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Fuel Pump or Catalytic Converter?
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huckstah
New User
Mar 5, 2013, 9:12 PM
Post #1 of 5
(11775 views)
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Fuel Pump or Catalytic Converter?
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My 2002 Ford Explorer started losing acceleration/power suddenly while going down the road. It struggled to climb hills, and there was a loss in about 90% of its power even with the gas pedal pressed to the floor. I turned off my vehicle, waited a couple of hours, and it ran fine. The next day, after driving for about an hour, it did the same thing again. Once I parked it, I tried to crank it up again and it will only start up for about 5 seconds and then slowly sputter and die.
Before all of this happened, I ran out of gas TWICE in a period of 2 weeks. It's possible that a very small amount of water may have been in my fuel can that i used to fuel-up my car, but I highly doubt it. A local mechanic also told me that he has had to repair 6 cars in the past week that were getting gas from the same station that i use, and he says there was water in their gas and all the cars needed new fuel pumps.
Since replacing a new fuel pump is 500 dollars, I'm really wondering if there is a cheaper solution I can try. Maybe draining my tank, or cleaning my fuel lines or my filter? Perhaps adding some sort of additive to my tank or filling it up with new gas and try running all the gas through my engine?
EDIT: I just put 5 gallons of new gas in my tank, and ran my vehicle for about 5 minutes to try and cycle some gas through. I could hear a distinct rattling sound that sounded like it was coming from under the drivers floorboard. I've been hearing this rattle for the past couple days, and when I opened my hood I noticed my catalytic converter was red hot. This could have been from me revving the engine, but the rattling sound also sounded like it came from near the catalytic converter also. Could a bad catalytic converter be causing my power and acceleration issues?
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Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Mar 5, 2013, 9:26 PM
Post #2 of 5
(11767 views)
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Re: Fuel Pump or Catalytic Converter?
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I know prices suk but don't run out of fuel as that's what cools a fuel pump. If you know your gas station had a problem check for water in a glass jar when you change your fuel filter and do that.
The glowing converter is a sign it's way over worked with unburned fuel. Doesn't matter why - if fuel isn't getting delivered properly you would have unburned fuel whether fuel pressure, water messing things up or other things.
Converter could also be junk so check for back pressure too,
T
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speed
User
Mar 5, 2013, 9:51 PM
Post #3 of 5
(11742 views)
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Re: Fuel Pump or Catalytic Converter?
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I agree with it sounds like you have an overfueling problem. You should not drive this if your cat is glowong red hot you may have ready caused permanent damage you need to have this towed to a shop and have them use a high end scan tool to look at data and figure our why you're overfueling, if you drive jt in this state you WILL cause permanent damage to your cat of its not already done.
GM ASEP 26 SCC Milford ASE certified in Brakes and Electrical on Thursday April 5th 2012
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Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Mar 6, 2013, 5:53 PM
Post #4 of 5
(11687 views)
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Re: Fuel Pump or Catalytic Converter?
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It probably has a misfire which explains lack of power. The misfire is probably ignition related so all that fuel that isn't burning is going into the converter and turning it into a kiln.
Back pressure test the catalyst to see if it is plugged up and be sure you fix the cause before slapping another cat on.
Since we volunteer our time and knowledge, we ask for you to please follow up when a problem is resolved.
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nickwarner
Veteran
/ Moderator
Mar 6, 2013, 7:22 PM
Post #5 of 5
(11676 views)
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Re: Fuel Pump or Catalytic Converter?
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Have you ever had a tune up-done on this? How many miles are on it?
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