Johnny .45
Pro Hoonage Expert
I have a 2000 EX coupe, manual trans. A few months ago, I lost my cat. The engine lost power over a couple days until it finally died. It sounded "off" at idle before it died, but that was it. I had it replaced, and it's been fine since then. A couple weeks ago, I suddenly noticed a "hissing noise, that sounded like an air leak. It got louder the more you pressed the accelerator, regardless of what RPM's the engine was running at. It also seemed to be losing some power. The sound was definitely coming from the tailpipe.
After a few days, I accelerated from a stoplight at WOT. Once I got to about 6,000rpm, suddenly it made a loud sound like a backfire. The sound was gone instantly, and the engine felt more powerful. It seemed slightly louder too, but not sure if it's louder than it was before the sound started, or if it had just been getting quieter over those few days. It seemed as if something had been plugging it up, and the backpressure finally cleared it. I figured "all's well that ends well", but have kept in in the back of my mind since then.
It's been a few weeks since then, and suddenly it started making that sound again. This time, I remembered what had happened last time, so I tried accelerating again. Sure enough, it did the same thing, only not as loud this time (I didn't wait for the hissing to get as bad this time before I tried it).
I am worried about the cat; after the original went bad, I had planned on having someone look at it and to see if they could figure out why it had gone bad before, but I never did. Only, the symptoms are entirely different this time, and the only things I can find out about cats clearing themselves is when they blow their innards out the tailpipe from the backpressure. If that had been the case, I think I'd have noticed it, and why would it plug up again if the innards had blown out? There'd be nothing to plug up.
Since I've got it, I've noticed that it seems to make a lot of soot at the tailpipe, more than normal, and it goes through quite a bit of oil, although it doesn't leak and I see or smell no signs of oil in the exhaust (unless the soot is a sign). Can oil ruin a convertor? I hear about running rich being bad for them, but nothing about oil burning clogging them up, or about them fixing themselves. Kind of puzzled.
After a few days, I accelerated from a stoplight at WOT. Once I got to about 6,000rpm, suddenly it made a loud sound like a backfire. The sound was gone instantly, and the engine felt more powerful. It seemed slightly louder too, but not sure if it's louder than it was before the sound started, or if it had just been getting quieter over those few days. It seemed as if something had been plugging it up, and the backpressure finally cleared it. I figured "all's well that ends well", but have kept in in the back of my mind since then.
It's been a few weeks since then, and suddenly it started making that sound again. This time, I remembered what had happened last time, so I tried accelerating again. Sure enough, it did the same thing, only not as loud this time (I didn't wait for the hissing to get as bad this time before I tried it).
I am worried about the cat; after the original went bad, I had planned on having someone look at it and to see if they could figure out why it had gone bad before, but I never did. Only, the symptoms are entirely different this time, and the only things I can find out about cats clearing themselves is when they blow their innards out the tailpipe from the backpressure. If that had been the case, I think I'd have noticed it, and why would it plug up again if the innards had blown out? There'd be nothing to plug up.
Since I've got it, I've noticed that it seems to make a lot of soot at the tailpipe, more than normal, and it goes through quite a bit of oil, although it doesn't leak and I see or smell no signs of oil in the exhaust (unless the soot is a sign). Can oil ruin a convertor? I hear about running rich being bad for them, but nothing about oil burning clogging them up, or about them fixing themselves. Kind of puzzled.
