Help!!!
#1
02-21-2019, 11:59 PM
Help!!!
My 2000 ford explorer has been doing great I have changed alot of parts on it but now all of a sudden I drove it for about 30 min and when I started it it was shaking spitting and sputtering as I accelerate it sounded like the catalytic converters where clogged with something and got louder and smelled like burning plastic but still stayed running and driving when I got to my destination I shut the engine off and got out and noticed smoke like whiteish grayish smoke I opened the hood and the smoke wasnt coming from the engine bay it was coming from the first cat converter closest to the front of the truck it also looked a bit wet kind of looked black untill it dried then it didn't look like nothing was there can anyone give me any ideas on what they think it may be I Google the symptoms and it says could be a exhaust manifold other people have said it could be the thermostat regulator or condensation from the loose exhaust due to a bolt missing in the front and holes being put in the converters and breaking up the honeycomb to make the truck run please help me
#2
02-22-2019, 09:23 AM
How does it idle?
Is/has the anti freeze level recently dropped?
I saw from your other post you broke the core out of the forward cat through holes drilled. How did you remove the old core pieces? Holes were then left in the cat housing?
When a cat is restricted/ plugged it’s best to replace it, but in a pinch or used as a test pipe, most drop the unit and ‘rod’ out the core emptying the busted up pieces out of the outlet side otherwise they travel down the exhaust potentially plugging the next in line..Roding a core creates problems, possibly damaging the others, fuel trim/ mixture issues, and at the very least a CEL. Hanky posted in your thread about using a vacuum gauge to check for a exhaust restriction. The other simple test is to install a pressure gauge into the 02 hole. High exhaust pressure will show up with low vacuum readings, or high pressure at the 02. It sounds as if one still exists. The fact that it smelled hot, visible smoke of some sort, and if the engine temp remained or indicated normal, it would seem the exhaust was critically hot.
Loose or missing exhaust bolts wouldn’t normally cause the running concerns your having. If the thermostat was an issue, it may go over temp, but should run fine while it does, unless it went severely over temp and caused base enginge damage. If a coolant bleed, dripping on the exhaust, head gasket etc, can produce the whiteish smoke as well.
Is/has the anti freeze level recently dropped?
I saw from your other post you broke the core out of the forward cat through holes drilled. How did you remove the old core pieces? Holes were then left in the cat housing?
When a cat is restricted/ plugged it’s best to replace it, but in a pinch or used as a test pipe, most drop the unit and ‘rod’ out the core emptying the busted up pieces out of the outlet side otherwise they travel down the exhaust potentially plugging the next in line..Roding a core creates problems, possibly damaging the others, fuel trim/ mixture issues, and at the very least a CEL. Hanky posted in your thread about using a vacuum gauge to check for a exhaust restriction. The other simple test is to install a pressure gauge into the 02 hole. High exhaust pressure will show up with low vacuum readings, or high pressure at the 02. It sounds as if one still exists. The fact that it smelled hot, visible smoke of some sort, and if the engine temp remained or indicated normal, it would seem the exhaust was critically hot.
Loose or missing exhaust bolts wouldn’t normally cause the running concerns your having. If the thermostat was an issue, it may go over temp, but should run fine while it does, unless it went severely over temp and caused base enginge damage. If a coolant bleed, dripping on the exhaust, head gasket etc, can produce the whiteish smoke as well.
Last edited by Hayapower; 02-22-2019 at 09:26 AM.
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