last october i had a similar problem- similar symptoms - a similar diagnosis (clogged cat) and none of it worked stumbling loss of power severe drop in fuel economy (18-22 mpg down to 10mpg) oh i was confused cleaned a bunch of contacts (that i could find) poured gallons of various gas treatments had unburned gas in the exhaust along with backfiring - i was thinking space aliens or bad distributor or failing computer-y stuff that baffles me took it to seattle area van specialist - he spent lots of time, cleaning contacts, fixing odd vacuum leaks etc - intelligent tinkering basically, and though he cut me a deal (the weekend before my wedding, see) it still took many billable hours. he got it going nicely - mileage restored, power restored, and now that its been almost six months, wallet restored - sort of
If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore it to him though I drown myself. - henry thoreau On 16 Apr 2007, , at 10:39, Jeff Stewart wrote: > OK, despite the cold, wind and snow flurries, I went out and pulled the > cat-oh yeah, it was plugged. Took my 2 foot section of pipe that I use > as a > breaker bar and a hammer and whacked the guts out of it and > reinstalled it. > Fired up the van, and a fairly large cloud of blueish-white smoke came > out-I've never seen this engine blow smoke of any color. Took it out > for a > test drive and all was OK for 2 blocks, then stumbling, loss of power > and > backfiring. Turned around to head for home and it started to run OK > again. > So, I kept driving, and now it's intermittent runs fine-looses > power,runs > fine again. I'm beginning to believe my original crappy gas theory. > Question-could crappy gas have caused the meltdown of the cat? Since I > was > now below half a tank, I took it into town and filled it up with Amoco > premium. On the 4 mile trip back home, it seemed OK, stumbled a > little, but > was better. I have not swapped out the fuel filter yet, but will do so > as > soon as I can. Dammit, I should have known better than to buy gas in > Lynchburg on a Sunday-damn Jerry Falwell! > > Jeff Stewart > fonman4277@earthlink.net > http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/vwcampersmidatlantic/ > |
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