my cars been throwing a code for alittle over a month now, code 30 something, which is bad o2 sensor. ive kept driving it since i dont have the cash to get a new one and put it on. so now that ive got alittle cash flow going, i start my drive home from work, and i notice my idle is alittle lower than usual and alittle rougher. then when i get home i smell kind of a burnt smell, and i get down and i look to see if i busted a tranny line again and got it on the exhaust, but it turned out that the smoke is just coming from the cat. its not a whole lot, but its significant. at first i thought i ran over a plastic bag or something and it got stuck, but no it seems to be coming from the cat itself. im lead to believe the cat might be clogging since there are alot of hills here in the san francisco bay area so when i go up them the car tends to get very close to the red on the temp gauge, sometimes even hitting the red and then the fan kicks in and brings it down. all this has led me to believe that maybe i need to get that oxygen sensor fixed, or at this point am i looking at a new cat?

 

also i stepped on the gas to about 2500 to 3000 rpms for about 1 and a half minutes and the temp gauge moved up a bit. about a quarter up in that small amount of time, and i also got this wierd smell from the exhaust kind of like a burnt tire smell but more, i dunno, its hard to explain, almost like the smell you get when you light fireworks. its not strong enough to smell while driving. also the cat doesnt glow or anything after driving for a while, ive checked acouple times.

also the hessitation is pretty bad now, i no longer have the torque feel of the tpi and instead i can barely make it half way up a hill without worrying if ill overheat.

im planning on taking care of the oxygen sensor tommorow. but if i do take care of it, is it too late for my cat. i dont have the cash to buy a new cat so i figure if it is bad im just gonna put in a straight pipe till next year when i take emissions tests.

oh and the cat is extremely hot after a 4 mile drive. not enough to glow, but it just radiates heat and i even sprayed water on it to see if thats where the heat was coming from and it evaporated on contact.

thanks in advance. im trying to keep this car together so i can continue using it as my daily driver. ive had no problems for the past couple of weak but its all going down hill now.

 

Sounds like your cat has gone bad.I shoot yah a pm.