I have a 1989 Pickup, 22RE, stick, 4x4, and I recently had to go recover my friend's 93 Grand Cherokee. After carefully navigating over a mile and a half of muddy trail, I recovered the Jeep. Now, the truck is taking forever to warm up (30 minutes and it was still cold) and when I hit the throttle, just off idle it sputters and chokes, but doesn't die. If I bury my foot, it runs almost fine. What could have caused this? The catalytic converter was glowing red after I returned to pavement, and now emits a really awful smell. Anyone had this happen before?

 

have you washed it since? if not go through and wash it thoroughly, mud tends to get caked in places it doesnt belong and cause over heating issues

 

yeah, i've washed it about 3 times, and it hasn't changed at all. I cleaned my distributor out, plugs looked ok, tps is good, MAF is good, still can't figure it out.

 

air filter? clogged breather hose?

 

if cat was red hot... You need a new cat. cut a wedge out of the exhuast pipe in front of the cat and see if that helps. Sounds like it could be a clogged cat. Also inspect the rest of the exhuast to make sure its not kinked and restricting flow.

 

what he said/\
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the entire exhaust aft of the manifold was brand spankin' new, i have the receipt. was done 3 months ago. still think the cat being cooked can cause these problems? I don't have an O2 sensor after the cat, tho...

 

It could also be running extremely lean. Is ur header glowing? Maybe your timing chain skipped a tooth and is running way advanced. The rotten egg smell can be lean condition-related. You say your plugs looked ok. Were they white,tan, black, etc?

 

Also check the exhaust to see if perhaps you crushed part of the system and didn't know it.

 

Yeah Red hot cat means that the exhaust flow is restricted there, so I bet the cool water splashing on the 400+ degree cat caused the insides to crack and fall apart, causing a blockage! Time for a new cat, unbolt the exhaust where the header ends and see if the loss of power stops. But dont drive it like that for too long, cause the 02 will be reading lean and may overfuel the engine!

 

Red hot cat usually means there is an excess of hydrocarbons going into it (too much fuel). Check that wiring to the O2 sensor is still intact, check your plugs for fouling, check for codes.

 

x2 on to much fuel the cat is doing its job by burning it all in there. check for damages to your exhaust first of course. i have never heard of a cat glowing because of a lean condition.

 

I rechecked my sensors, they were fine. How do I read codes on this thing?

 

and the plugs were slighlty whitish-gray.

 

Whitish grey? That sounds like your timing may be too advanced, get the timing done or do it yourself, its not hard to do, you will need (if you don't already have one) to get a timing light.

 

The only way you can read codes is if your Check Engine light is on, if it is go to autozone and buy a OBD1 Scanner.

 

Get a Chiltons manual. It will explain how to pull the codes. You don't need any fancy equiptment.
Jim

 

Would an O2 sensor do this? Pulled off the cat, it was good, but looked at the O2 sensor and it was caked with dirt. Never seen that before.

 

Figure out the 'not warming up' problem first. If the engine, for some reason (thermostat stuck open, fan clutch stuck engaged maybe?), doesn't warm up properly, the mixture will be rich due to the coolant temp sensor feedback to the ECU, and that can cause the converter to overheat.

also, if the tailpipe was submerged long enough for mud to migrate up and stick in the tail pipe, the restriction could likewise cause a similar issue with the converter overheating.

 

with the cat removed, it didn't change the symptoms at all. what should the coolant temp sensor normally read?