jrparrish

I had my passenger side cat converter replaced on my 2002 WS6 today with an aftermarket (CA approved) cat. Drove it back to work-no problems. On the way home, my SES light starts flashing and the car runs a little strange/rough. The light eventually goes off but the car felt like it was running weird.

Any ideas? Thanks.

2002 blue z28

iTrader: (1)

I think a flashing SES light indicates a misfire. How old are the spark plugs? Check to see if one is loose.

jrparrish

I believe the spark plugs are as old as the car. May be a dumb question, but could one of them have been knocked loose when the cat was replaced today???

Darkman

iTrader: (2)

A flashing SES indicates a condition that threatens the emission system. It can be a misfire or other condition such as rich or lean mixture. It typically does not set a code unless the condition persists. Since it just came from the shop, I would start by looking for a wire left off or loose - spark plug wire, O2 sensor, etc.

jrparrish

Is it safe to drive it back to the shop? I thought it was emitting a foul smell, too, but that may have been paranoia.

Darkman

iTrader: (2)

The only thing at risk is the emission system (which is the catalytic converters) and it is not a risk if the flashing stops and no code sets. The foul smell could be the new cat "burning in."

jrparrish

Thank you very much. I hope it is something simple vs. the car rejecting the cat or something that requires me to pay a dealership to put on an OEM cat.

LilJayV10

iTrader: (39)

No but that could have caused the cat to go out in the first place.

Darkman

iTrader: (2)

If the new cat itself is not working properly it would throw a specific code based on catalytic effiiciency, but it would not cause a flashing SES which indicates a problem upstream of the catalytic converters.

Darkman

iTrader: (2)

Possibly, but there presumably would have been warnings - flashing SES and/or codes thrown as that was occurring.

jrparrish

Just an update. I took it back to the muffler shop this morning. The code was for a misfire in bank 2 if I recall correctly. He got under the car for about 10 seconds and didn't see any loose wires. I thought it was a hell of a coincidence that this problem arose just hours after having the passenger side cat replaced. I had no choice but to take it to the dealer$hip.