others would think.

i wouldn't worry about him danny.

Another innocent run at casual banter gone awry. This is why internet communication is so difficult. I'm just another bitterly sarcastic member of this board with a few thousand less threads. I'll try to keep myself on a tighter leash, Danny... and anyone else with gloves on. Smile... it's just better. :arrow:

:thumbsup:

I kind of thought that when I read your post the first time but then I read it again and again and it seemed like you were being an *** :vqman: . I'm just used to seeing so many younger guys get on here and smart off to people and act like they know it all, little cocky bastards :tardsmash Anyway, no offense then :hs:

No...they made it clear to me (or at least I thought) that I needed the piping from the cat all the way back to the muffler, and a new muffler. NOT including the cat...they said that the catalytic converter was fine.....but then again, if it was I probably wouldnt be posting this here today... not to mention that everything else under there has already rusted and been replaced...so I think maybe it is time for a new converter.

I just got back from Wisconsin and havent driven her all weekend, but today after work I will go ahead and take her for a good 20-30minute drive or so and see if it glows at all. I'm not sure what back pressure is....can you explain that?
I do know that after getting my muffler replaced, everytime I let off the gas while crusin on the highway (or cruisin at any speed 45+) I notice that after i let off the gas you can kinda hear my car slow down and I lose speed REALLY quickly...at least it seems to be losing speed quicker than before. It feels like something is dragging or weighing it down...is that back pressure???
I havent noticed MASSIVE power loss....but sometimes I do think that I lose power like when going up hills. Sometimes it feels like I have to STEP on it just to keep at 55-60mph....but then again, sometimes she feels great.
I dunno I do have to take her to a mechanic I guess....its very hard to explain cause the issues (if they are issues at all) are pretty random.

backpressure is the pressure of the air traveling through the exhaust plumbing. if your cat is clogged then the backpressure would increase...if it's really clogged then you car might not even start.

if you don't feel the power loss then don't worry about it at this point.

the putt putt sound might be just a leak or some water in the muffler.

Good to know. I dont think Im going to be proactive on this issue then...its not really even an issue, I was just curious as to what might be the cause of the "putt", "hiccup" or whatever the heck we wanna call it.
Im just gonna go in for emissions and if it all checks out, then more power to me, but if not - they'll find the problem for me and I'll move on from there.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions guys....

Did I mention that.... I LOVE MAXIMA.ORG?!?!?! :kiss: You all rock! :ben: