Couldnt find a definitive answer (maybe i didn't abuse the search bar hard enough?) but anyways, i have a 95 se 5spd with 136,000 miles and when i open her up to say merge onto a highway or something and get into the higher rpm range (above 5000) from 2nd gear up to 5th it smells of sulfur. When i get back to normal driving it doesnt smell at all.

I'm thinking the cat is going bad? i recently had to remove the upper intake manifold to change the injectors on cyl. 1,3,5 so while i was in there i cleaned the TB, IACV, and EGR guide tube. Everything got new gaskets and i changed the oil a couple times just to be safe. she runs like a champ ever since. Except for the smell..at WOT

 

Sulfur smell is usually the cat. There is no definitive way to tell if it is going bad other than by smell, heat, guesswork and experience.

It may be beginning to plug since you only smell it at high rpms when the volume of exhaust gasses are high. It could also do this if the engine is running very rich. So take the car to a muffler shop and see what they say.

 

I recently took her in for inspection and emissions and compared this years emissions printout to last years and there was a very minimal difference and everything on the car passed. It is probably starting to plug up like you suggested seeing as before i did the upper intake work it was misfiring alot. Would it be worth it to replace this cat with a high flow one? (i'm planning on doing future modification like y pipe etc etc) but want to make sure maintenance is covered.

 

I can't answer that question. If you upgrade the exhaust system, the diameter of the pipes will probably be larger than the stock. Can the aftermarket cat take the 2" standard pipe right now and also the larger 2.5 or 3" pipe later on? I don't know the answer to this. It may depend on the brand.

We need someone else to chime in and answer this.

 

I heard of someone saying that they heard a bees in a can sound and it was coming from the cat and that's how they knew the cat was bad

 

well i dont have the bees in a can sound, just the smell at WOT. I've read material that says the bee's in a can sound comes with an aftermarket unequal length y-pipe.

Kind of stumped on what to do seeing as i dont have the money for the cat right now and don't want to replace something that isn't the culprit.

 

I currenty have this sound but its coming from the pre-cats. Will be swapping out when it gets warmer. May have to swap main cat as those bolts and nuts are completely eroded and I will not even bother to attempt removing the O2 in it.

 

Do you smell this when you have the heat on or anything?

 

cats clogged. r&r and report back. lol, im willing to bet you replace that cat...u stop smelling like nasty egg.

 

The smell of sulphur just means you have a leak, probably somewhere near the cat. The question is, when you go WOT to enter the highway, does the car feel bogged down? Less power? If so, then your cat is definitely clogged. If not, then its a leak.

 

There isn't a loss of power from what i can tell meaning its probably just a leak.

I do not smell sulfur when the heat is on though, just at WOT.

I just had the flex pipe section on my stock Y replaced a few months ago to fix a leak. might as well just get a y pipe and high flow cat at the same time. seems like less of a PITA to change that way.

I appreciate the responses as well.