My car has been running like crap for over 5 months now and i havent been able to pin-point it...it runs good around town and once in a while will perform decent...but the power has just been downhill since april or so...tonight on my way home i wasnt moshing the gas, was driving like a normal citizen and just when i turned onto my street...it happened! I got the infamous orange light of death! Yes an SES. now i have an even bigger dilemma. Tomorrow i am scheduled to get an exhaust system put on my Chevelle, but now if this F***body is gonna cost me money to repair i have to cancel the exhaust AGAIN to get the Z back runnin..Well now i am screwed Anyone in the NJ area know how i can get the computer scanned for cheap somewhere? I am really stuck cause the chevelle is close to being towed by the township cause the neighbors hate it and then the camaro may be held up for a while...HELP!!! I will keep the post updated on my way...thanks!

 

Go to Autozone, they will scan it for free...

 

Yea I was gonna say I could take you to the Burlington Jiffy Lube and I could use their scanner, but Autozone works.

 

WTF was this all about? Why would the SES light be thrown, and stay on last night but now this morning it is gone...arent the codes are stored in the computer? Oh and by the way...the car is running horribly today...NO power whatsoever the car wont downshift when i romp on it while the rpms just rise and the speedo kinda goes up but definitely not what it should....EKO you work at burlington Jiffy Lube? thanks!

 

I did last year, but some of the people I was friends with are still there... I could probably get to use a scanner for a minute if I needed to.

 

My car has exhibited the same symptoms as yours twice, both times the car was running too rich, both times the cats got melted down and the car barely ran under load. After you eliminate every other problem, have your exhaust pressure tested at a local exhaust shop, i believe if it's over 3-4 psi in front of the cats the cats are shot.

 

Unfortunately AutoZone doesn't scan OBDI cars.

 

Does your car bog down bad and have a high temp? Sound like its misfiring?

 

Yeah the car bogs down alot...but the weirdest thing happened last night. It was a cool night and the car was performing AMAZINGLY! all day it ran like crap and twice when i got on it i got the "rotten egg" smell but it went away. My buddy got in the car and said to me that the car sounded weird and it sounded like it was coming from right under him (i.e. the cat) when i got on it a few times. I dont know what he heard but it was kinda weird that he pin pointed the noise to under him. I think i am going to just gut the cat since i dont have inspection for another 2 years...which was bad because i almost failed for some number being too high, i forget what it was at the moment but ill see if i can find the paper. But i know the number was close to failing when the probed the exhaust...thanks alot guys...should i gut the cat? Should I try to figure other possibilities before i do that?

 

Cat is plugged.

 

One of the benefits of having dual exhaust, only half the emissions on the probe.

 

02 sensor? Cleaned MAF sensor elements?

 

I have no idea...my deal on getting my car scanned for free fell through so i gotta try to go somewhere else but i am leaning towards cat and 02's...so i think i am going to gut the cat, and change out the 02's and hopefully i can solve my problem. I also need to find out what code was thrown and get rid of them so i can get the computer tuned. I know a guy who will cut the cat off the y pipe and then reweld at his shop once the cat is gutted so that will solve one problem. Thanks alot guys! any more ideas will help me out alot.