Car STINKS, bad cats?
03-23-2016, 05:01 PM
#1
Car STINKS, bad cats? Can high flow cats fail or start failing in such a way that the car still performs well but it stinks? Or when cats fail do they clog and cause the car to run like ****?
The reason I ask is because I feel like my car absolutely reaks of fuel smell, and it's not the catless smell that people get with offroad pipes...it's of raw fuel.
The car is cammed (0* overlap at 0.050) with Kooks longtube headers and their highflow cats and the exhaust is all the way to the end and 99% leakfree. Tune is spot on, idles at around 800 with AFRs in the high 14s measured by a dualwideband. I got the cam with no positive overlap for this reason specifically, but it still smells. The only thing I can think of is the cats may be past their useful life (they have about 40k miles and they were bought used) so they may not cleanup the smell as well.
So like I said in the first part, can a cat stop being efficient and make the car smell like fumes? I've had HF cats fail in the past, but when that happened they were melted and clogged and the car ran like **** due to that. But right now it runs perfectly fine otherwise.
The reason I ask is because I feel like my car absolutely reaks of fuel smell, and it's not the catless smell that people get with offroad pipes...it's of raw fuel.
The car is cammed (0* overlap at 0.050) with Kooks longtube headers and their highflow cats and the exhaust is all the way to the end and 99% leakfree. Tune is spot on, idles at around 800 with AFRs in the high 14s measured by a dualwideband. I got the cam with no positive overlap for this reason specifically, but it still smells. The only thing I can think of is the cats may be past their useful life (they have about 40k miles and they were bought used) so they may not cleanup the smell as well.
So like I said in the first part, can a cat stop being efficient and make the car smell like fumes? I've had HF cats fail in the past, but when that happened they were melted and clogged and the car ran like **** due to that. But right now it runs perfectly fine otherwise.
03-24-2016, 01:03 AM
#2
Moderator
iTrader: (4)
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: My own internal universe
Posts: 10,446
Received 1,836 Likes
on
1,145 Posts
My onetime dealing with plugged cats I couldn't get rid of KR. Crowbarred out and knock solved.
03-24-2016, 08:59 AM
#5
I'd actually wonder if you have a PCV leak? That would/could give off fumes. Our PCV systems are apparently known for deteriorating badly.
03-24-2016, 10:26 AM
#7
I'd actually wonder if you have a PCV leak?
So it seems that might be it, I just didn't know that a simple PCV leak could actually lead to some smell.
Trending Topics
03-24-2016, 11:57 AM
#8
Moderator
iTrader: (4)
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: My own internal universe
Posts: 10,446
Received 1,836 Likes
on
1,145 Posts
03-24-2016, 09:22 PM
#9
have a similar problem with a thunderbolt cat i bought last year, car smells horrific now with no identifiable exhaust leaks. Only thing i can really identify is that the exhaust around the car is just badly odored.