hey guys, well ive been noticed lately that if i go though a drive thru i smell bad smell, but ive been thinking, " its not my car cause i dont smell it other times" but now i park in the garage. i smell it everytime i pull the car in after ive drove it atleast 5 minutes, anytime under 5 minutes theres no smell. Ive heard it said before that the bad smell means the catalyaic converter is bad....is that true? i dont see any other problems with it, no rust holes, doesnt seem to be clogged. i have one exhaust leak just before the muffler if that matters any.

 

It is probably a clogged cat. As it heats up it will get worse. I'm not sure if there is a way to verify it other than remove the cat.

 

if it smells a little like rotten eggs its time to change the cat.

 

well right now i have no money to buy a new cat, im about to start work next friday so then i can replace the cat and my fuel filter. what can i mess up drive it with the bad cat? what caused it to go bad?

 

If I'm not mistaken that is caused by running too rich.

 

For the time being you can gut it.

 

its odd though because, my car has the smell but still runs perfect, while my moms explorer which i know has a clogged cat, the exhuast is barely getting out and it has the bad smell, my exhuast is still comming out like it should

 

There's no way your cat would be completely clogged. If it were the car would stall out. This doesn't me the it's not clogged up a little though. Either way, it's not a good thing. You could go to the dyno and get an A/F reading. I bet it will be rich.

 

the "i know it all cause im a r1cer guy at autozone told me my cat was fine, but he couldnt figure out what the codes i was gettin meant...lol dumb guy

 

codes? What codes are you getting?

 

im not sure..lol he couldnt figure it out, now i gotta wait for the light to come back on and do it myself. do u know if the codes are the same for 4th and 3rd gens?

 

12
No Distributor pulses

13
Oxygen sensor

14
Coolant Temp sensor circuit

15
Coolant Temp sensor circuit

21
Throttle Position Sensor

22
Throttle Position Sensor

23
Manifold Air temperature sensor

24
VSS (Vehicle Speed sensor)

25
Manifold Air temperature sensor

32
EGR system

33
MAP sensor or MAF sensor depending on engine

34
MAP sensor or MAF sensor depending on engine

35
Idle Air Control Valve

36
MAF Burn-off circuit

41
No Distributor pulses, cylinder select error

42
Electronic Spark Timing or Bypass fault

43
Electronic Spark Control fault

44
Lean exhaust

45
Rich exhaust

46
VATS system fault

51
PROM fault

52
CALPAK fault

53
System over-voltage

54
Fuel pump circuit

55
ECM fault

61
Oxygen sensor fault (degraded sensor)

 

thanks z28monster