2001 Buick Century 3.1 66k miles, Very sluggish

[pocket-rocket]

Cheaper Reliable and its PAID FOR!!

QFT!

As long as you aren't on here saying "MY VTEC PWNS J00!!!!1!!!one!" no one really cares. It's pretty laid back here.

[TGP37]

As long as you are aware of the risks, do as you will. Exhaust gas is nasty bad for you. A few days open end isn't too bad as a small leak over years could be.

[bigboi407]

I hope your not driving that with out the exhaust hooked up. The fumes are just pouring into the cab. Your floor board is not air tight. Stick a smoke bomb under your car (not really) and the cab would fill up real quick.

w/o the cat, you are breathing nox. And nox is mostly generated at idle and mild cruise when running stoich.

I think you might have a coolant leak and that is what clogged the cat. Silicon deposits. The reason the rear is clogged is due to heat melting the foreign crap and trying to get blown out.

Keep an eye on the coolant level in both the overfill tank and the radiator neck.

Also, with the new exhaust (gutted or not) installed, see if the car drips liquid out the tail pipe after a long drive.

at this time we have no choise but to drive it with no cat hooked up, At stoplights i can smell some fumes but once in motion its fine... If i had any other options trust me id fgo that route.... but no worries were buying a new welder today and gonna weld it together

I dont think there is any coolant leak, Levels are the same, but like i mentioned before She drove the car with a bad MAP sensor for MONTHS.... the clogged end ur seeing is the end Closest to the engine, the end closest to the 2nd O2 sensor is completely clog free

i dont mind a lil nox YUMMMMMEHHHH!!! on a serious note ive breathed far worse things than a lil exhaust from an engine...(not by choice) and when i changed the fuel pump i totally forgot about the pressure and got a great taste of gasoline and some in my eye..... i know right....


On another note.. Talk about Safety.... my dad had to part out his 1986 F150 and we had no options than u see here, yes his brave ass got under that truck.....







Now heres a bit of what im up to (I do things different than my father)







And heres my 1st tranny rebuild... i had to pull the sychros from the 4 speed and put them into my spare 5 speed as the 5 speed had 235k miles and 2nd gear had a grind to it




im not mechanically retarded... just not too familiar with these newer vehicles and am Very interested in learning the new systems, as you see above we have ALL older model cars, theres a reason why i stick to old... Cheaper Reliable and its PAID FOR!!

i dont mean to offend anyone with different makes in a GM forum... the Ford Festiva guys got VERY Agressive towards me because i used the word HONDA... i called them a few things they probably couldnt comprehend, im currently going to have to rebuild my 1st A/T and am rebuilding a motor for my dads 1990 Festiva, the 2001 Century is the first OBD2 ive EVER worked on...

[TGP37]

I hope your not driving that with out the exhaust hooked up. The fumes are just pouring into the cab. Your floor board is not air tight. Stick a smoke bomb under your car (not really) and the cab would fill up real quick.

w/o the cat, you are breathing nox. And nox is mostly generated at idle and mild cruise when running stoich.

I think you might have a coolant leak and that is what clogged the cat. Silicon deposits. The reason the rear is clogged is due to heat melting the foreign crap and trying to get blown out.

Keep an eye on the coolant level in both the overfill tank and the radiator neck.

Also, with the new exhaust (gutted or not) installed, see if the car drips liquid out the tail pipe after a long drive.

[bigboi407]

Looks NFG!


Sent from my iPhone using my iPhone at work cuz I have nothing to do

tell me about it.... i cut the end closest to the o2 sensor and cracked it all out, at first i was like "theres nothing wrong with this damn thing!!" once i got to the other end i noticed how red it was and that it was REALLY Clogged, im guessin the bad MAP sensor did this, or do you guys think there may be something else, im gonna weld it together tomorrow and rig up the O2 sensor then put it back in...

TOO many ppl get pissed off in traffic @ the buick with no exhaust...

[SappySE107]

Your car is about to sound awful. Tornado under the car, raspy out the back.

[bob442]

Looks NFG!


Sent from my iPhone using my iPhone at work cuz I have nothing to do

[bigboi407]

Well guys, i gutted the cat, Check this out!!!

[TGP37]

I just put a new Walker cat on my truck this past weekend because I was tired of the way it sounded after gutting the almost 200k mile original. I only paid around $45 for it. Also I don't get choked or teary eyed when around the back of my truck when it's running now, lol.

When you see the pretty girls in the convertable behind you.....you will feel better knowing your not shortening their lifespan.

Now if i can just figure out what this "710" means on my oil fill cap?

[bigboi407]

Good job man. See, just a little labor. Since you had to work hard on your GF's car, she should reward you, lol. Beer, football and a half time hummer.

O2 sensors have heated elements. They can potentially start fires if unprotected. I would just unplug it until you can mount it properly or not at all. You can have a shop weld an O2 bung on a steel pipe.

The non-fouler works typically, but the best option is to find a tuner that can turn off the downstream o2 sensor.


Glad you got it fixed!

i just removed the cat and unplugged the 2nd o2 sensor, CEL is on and its getting Awsome milage versus before.. still dont know what were gonna do about the cat.. i say cut it open and gut it, then rig the o2 sensor with the non fouler for time being... most people in FL dont know wth a catalytic converter is, Hell florida born and raised folks dont know about emission requirements or emission testing... it just DOES NOT exist in FL and i grew up around straight pipes..

in working on these newer cars i feel like a total noob.. makes me wanna get a 2000s impala with a blown motor and rebuild it and master these newer cars, thats if my back will get better.. i havent had any scatic attacks because i refuse to lift weight or do any strenuous activity

Awesome stuff man!
On the upside you've replaced so much in searching for the problem the car will be in great shape for years to come!

it actually needed all those things replaced ANYWAYS, i was the first person to touch the engine since it was built.. only thing that has been done by ANYONE is a tranny shop worked on the transmission because shortly after buying it, somethin went bad in the tranny..

[pocket-rocket]

I just put a new Walker cat on my truck this past weekend because I was tired of the way it sounded after gutting the almost 200k mile original. I only paid around $45 for it. Also I don't get choked or teary eyed when around the back of my truck when it's running now, lol.

[Fireball]

Awesome stuff man!
On the upside you've replaced so much in searching for the problem the car will be in great shape for years to come!

[TGP37]

Good job man. See, just a little labor. Since you had to work hard on your GF's car, she should reward you, lol. Beer, football and a half time hummer.

O2 sensors have heated elements. They can potentially start fires if unprotected. I would just unplug it until you can mount it properly or not at all. You can have a shop weld an O2 bung on a steel pipe.

The non-fouler works typically, but the best option is to find a tuner that can turn off the downstream o2 sensor.


Glad you got it fixed!

[bob442]

Good stuff, if you can convince the owner of the car to fork out for a magnaflow cat there only 80$, but hopefully you don't experience any fuel economy issues down the line, that o2 sensor just needs to be zip tied up and out of the way of debris, it's basically got to read clean air, that or spacing it out on the factory bung.


Sent from my iPhone using my iPhone at work cuz I have nothing to do

[bigboi407]

Spark plug non-fouler

Anything else won't work. Unless he is building a circuit to interact with the PCM. Or he has a tuner that can turn off the o2 sensor from reporting an error.

the cat is removed and 2nd O2 sensor is not installed or plugged in.. my brother wasnt able to come by and rig it up, yes he said a spark de-fouler is the way to get it done cheaply

i Took it around, OMG..... tires peeled out and i got sucked into the seat... went from 0-80mph in Seconds.. i didnt know i was doing 80 until i looked down @ the speedo because im so used to punching it to get to 40mph in 3 miles distance..

im gonna talk to my dad and see if i can get the guts of the Cat knocked out, because of the U bend where the O2 sensor is, seems difficult to gut it without cutting it... i hope my dad can gut it, but the car is running without it and it takes off GREAT, shifts perfectly fine, Bob442 is correct when he said MAF dictates line pressure, because it GOOOES..

I never knew Catalytic converters could cause SOOOOO many problems, Now i know...