My vic is running real crappy, when i do a cold start, it sounds and feels like it has cams... my cats were clogged, so i took it to a muffler shop and had them cut and hollowed. now it can breath but i have terrible MPG. it rides real rough. any i deas on how i can get my baby running like new again?


im not even sure if i posted in the right place??? im a n00b

well if you hollowed your cat did you expect to get good gas mileage? im guessing your averaging about 13 or so with it running decent?. hard to help when you have messed with something that controls your air/fuel in huge ways.

Not much back pressure left. I imagine the 'puter is having fits.

so having no cats would be my mpg prob? i have a cracked intake manifold right were the Tstat housing is. just bought a new one. im just confuzzled about what to do.

i didnt know what to think, my car was choking i had no power even under hard acceleration, before they were cut and hollowed my car starting making a weird noise,i took a vid, ill post the link in a few mins...

Here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOHBRcEmTvQ

I looked and listened to your video. The squealing noise is metal against metal, a bearing. And all that tapping are the valves, and they sound too loose, possible bad cams. That would also explain the low power.

when i took my car to a mechanic he put a water hose to his ear and and was putting the other end all over the engine and found it was comming from the exhaust mani... didnt really make much sense

I would do a compression test next. The sound "coming from the exhaust manifold" could be an issue with one of the valves, which would cause it to run bad.

In my case I found Zero compression on one cylinder which turned out to be a broken spring on an exhaust valve.

Good Luck...

Before we start shadetree shotgunning here, lets try to help him diagnose his problems.

First what is leaking on your intake manifold; coolant or air? An air leak could cause massive misfiring when cold, then when hot it might seal up. Coolant leaking on the coils could also cause massive misfiring. Do you have a check engine light on? If so get the codes pulled and report back. Either case could explain the clogged cats.

Did the drop in mpg start before or after the removed cats? Personally i have never heard of this causing a drop.

For the noises, first remove the serpentine belt then listen to rule out any front mounted accessories going bad.

And welcome to all the newbies!

my intake manifold is leaking coolant at the Tstat housing, my brother had sealed it up with liquid gasket, its been holding, but im sure i have another leak somewhere cause last time i changed my plugs i had oily coolant on the back spark plug on passengers side.
i do have a CEL on, the codes it brought up when i took it to oreillys are, P0133, P1401, there was a couple more but they were from the cats not being there. the MPG dropped before the cats were removed...

i will do the serpentine test when i get my tools back from my bro.
not sure if i have an air leak.

When was the last time the o2 sensors were changed?

i have never changed the o2 sensors before, i know they're an easy fix, but a bit pricey..

That's where id start, along with cleaning the maf and testing the egr valve

a buddy of mine is comming by to help me out, were taking the serpentine belt off to see if the noise still happends, then were checking the spark plugs, after that its on to a compression test.

the o2 sensors will probably have to wait until i can come across some money to buy them..... I will post my results when im done.

also going to check and clean MAF, but dont know how to test the EGR Valve....