Blocked Cat?

scot-canuck · Post by **scot-canuck** » Mon Oct 05, 2009 11:31 pm

Hi guys
Have just bought a 2000 Ford Escort, but when driving the ruddy thing wont rev beyond 3500 - 4000 revs.
Few folk think clogged catalytic converter as unplugging Mass AirFlow sensor doesnt make a difference.
Pulls like a train till 3500, and stops dead at 4000 on hard throttle. Backing off and gently easing on sometimes works.

Going to check cat sometime this week and see if it rattles...any other things to check?

Plugs, oil filter, air filter and fuel filter all swapped

mikew1972 · Post by **mikew1972** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 10:28 am

I had similar symptoms on a 2000 Peugeot diesel. It WAS a collapsed cat that was at fault. Is this a diesel?
Mine rapidly got worse (from fine to would not rev above tick over in less than 50 miles.) The peugeot had a flexible steel pipe running from the exhaust manifold to the inlet manifold. When I took this off at the inlet manifold it ran fine (but made a lot of noise.) You could try removing the exhaust and try it quickly round the block. It will be VERY loud but will prove if the fault is a collapsed cat.

scot-canuck · Post by **scot-canuck** » Tue Oct 06, 2009 11:42 pm

Nah its a petrol.
Did remove the connector for the lambda / O2 sensor from the loom socket and sprayed both ends with carb cleaner then WD40 before forcibly plugging back together, seems to have helped a little but not cured the problem.

Tomorrow - Going to try disconnecting then reconnecting the battery to see if that resets the ECU and sorts it out totally, if not then will try replacing the lamba / O2 sensor.

Problem with removing the cat temporarily is that the cat and downpipe are one and the pipe bolts straight onto the exhaust manifold which is really short....so concerned about heat / flame shots.

Might give it a try...issue is getting it removed due to location, if that works then will basically smash the innards out of the cat till I can afford anotherin a month or so.

joy of motoring

mikew1972 · Post by **mikew1972** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:00 am

I doubt resetting the ECU will make any difference. I also doubt its a blocked cat if its petrol unless its been running very rich for a while.

You know that, AFAIK all lamda sensors are the same except for the plug on the end that connects into the wiring loom. This means that you can buy any lamda sensor and just cut the plug off and use crimp connectors or whatever you have to hand to join the leads. I mention this because, although they are the same the price for different vehicles can vary considerably.
Pattent part (rather than manufactuers origional) CATs are pretty cheap. I would expect to pay less than £100 for one for an Escort from my local car shop.

scot-canuck · Post by **scot-canuck** » Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:34 am

Mentioned resetting ECU as a few places have recommended resetting it after swapping sensor to clear bad data from old sensor, figured might be worth a go, now I have cleaned sensor.

Lambda sensor I can get with proper plug for about £21 from fleabay, which ain't so bad thankfully.

Supposedly Escorts are known for clogging / collapsing cats. Plus this car did a lot of stop start town miles recently.

Can get cat for £46 online....pattern part. so try lambda sensor and then cat....unless I can think of something else in mean time.

Raf · Post by **Raf** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:31 am

have you tried pulling error codes off it?

it could be in safe mode; 4k sounds about right for a petrol. Diesel safe modes are around 3k revs.

how much pressure are you getting out of the exhaust? unbolt cat and rev past 4k to check.

scot-canuck · Post by **scot-canuck** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:45 pm

Bloody garage, took it in to get timing belt done, they say "couldnt free waterpump, so smashed and replaced it" and added £80 parts and labour without asking first.

Then got damned shirty when I told them I wasn't happy about the lack of communication or the extra bill.

Once I get the car back I'll be naming that garage methinks.

EJJ150847 · Post by **EJJ150847** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:51 pm

scot-canuck wrote:Bloody garage, took it in to get timing belt done, they say "couldnt free waterpump, so smashed and replaced it" and added £80 parts and labour without asking first.

Then got damned shirty when I told them I wasn't happy about the lack of communication or the extra bill.

Once I get the car back I'll be naming that garage methinks.

Personally I would have changed the water pump anyway, the timing belt puts pressure on it's bearings and sods law states as soon as you drove a few hundred miles the water pump would've failed.

I would've expected to be advised that when I took it in, as you say poor comms on their part.

John

scot-canuck · Post by **scot-canuck** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 2:24 pm

on this one...waterpump isn't driven by timing belt, driven externally by water pump belt.

Frankly think they are lying as they are so defensive when I ask why they did it.

Should have taken it elsewhere...really should have.

Just lucky I wasn't face to face when he was gobbing off....might have lost the plot totally

scot-canuck · Post by **scot-canuck** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:16 pm

got the car back...not taking the car back there, total and utter arrogance from them.

my dad's view.....bunch of hamfisted hammer merchants

scot-canuck · Post by **scot-canuck** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:40 pm

Looking back
His work seems to have been fine and price wasn't bad....just his attitude stunk to high hell....a 2 minute phone call saves 20 odd minutes of dealing with hacked off customers.