Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Posted ImageWelcome to the all new Geo Metro Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are features you can't use and images you can't see. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Join our community!




Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Need Help FAST - Supposed to leave tomorrow; losing power, stalling out
Topic Started: Dec 30 2010, 10:03 PM (2,248 Views)
geojames
Member Avatar
rice

if this don't work you might pm stately he lives in that area and might be able to help worth a shot
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Stately
Member Avatar
Geo cheerleader

Sure--let me know if I can help. Sounds like you & Metro are, unfortunately, far away at present?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Bad Bent
Member Avatar
Facetious Educated Donkey

StevieC
Dec 30 2010, 11:58 PM
Bad Bent
Dec 30 2010, 11:48 PM
:smackface Potter's post reminded me...
If you removed and or worked on the intake manifold... check the ground wire on the back of it, above the alternator.
SNIP
There's two on that manifold, right? (I think I read somewhere?)
:hmm IIRC, I believe you are right, StevieC.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ktngrandma
Member Avatar
New Member
[ *  * ]
OK. Probably the Cat converter. Took me an hour of rolling around on the ice and a LOT of PB blaster to get those spring bolts loosened. Took the one I could all the way off and the other, off enough to open it up a bit. Started right up and got me home with lots of power, no stalling etc. So..... sounds like the Catalytic converter right?? Was trying so hard to get the excess out before it got to it but sounds like it got clogged anyway :( :'( Darn!!!!

What would happen if I just replaced it with a straight piece of exhaust pipe since Alaska doesn't require any exhaust/smog testing? Will it lower FE or cause any other problems down the road???
Can I clean the CAT out at all or does it pretty much need to be replaced once it's clogged? Worth trying to get a used one or is that just asking for a cat problem soon?? Any suggestions for the best way to fix the Cat problem??

Don't think I can get it done before having to be in B'ham at 4am so will just take a train or bus up and get on as a walk on to the ferry, leave my Geo here while I'm out on the ferry working anyhow and just end up making a trip back down to get it all done later. Hopefully my son will be back from Iraq by then and I'll get to see him then, making it a worthwhile extra trip anyhow.

THANK YOU everyone for helping me figure it out and get it back to a safe parking spot at my son's/DIL's!! Will write the rest of the story when it happens in 3 weeks or so.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
HavsCritiria
Member Avatar


The only real Con of not having the catalytic would be harming the environment. You may actually see a little improvement in power, but the car may be a little bit louder. That's about all you should really expect from removing the catalytic. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jim-Bob
Junkyard Engineer

There should be no harm in rodding it out. I had to do it when the cat in my Cutlass took a crap and I had no money to replace it. Take the pipe off ( if it will come off) and get a long piece of rebar. Now stand the pipe up so that the long, straight section is facing up. Pound away with the rebar until nothing remains of the cat. It should just all slide out the inlet. Is this a good thing to do? Not for the environment, but sometimes you need to do things like this for survival. It is unlikely it will harm the engine.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Lil red metro


Very good thread on this problem everyone. I learned a lot from reading this. Maybe in the spring, I will tear my manifolds off and clean the build up in my engine. It should be good now, because my engine has been rebuilt shortly before I bought the car
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Jittney
Anchorage 92 XFi

Very glad to see that you are back in motion, ktngrandma.
If the pressure from the engine packed the crud into the cat, maybe reverse the process? :dunno
New cats with the pipe attached are $115-$150 from rockauto.com
or, I have a used one just sitting in the basement.
I'd try blowing yours out first.
Nice work, by the way. :)
Very glad you are safe and sound.

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ktngrandma
Member Avatar
New Member
[ *  * ]
One last post before I have to climb on the ferry. Just wanted to thank everyone for their quick responses to my questions and need for help in a hurry. Before finding this forum such challenges would completely overwhelm me and would never have been able to jump in and figure out even minor problems, and it would have sat in the parking lot I pushed into until I got it towed or someone else to help me out.

I'm totally amazed, thrilled and GRATEFUL, that I was able to jump on the computer, post my problem and need for help and with your help, suggestions and things to check and do, actually figure it out and get it going again!! :P :cheers THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!

You're all an inspiration to me to keep slowly but surely doing more with my little Geo and with your continued help, eventually be able to actually finish some of the things needing to be done rather then getting overwhelmed and "lost" along the way.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Memphis metro


I hope you find your problem. Sorry but I aint jumping on the clogged cat bandwagon. First you said you were getting lots of white smoke out of the pipe. If your cat was really clogged you wouldnt get much of anything out of the pipe! How was your engine running before you seafoamed? Is your check engine light on now? I would be taking a look at the spark plugs if it were mine, not to say they are the problem but to see what they look like. Is your coolant level staying steady in the radiator or are you loosing water? All that seafoaming may have threw your map sensor for a loop. It may just need driving awhile to clear up the issues. You may try disconnecting your negative battery cable for a minute or so and then reconnect it.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ktngrandma
Member Avatar
New Member
[ *  * ]
Engine was running good before cleaning out passageways. Didn't seafoam down the TBI yet - just the 1/3 in the gas tank and 1/3 in the oil, which I've changed since then. No CEL at all. Coolant and oil levels staying steady, no oil in coolant, oil nice, new and clean/clear. Loosening up the spring bolts on vertical part of exhaust going from manifold to Cat seemed to do the trick and it's running good, tho loud now, so hoping that's all there was to this problem. Thanks again everyone for your responses and suggestions.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
StevieC
Member Avatar


Glad it's working again! Hopefully that's the prob and a new/gutted cat will keep you on the road. Have a safe trip! :)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
944door
Member Avatar


My 2 door had a "test" pipe with everything else stock on it. It sounded like a two stroke from 3-5k rpm. I loved it :lol . But the funny part was the car needed rings and smoked like a two stroke too :stoner .
Edited by 944door, Dec 31 2010, 02:36 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ktngrandma
Member Avatar
New Member
[ *  * ]
The rest of the story............... so far. A quick update on my situation while I'm in port and have internet for a couple hours. With help from several of you the night before i had to leave and get back on the ferry, I was able to get Lil Geo going again. Got up at first light, wired the exhaust manifold pipe at the spring bolts together, test drove it for awhile and decided I could make the drive up to Bellingham (abt 120 miles) and hope & pray that Somehow, with my little size, they'd be able to squeeze me onto the ferry. If not I'd be 120 miles closer to getting it back home in 3 weeks. By some miracle, and my little size, they shoehorned me on, even though i was standby/pass #13!!! Unheard of, but made me even happier with my Geo. Several 'big vehicles' got left on the dock with lower #'s then me!!!! No problems at all on the drive up (felt like a hot rodder though!!). Hope that driving it that far with an exhaust 'leak' didn't cause any further problems. Will do something further with the cat. when I get home in 3 weeks.

Enginedoctorgeo: the only explanation I can guess at for getting that white smoke I mentioned in my first post is that maybe it was just the beginning of the problem and hadn't gotten clogged up completely yet, but was still building up and choking on the exhaust but still able to spew that one last cloud of white smoke I saw. Should have clarified that it was only that one time I saw the white smoke - and no more after that, and was after the 2nd pullover, when I could still get the car started and would go for several blocks at a time. After I saw the smoke is when it started dying consistently after a block or so and then not able to get it started at all. Hope that helps explain the possibility of white smoke with a clogged cat. Guess it wasn't completely clogged yet and gave one last belch before choking for good!!

Again, thanks everyone!! I'm sure I'll have lots more ?'s and need for advice/suggestions with other projects/to do items later. Thanks for the added courage to tackle them!!
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Johnny Mullet
Member Avatar
Fear the Mullet

I have 3 cars with no cats. You can remove the cat and run a pipe through it to bust up the catalyst to actually "gut" the cat and then put it back on. Car will technically have a visible cat and no clog.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Engine Tech & Diagnostics · Next Topic »
Add Reply