chazman

iTrader: (4)

So, last night I took my '85 IROC to cruise night, with a couple of friends. I noticed my car was running rougher than normal, but I haven't driven it in a while, and simply chalked it up to that.

We got on the tollway and were caught by bumper to bumper rush hour traffic. Just to add some info, my fuel pump was replaced by the previous owner and has always whined whenever I go below 1/2-1/4 tank. That day, it was screaming like a banshee. After about 30 minutes in traffic, my car died and I pulled it over on the shoulder. Suspecting heat/pressure in the tank and assuming this was my problem ,I took off the gas cap to vent the tank, let the car cool and it started it up after 10 minutes, went about 1/2 mile and died again, but this time with a "check engine" light. Did the same thing, restarted and the check engine light turned off and did not reappear and thankfully was able to pull off the toll way, and filled up with gas so I could shut up that loud fuel pump.

My friends behind me noted that when I'd get on my car they'd see a brown cloud of smoke and a strong sulfur smell. The car's exhaust note sounded different as well. I'm thinking that my cat is fried.
Got the car home and wanted to see what code was stored, jumped the ALDL and got code 34 - Mass Air Flow. This code has never appeared either before or after this incident, nor have I ever suspected the MAF of malfunction. But I do realize a bad MAF can take the cat down with it sometimes.


I guess my question here is, it's pretty obvious my cat is toast, but what do we all think about this Mass Airflow situation?