exaust glowing reed hot ,cat clogged?

[antoniobanderas]

my car started to run roufh and lose power big time,i limped back home in mere luck,when i turned her off ,actually did see the catalitic converter begining to catch fire ,i trew some dirt to extinguish the flames,fine now,is this a sign of a pluged cat for sure rigth ? dammmmm i feel lucky not to have the car go in flames ! converter was glowing cherry red

[Brad97GS]

That is most likely the case, yes. I had an '86 Cavalier with a clogged cat back when I was 16...the car sometimes stalled, had no power, and couldn't really get past 55 mph. After we replaced the cat, the car ran far better. I'd tear that off before driving it again...I've dealt with car fires, they aren't fun...

[antoniobanderas]

ok,here is the sad news ,,i had the catalitic converter replaced ,car still has the same darn problem,seems the injectors are shot or the maf sensor its shot ,,what a waste of money,,i will junk this car now :???:

[Brad97GS]

Hmmm, strange. Usually when a car runs really lean, the exhaust manifold can glow red - didn't think it would do so all the way down to the cat. I don't suppose you have looked at the O2 sensor?

[antoniobanderas]

oxigen sensor its fairly new,i read the codes on the pc and it trows aire flow sensor switch circuit or sensor itself ,olso code 42 i think,,pc could be shot,,the idle its not steady,it will stall inmidiatly

[HeyDace]

Sounds like the maf. Try unplugging it, if it runs a little better (the PCM will substitute a value) then the maf is bad.

[antoniobanderas]

yes ,i did try that,i unpluged the maf sensor and the idle got better ,but it would not hold and was very lumpy ,i olso think is got to be the maf sensor ,i will try tomorrow one from the local junk yard and see what happens

[antoniobanderas]

ok guys ,i went to the local junk yard and pulled a used sensor from a wreck,i installed it in the car and ,,,,,after a few minutes of clearing up the smoke ,the car runs fine again, and i spended 150 in a new cat converter for nothing,well,at least its going again and very smooth ,smoother than before it began acting up ,problem solved here ,thanks to all