This happened to my girlfriend's car Saturday...

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/489689/2

...due to a clogged cat.

Her symptoms were:

Bucking/loss of power
Engine codes: Running rich AND lean codes


So, if you have those symptoms, get the cat checked NOW!!

 

 

Well, when a cat goes bad it either clogs up, or breaks up.

If it clogs, then it starts producing mad amounts of heat.

If it breaks up it sends the elements out the exhaust and tends to rattle.

 

my cat got clogged on one of my old cars. It was kinda hard to not see the glowing exhaust pipe under the car at nite

 

yeah, i dont mean to sound negative, sorry about the car, but i dont think the cat caused that, how did you come to that conclusion? wanna sell the strut tower brace? is it any good?

 

so the cat caused what to catch on fire....which then caught the car on fire..?

park under dry grass of something?

 

That sucks but I highly doubt it was the converters fault. From the pictures It looks more like the fire started in the engine compartment and travled back. All the symptoms you list can be caused by a fault in the fuel system. If an injector stuck It could have loaded the converter enough to catch fire but it really looks like it started on top of the engine. Either way it sucks!!!

Insurance?? Full covarage should cover most of the damage.

 

cat...what cat ...i love michigan

 

Well, that's what the firemen said. I really would like to know other things that could have happened! The cat is right under the windshield on the driver's side (underneath the car of course!), and that's where the most damage was, so I just agreed with the guys.

The mechanic said he was driving on the highway when it started bucking and lost all power, then the gas pedal went to the floor and while he was trying to pull it back up with his foot; poof! fire.

I'm glad I don't have a cat... but I sure am going to Wal*Mart and getting a little fire extingusher!