Cleaned the EGR tube and now I have trouble!

[Billy P]

I followed the shotimes article on cleaning the EGR tube and it was as easy as advertised. I put it all back together and took it for a spin down the road (about 2 miles). All was good. The next morning, I drove it to work and it started sputtering when I gave it a good push on the gas. It got worse the more I drove (warmer the engine got). I brought it home and took it all apart again. Checked for debris and all that, even used a vacuum to suck anything possible out of the intake valves and piston cavity (got a real cool computer vacuum with hoses that fit nicley down the spark plug holes). Then I rechecked all my hoses and put it back together. Started it and it sounded normal. Then I put it in gear and started to drive and the sputtering returned. I put it on the ramps and crawled under it while it was running and the sputtering was coming directly from the front cat! Do I have a toasted cat? Did I mix the hoses up on the intake? Even If I did, it would just be the cooling system because I know I did not mix a cooling a vacuum line. Anyone have any ideas on what happened? Before the EGR cleaning I had no problems other than a Check Engine Light (which is now gone). Thanks ahead of time.

Billy

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Did you clean the actual exhaust manifold to intake manifold EGR tube, or the EGR passages in the intake?

 

[Billy P]

The passages in the intake. Not the actual tube from the exhaust to the EGR. This has really got me frustrated. My car had no problems but the check engine light until I cleaned the passages in the intake.

 

[Billy P]

Crap! It was the cat! It's leaking right through the first cut of the heat shield. It's loud like a standard exhaust leak. And I have the typical blocked cat problem, it loses significant power at high rpms. Does anyone know what size cats I need to get, inlet and outlet sizes? I am going to order some high flow cats from CatCo, through JCWhitney.