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Date:         Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:26:16 -0400
Reply-To:     Jonathan Farrugia <jfarrugi@UMICH.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jonathan Farrugia <jfarrugi@UMICH.EDU>
Subject:      Re: dead cat kills van
In-Reply-To:  <49C30169.9050506@cox.net>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

i had a dead cat experience years back on my 82 scirocco. i was working longs shifts at the time and the commute between work and home was about a hour. i often found myself driving home at 4am after a long day. with few others on the road i normally did my commute at top speed, eager to get home and to bed :). anyhow one night i drive home at top speed no problems at all, very normal drive, 45 minutes on the expressway then 10 or so in town driving.

i got up the next day to go to work and get in the car. car starts but dies almost immediately. restart, same thing but much shorter duration. i try giving it gas but it just dies all the quicker. this is a car which i had owed for years and had disassembled most every thing in that car at least once. i looked around under the hood for a while and everything looked right. all of a sudden it hit me, this thing is trying to breath but can't breath. i slipped under it and loosed the three bolts from the down pipe to the cat. told you i had disassembled every part on that car at least once ;). anyhow after opening that 1/8 crack or so at the flange the car fired right up.

i drove it to work where i put on a respirator and gutted the cat. on inspection it had had a 90 percent meltdown and the honey comb had collapsed onto itself. the thing about a gutted cat is that is quacks sort of like a duck at least on all the cars i have had a gutted cat on except the vanagon, the quack is real loud on big v8 econolines. i assume it has to do with the pressure drop that happens in the now empty cat. quacking only happens under deceleration if i remember correctly.

often i can hear cars with failing cats driving down the road. they develop a very high pressure sound. those cars sound sort of like rocket ships going down the road :).

my understanding is that the cats can fail from fouling (burning oil) which results in plugging of the reaction surface. the only way that i have heard that they melt down is from an incorrect fuel air mixture which raises the internal temp of the cat and melts the ceramic structure. does anyone have more insight as to how they fail, including melting down?

jonathan

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009, mark drillock wrote:

> I made a new friend this week on the Samba. He posted about a vexing > problem with his son's recently acquired 87 Wolfsburg. It had just died > as he was driving and then would not start. He had it towed home and was > trying to get it going. A former VW mechanic friend came over with tools > and parts and they tried to fix it to no avail. It would fire a few > times on the first attempt and then nothing but a mild pop now and then > while cranking. The smell of gas was very strong and the plugs were very > wet. Compression check was good and fuel pressure read fine. Injectors > sprayed in pulses as expected. > > I saw his cry for help on the Samba and let him know I lived near enough > to come over and give him a hand. I spoke to him by phone and quickly > understood that this might be a challenge. I brought my Digitool and > some spare parts and went over a few days ago about 4 miles to the next > town where he lived. The readings of everything on the Digitool were > fine but no go on running. My timing light showed no problem and a > pulled plug wire sparked strongly on the block as he cranked. > Nonetheless I pulled my dizzy from the van I drove over in since > everything else had been pretty much tried. It made no difference so I > went home, as perplexed as he was. > > Between me and the other guy who had been there, almost every major part > was swapped, plugs, dizzy, ECU, AFM, Temp II, fuel pressure regulator, > coil. He even hooked up a gas can to remove bad fuel as a possible > cause. He called again last night and said he was thinking of getting 4 > new injectors since he did not know what else it could be. I did not > think that was a likely cause so I offered him the loan of a set of > known good ones I had for a test. Late this afternoon I went over and we > plugged in my whole fuel line loop with injectors but it made no > difference. With the AFM off he cranked some more and I happened to put > my hand over the intake boot. I was surprised how little suction there > was, even when I opened the throttle. Then I put my hand over the > tailpipe as he cranked some more. Again there was little air flow. Ah Ha! > > In spite of his skepticism, he agreed to unbolt the cat and have a look > since there was nothing much else to try. Of course the bolts were too > rusted and a sawsall was needed to cut them. Once we had a little gap > between the J-pipe and cat, he gave the starter a crank. The engine > roared to life. > > We then loosened the muffler/cat enough to get a look and a pile of > busted up remains of the cat innards could be seen inside. He thanked me > and I made it home in plenty of time for dinner. > > Mark > now more suspicious of cats > > >


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