how do you know when your catalytic is cooked?

Question

well my exhaust on my truck is smellin kinda strong as hell and stinky so im just wonderin if my cat is cooked on my 89 chevy truck 305

Answer 1

I had a converter go bad on my '86 Chevy, The symptoms were:

it had no power and would not go faster than about 30MPH. Apparently, it had melted the core material and plugged up.

If your car is still running good, don't worry about it until you fail the smog check. (if they have inspections where you live)

Answer 2

You can put a pressure gage in the oxygen sensor port, that is between the cat and the engine. Usually anything over 2 PSI is a good indication of too much resistance to flow. Your cat is getting plugged.

Answer 3

i own a repair shop,and there are a few ways to tell this,one is by testing it,,and the other is looking at it,,and see if it glows,,one going bad will start glowing from heat,, the first method requires drilling in to it and checking the amount of back pressure it has on it,,its the best method to use,,but the second one,,will also work ,you can see it glow a little after dark,,this indicates its getting stopped up,,good luck with it,i hope this help,s.

Answer 4

Romp on it (rev the engine) & see if you get a lot of pressure coming out of your exsaust pipe if you don't it could be your cat. You may need a friend to be the romper.

also you can try shaking it (while cold) see if it rattles.

hope this helps,

ss

Answer 5

It could be bad fuel, if your cat is cooked you will have loss of power and you could have a bunch of smoke and smell.

Answer 6

start your truck let it idol for a while look at your converter if it glowes red change it it is bad

Answer 7

It depends on the mileage, usually if it has 100K or more it is time to replace the convertor.

Answer 8

you will lose take off speed