Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 10:30:52 -0400
Reply-To: Lawrence Johnson <larry_avery.johnson@SYMPATICO.CA>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Lawrence Johnson <larry_avery.johnson@SYMPATICO.CA>
Subject: Re: Cat question again
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Margie, if your cat has disintegrated and has started plugging your muffler,
you will experience a drastic drop in power - particularly noticeable on
climbing hills. If the muffler becomes very badly plugged, the back pressure
will cause your oil pressure light to come on and the buzzer to sound. At
this point you will notice exhaust leaks at each of the couplings from the
exhaust header to the muffler.
It is relatively simple to remove the cat. However if the bolts are badly
rusted, they will need to be cut off and replaced. have new bolts at hand
before you start the job. Once the cat is removed, simply look through the
intake hole. If you see a honey comb structure, you cat is intact. If not,
it will have started to pour out on your shoes by now. Take a long screw
driver and break apart the remaining pieces inside the cat. With a few good
raps, the entire guts should fall out (a gutted cat).
Now remove your muffler and hang the inlet side down. With a few good raps,
the cat debris should start to fall out of the muffler. Keep rapping and
shaking the muffler until you think its free of debris. Now turn it end for
and repeat. Then turn end for end again and repeat again. Reinstall your
gutted cat and your free up muffler. The engine should run better now that
it can breath.
With your carburetor set up, I don't know how your Oxygen Sensor/ECU are
adjusting the fuel mixture for lean burning. I suspect it is not. If I am
right, the cat has probably had its guts burned out by excess fuel vapors.
I'm sorry to say it but you should either use a gutted cat or install a
straight through pipe instead.
On our camper, I have installed a new cat but did run on a gutted cat for a
few months. I keep the gutted cat as a backup.
-Larry
'86 Syncro Westfalia
'86 Syncro Doublecab
margie reyes wrote:
> Hi, it's me (Margie) again. I have another question. What kinds of
> problems do you experience if your cat is clogged? Is it difficult to
> gut a cat, or is that considered inappropriate (or rather; Just not
> nice for people who appreciate clean air)? Our van has not been running
> to good after we got it out of the shop. If you don't remember they
> told us our dual carburetors need to be rebuilt and maybe even
> replaced. When we were driving it home there was white smoke (not a
> lot) coming out of the tail pipe (and there was not smoke before we took
> it in). A friend told us they might have made it run richer to make it
> run smoother. They also tightened up the throttle spring so it's hard
> to press on the gas. The idle sometimes is real smooth and steady, but
> after driving it for awhile when you come to a stop you have to press on
> the gas to get it not to die. It's also started spitting stuff out of
> the tail pipe(thus the cat question). Any ideas? Any suggestions and
> advice would help and be much appreciated.
> oh....one more thing...I was closing the passenger door and the window
> fell into the door. The window will roll down but not up. We took the
> door panel off and have the Haynes book with a window diagram, but we
> are still having trouble figuring out why it won't roll up.
> Thanks for all your help!!
> Margie ; )
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