2001 camaro SS:

Anybody know what symptoms to look for with a blown head gasket? I noticed a weird eggy smell recently with the car, and wasn't sure what to look for? Plus I recently got the Service Engine Soon light on.

The exhaust pipe is sooty too...


It's a new car to me, so these could be all normal traits, but I'd rather be sure.

I did just run a bottle if techron through it last week...

 

Coolant consumption is the most common symptom, followed by a dead O2 sensor on the bank w/ the problem as coolant poisons the sensor.

Get your check engine code scanned and post it.

Rotten egg smell is usually catalytic converter byproduct.

 

go to an advance , autozone , checker , somewhere and have the code read . Eggs smell is exhaust , but get the code and post it on here. And do it asap .

 

Like a rotten egg smell? That's usually a bad cat.

 

Sounds like a pita to fix.

It's been raining here the past few days so I parked it. I ordered a cheap scan tool that should be here soon, so I'll report back with the engine code

 

I'm wondering if I clogged a sensor by using the techron cleaner or something?

 

Based on that question I'd say put the tools down and take a step back for more reading on engine basics.

This is a great one and will really help you understand what's happening under the hood so you can make good use of your scantool:


Also the books from Greg Banish on engine management systems are terrific options.

 

Well, engines aren't my forte... I'm just saying the only correlation I have to
this issue is the techron.

Granted, I've only had the car ~1,500 miles, it was running great. I then added the techron engine cleaner (after reading posts, and figuring after 13 years of light use it could use a treatment), and all of a sudden I'm noticing rotten eggs smell, a new Service engine soon light, and a whole bunch of sooty buildup on the exhaust.


I'm just trying to diagnose, but by no means would I fix this myself, (unless its an easily accessible part like an O2 sensor)...

I think I'll have to read the book though and see if I can get a little braver...

 

Well, I just read the code: P0420

Is there any harm in just clearing it and see if it comes back?

 

P0420 is the driver side catalytic converter. Not likely to go away on its own.

 

But I wouldn't be doing anything detrimental to the engine by driving around with it, correct?

 

Depends entirely on what caused the cat to fail. Typical killer of cats in passenger vehicles is excessive oil consumption.

 

The rotten egg smell is the sulfur in excessive fuel burning off inside the cat.

You actually have 2 problems now..............1st problem was the rotten egg smell was warning you the engine is running rich, vacuum leak leaking injector etc and now that you ignored that it killed the cat.

DO NOT replace that cat until you fix the problem that killed in the 1st place OR you will be replacing the cat again.

 

No it doesn't...it means the cat is overloaded with fuel, the sulfur smell is from the sulfur in the fuel the cat is trying to burn off. Once the cat is finished there will be less smell as the cat efficiency way down from the fuel overheating it .

 

The fact you just ran a fuel cleaner through the system my have aggravated something, I would check the intake bolts tightness and hoses for cracks and drive it a little more. If the fuel system cleaner temporarily caused a injector to stick etc it may clear up on its own. Once you get that cat code its usually too late, If the cat starts working again the PCM will turn the light off.

 

Oil can kill them but it takes ALOT of oil to do it. My 2000 TA used a qt of oil every 1000 miles for 140k miles and the cats never died.

 

Hmmm. Seems I have a bit of probing to do here...

The rotten egg smell was never all the time: just a handful of instances.


I'll search tomorrow for a leak. Somewhere. There is a K&N filter on it that I just cleaned too, so maybe I didn't cinch down a bolt, or cracked a vacuum line.

 

If you indeed do have a bad cat it would be your cheapest option to buy a cheap take off of this site...not replacing will do no harm other than to your sense of smell, guys running headers have to cats (unless they have high flow cats like me!)

 

1st thing I would check is the intake bolts.................I never checked one that wasn't loose................

 

I tightened down a few intake bolts, although the rear ones are a bit tough to access.

I'm guessing the car running rich would explain the occasional backfire.

What other things should I be checking here? I'd like to get through th fall before storing it, and likely taking it in this spring for some upgrades (I think a new set of headers and cats would be great... Along with new bushings to make up for the creaking).