The exhaust still seems to have a lot of volume but after the car has been running for a while it does smell hot, sort of like burning brake pads. Also...the exhaust just has a different smell. When driving the car a passenger wouldn't know that the car is running poorly unless it is idling as it runs smoothly but just has less power (you can feel this when you are operating the accelerator).
My initial thought is the catalytic converter being stopped up BUT I have read that normally you don't get this code when the cat is stopped up. The kid that scanned my car is new so I am not confident that he gave me all of the codes from the scanner. My plan is to have it scanned again but in the meantime...any ideas? If I don't get any other codes I plan to try to remove the cat to see if it will run better. If that is the case I will just replace it.
Joey or one of the other car guys can probably expound on it a bit more.
I currently have a P0160 code going on a 98 Suburban. Thats a lost comm with bank 2 sensor 2 error. I guess that means its the o2 sensor on the passenger side, after the cat-converter. Truck runs a bit rough, too.
Crawled under the other day to see if I could find the issue and found the #1 o2 sensor had melted the plug to exhaust. Took it out, checked it, RTV'd it and put it back in. Cleared the code but the P0160 came back. I just need to get to that second one to see if its good first before start getting deeper.
Hopefully Joey or other will check in but it is my understanding that the first O2 sensor actually controls the fuel mixture but the second only monitors the performance of the cat. I don't know but I am hoping for a little guidance. I just hate to take a car to a mechanic when I know or think I can fix it with a little guidance.
If it was a p0420, which stems from a reading the post cat sensor is getting, and misleads many to replace their cat, I've got a cheap fix for that. :-)
It should be a relatively easy DIY job that will fix your CEL. There are some good tips and info on youtube for replacing the rear O2s that will walk you through the procedure should you need it.
Jim, yours is showing a possible bad post cat O2 on the passenger side. Look closely on the exhaust and on that cat for holes. Exhaust leaks on the cat or just before that O2 will throw that code. If none are noticeable, I'd just replace that O2 sensor. It should solve your CEL.
Good luck, guys. And watch your knuckles. ;-)
I changed one on my 97 K1500 a couple years back. After initial failure to loosen it I heated it with a little map gas torch.. Might be worth doing if it's ornery.
If I recall I cut the wires on the old sensor so I could get my socket on it.. too cheap to buy special tool. ;)
The problem I've run into is disconnecting the wire from the harness. Dang if the engineers don't put those things up along the frames where you can only get one arm to 'em, and then, forget it you're on the weights and/or taking GHs. :-)
A good piece of advice is to make sure you can unhook the wire from the harness first. If you can't unhook it, unscrewing the sensor from the pipe is moot point. :-)
Plus, once you've got the harness unhooked, you can easily slide it through the correct sized closed end wrench. ;-)
(On my truck the sensor was up top and socket with flex shorty extension was better than closed end)
And good point on the harness..if you can't undo it you're in a difficult situation..
Kroil is my friend.. I buy a case every now and then.. guns to lawn mowers..everything...
Spraying underside and inside frame and rockers with "Fluid Film" every fall or two..seems to be helping rust rate..and I'm up north and don't get the heavy salt of the Minneapolis area..
I will take your advice and change it out.
Does the post cat O2 sensor control the fuel mixture? If so it makes sense. I thought the post cat sensor only monitors the the performance of the cat?
Regardless of what it does, will the post cat sensor cause a car to run poorly? I can see the pre cat being an issue with poor performance but wasn't sure about the post cat.
Dikes, as in wire cutters, (not levees and not dykes) are my friend. :^)
My wife had one once.. just once.. She also once had a full size Chrysler with a Mitsubishi 4 cylinder engine. That's a whole nother chapter. ;)
Anyway, each spark plug eventually blew out of its hole over the years; Crappy aluminum blocks. I remember eventually changing out every spark plug thread with a heli-coil. Thing ran like hell after that. After about 6 years, I saw it overheating. Pulled over at a business I work with and put some water in it while it was still running...get it circulating. Circulate it did...out of the exhaust pipe. Sumbitch just kept a-runnin'. LOL. got it fixed and sold it with about 80K on it. Lady that bought it had it over 140K with no issues a couple of years later.
I kind of liked that car, POS that it was.
Joey, thanks for the heads up. I will check that stuff out. Had the exhaust changed out about 4 years ago, at the time, the cats were still running an acceptable temp differential front to back. I can hear some exhaust leaks now, so you may be right. Might put my heat gun on it, too. Easy stuff.
Please understand....I traded up from Chevettes. I can change timing cover seals and timing belts on Chevettes faster than Emerson Fittipaldi's pit crew can change a tire. :)
Honestly though....this Cavalier is by far the best vehicle I have ever been associated with. It has 249,000 miles on it and it literally ran (until two days ago) like a top. It is the only vehicle I have that doesn't use oil and it is 15 years old.
I'm sure Bowfreak's 99 is much better... (has to be) ;)
I run an ole 97 K1500 and my wife drives a 99 Grand Marquis.... we ain't exactly vehicle snobs. LOL
Now recently though my wife is talking about maybe "one last car".. HUH.. the old Merc runs good , only 140 thousand , well maintained and except for last few years an Arizona car..
Go figure.. after 43 or 44 years I can see the writing on the wall..
Tell 'em, hey good lookin', how 'bout a few beers and I'll take ya home in my vette? :-)
Worked out some of the time.
Or..if one of your wiseass buddies told 'em it was a CHEvette.......
Well then, how 'bout a few beers, good lookin'? They're on me. And maybe later I can get on you.
Same results.
LOL
:-)
I told him he must be going for the "sympathy" lovin... they'd feel sorry for him watching him get in and out..
He's 79 now, vette is gone and he's headin for the end of the line pretty fast I fear. But he had some fun...
Me? I just had to listen to THEIR pick up lines and decide which one I'd bless...
Least that's how I remember it. ;)
BD...exactly. Long Beach, Ca. sun for me. I didn't have that car 6 months and the paint was coming off in patches. Chevy wasn't going to make it right either. It was only when I told them I was going to take it to my command they decided they were going to do something. They didn't want the bad publicity. Still came off...after I separated.
That wouldn't be something along the lines of "you numbah one, Joe!!! Me love you long time..." was it?
Had to use the old Risky Business approach. "Sometimes ya just have to say what the f---, and make your move."
:-)
They'd say, you're funny. What's your name?
Joey.....but most of the girls I know call me Milk.
Why's that?
'Cause I do a body goooooooood.
he he he
LOL!.. well perhaps on occasion. But I loved them with the deep abiding love only a man who is paying a total stranger to have sex with can......
I know you are joking. No worries I am 6'4" and when I had my Chevettes it looked like Grape Ape was riding in them.
FWIW....I went back and had another scan. There were 2 other codes that the kid didn't give. One was PO304 and the other was PO442. #4 cylinder misfire so I will just change plugs and wires tomorrow and see if that fixes it.
As far as pick up lines....you guys are weak. I always just got them in my car and put on side 2 of Led Zeppelin 4, just like Mike Damone said. :)
Seems like my first bad encounter with it was changing the belt and had to remove a motor mount.. maybe I'm remembering wrong but think so. or maybe it was for the alternator?.. something.
Been longer than a week so don't recollect clearly..
