Smoking Cat

[98SF19]

No, I'm not talking about Heathcliff or Garfield lighting up . . .

A (not-so) short history:
Several weeks ago I had hard steering when leaving work, but if I recall correctly, fluid level was fine. In the last week or so, there's been a burning smell coming from car after parking. Over the past few days, I notice reduced power, after getting on it (normal driving for me). THIS MORNING on the way home (after getting on it) the car has reduced power AND a slight stumble during light acceleration (wasn't about to push it beyond light accel). No codes. I get home, park in a tow-truck friendly way, and look under car to see 2nd cat smoking like George Burns. I wasn't too worried since I understand fresh oil doesn't readily ignite, and that the ceramic cat guts don't burn at all.

QUESTION: What is the most likely fluid culprit, Power steering, coolant, or engine oil? It did smell kinda sweet, so I'm inclined to think it was either coolant or PSF, and more so PSF since I don't believe there are any coolant lines over the 2nd cat (correct me if I'm wrong).

Thanks!

 

[E1]

what you described could be any one of the three fluids. The sweet smell is usually associated with coolant, but that doesn't smoke so much as it steams.

PSF has pretty much the same smell as trans fluid. You can pull the trans dipstick and smell it for comparison I guess.

Oil leak in this region is most common. In my experiences it is usually the front crank pulley seal on the front cover. It only leaks a little but when you are out driving on the road it flings it off the crank pulley, flying all over that area of the engine compartment. Some of it collects on and around the passenger
s side of the subframe and wind pressure during driving usually holds an extra bit up in the crannies of the subframe here and there.
When you finally come to a stop, the fluid is no longer pushed up and tends to collect together and drip down from a low spot on the subframe. One popular low spot in this area is directly above the #2 catalytic converter.
So, everytime you come to a stop the car drips a few drops on top of the cat and stops there. The only trace is that the subframe seems 'wet' between the crank pulley and the #2 cat.

 

[98SF19]

Thanks Eric for the thorough explanation. I had thought that the pulley side of the motor (passenger side) was the "back" side, as I was told I have a rear main leak and I had noticed the subframe and motor mount were coated with crystallized oil on the passenger side. I also have a water pump-side cam seal leak (which will put my starter's lights out if I don't resolve). Do I have the front/back mixed up?

Since I got your eyes, what's your take on the Blue Devil stuff? I was planning on trying it a couple days before my next oil change. Seems to have a good reputation of fixing oil leaks, and honestly, with an 18 year old car whose gaskets are getting harder and harder to find, it seemed like a reasonable course of action.

 

[SHOdded]

I always thought of the pulley side of the motor as the "front" of the motor, the reference being derived from when RWD and longitudinal mounting were popular. So the front bank would be bank 1 (firewallside) in the transverse motor, rear bank would be bank 2 (radiatorside).

 

[98SF19]

Popped a CEL tonight and for the first time since I've owned the car, it started to blink.
P301 - OH GOODY. It's one of the rear COPs.
I hadn't considered that it was another COP gone bad since I just changed #5 3 months ago. That was the passenger side of front bank, so it was a 5 minute job. Not so #1, which is just aft of #5. I have 7 of the original 8 Motorcraft COPs sitting in my garage, and one of them is bad. I have an 85.7% (6/7) chance I'll pick a good one, but those odds still don't sit well considering the chore it would be to have to get back to the rear bank to try another one if the first pick's bad (though I would know that all remaining original COPs were good!) I don't think it would be wise to drive the car in this condition, but having to wait for more COPs to arrive would mean I'd have to either bum a ride with a coworker for a few days or get a rental. These look like the modern day Alanisdeals: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-IGNITIO...ash=item280520a495:g:rNoAAOSwDNdVxG9d&vxp=mtr

I may just go with 4 COPs from the stealer to put in back, assuming any local dealers even have them in stock!
What is the main cause of the coils going bad anyway?

Sheesh . . .
Multiple oil leaks, PITA COPs popping left and right - I think it's time to get serious about downgrading this vehicle as my daily driver . . .
Won't sell though; had it since '01!

The GT350's lookin' better and better, and a mid-life crisis may be close at hand . . .
For those of you that didn't see this in the Chit Chat section: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50438230/GT350RC.mp4
If you have issues viewing, copy the link, open VLC player, click Media at top left and click paste from clipboard, then Play.

 

[luigisho]

I think they mostly go bad due to all the heat cycles under the hood. Plus it's a very bumpy environment. The Gen III's are getting up there in age now. More maintenance issues will surely follow. If the tranny wasn't going on my Gen III when I let it go several years ago, I still might have it. Reliable as heck compared to the Gen I's & II's I've owned & still own. Have a '14 F150 for daily use though. I think I would consider looking for a cheap rental deal rather than doing the rear bank twice.

 

[stephen newberg]

You can pick up COPs on the internet far more cheaply than getting them from Ford. That lets you buy a couple of extras in case any go bad on you from start, though the ones I got a few years ago have been fine. There are a couple of threads on this here about if you look around. Alanis is the maker, maybe? I forget.

pax, smn

 

[SHOdded]

alanisdeals, right.

 

[98SF19]

What I shoulda mentioned in my original post was that it seemed as though the smoking cat was doing so from the bottom surface, not necessarily from above. Based on this and the stronger vibrations I was experiencing (stronger based on previous COPs that have gone out), my first thought was that the cat was clogged to the extend that it was causing a restriction severe enough to cause the stronger vibrations. Does this make any sense? I likened it to the effect of driving on the highway and then opening the rear windows about half way - you get that crazy air pressure cycling effect. I imagine that each of the 8 COPs going out feels just a bit different, but the coincidence of the smoking cat and the P301 (also got a P308 but it didn't have freeze frame data like the P301 did for some reason) was too much for me to consider purely circumstantial.

I'm gonna move one of the front 4 COPs (other than #8) back into the #1 spot as I know those 3 are working - KNOCK ON WOOD. If the #8 code persists, that will be an easy fix later.

Luigi, these cars are entering an era of requiring more maintenance. You mention the tranny - one of the biggest reasons I'd like to keep the car going is that I purchased a lifetime warranty on the tranny back in 2010. A '14 or '15 F150 is on my short list.

Stephen, I have an e-bay link above to what I believe are the modern day equivalent of Alanisdeals - 8 COPs for just under $100

 

[98SF19]

Here's a better one - not sure how I missed it earlier:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Set-of-8-NEW-IGNITION-COIL-FOR-FORD-TAURUS-SHO-1996-1999-C1066-DG465-UF-162/141315317510?_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109&_trkparms=aid=333008&algo=RIC.MBE&ao=1&asc=35559&meid=cd7c073d53954fb0ba786bf6904e26b4&pid=100010&rk=7&rkt=17&sd=171884717205

It does say something that there are multiple vendors for this part . . .

 

[luigisho]

Yeah these are all cheap Chinese coils. I had bad experience with them while others seemed to like them. Good luck. rear bank isn't fun so make sure those are high quality units in the back. I love the manual gearbox on my GenII but I do miss the GenIII now and then. Never left me stuck on the side of the road at 200k mileage.

 

[98SF19]

make sure those are high quality units in the back

That was my original thought too. But after giving it some thought, my first Motorcraft cop went out back around 2007 I think, at which point I had 8 Alanisdeals put in. So the approximate life of each is about the same +/-. I've had 2 Alanisdeals units go out within 3 months, but after the first Motorcraft puked, I yanked the remaining 7. I think it comes down to the heat cycles like you said, and if my assessment is right about the #2 cat being jammed badly and accumulating excessive exhaust gas, this would make some sense. I'm gonna try and have a shop crack open both cats tomorrow and I'll go from there.

I'm currently mid-stream for getting coil #1 replaced - surge tank is out of the way. Man, I'd forgotten how much of a PITA the driver's side rear surge tank fastener bolt was. It didn't help that I'd left the DPFE assembly on. DOH!

 

[Nuke]

I had read somewhere that you could use circa 2000 4v Mustang COPs on a SHO if you reused the SHO boots. That would open up for some nice aftermarket COPs. I wish I knew where I read that. Anyone want to chime in? I want to do that on my 96 when the time comes.

 

[98SF19]

After fighting with getting the intake runners aligned with bolt holes for over half an hour, I finally got everything put back together and restarted. I expected a bit of stumbling, which I got, but what I didn't expect was what sounds like a huge vacuum leak coming from right in the middle of the runners. I don't get it. I cranked the bolts down pretty well (didn't max them out) and I'm pretty sure I had the gaskets lined up right. I had to stand on 4 of the runner connector hose sections to get one of the runner pieces to line up with the bolt holes, but I was sure to tighten all the metal straps well. Hopefully, it was just the effect of cold weather on these short rubber hoses.

Any ideas?

 

[SHOdded]

I had read somewhere that you could use circa 2000 4v Mustang COPs on a SHO if you reused the SHO boots. That would open up for some nice aftermarket COPs. I wish I knew where I read that. Anyone want to chime in? I want to do that on my 96 when the time comes.

Maybe in this thread here?
http://www.shoforum.com/index.php?threads/cop-coil-on-plugs-blueprints-for-the-sho.107253/

 

[Nuke]

That is for the Gen 1/2 from what I read unless I missed something. And I could have sworn it was on a youtube video.

 

[E1]

Since I got your eyes, what's your take on the Blue Devil stuff? I was planning on trying it a couple days before my next oil change. Seems to have a good reputation of fixing oil leaks, and honestly, with an 18 year old car whose gaskets are getting harder and harder to find, it seemed like a reasonable course of action.

Not familiar with this product. Not normally a great fan of 'mechanic in a can remedies' but then I must admit I have had a fair amount of success with Lucas Stop Slip on several trannies.

I look to stuff such as this as a Hail Mary Pass. The worse/more desperate the job to do it right, the more likely I am to take a relatively cheap stab at my luck.

Rear main seal job is no fun. Would I pay $15.00 to get a 5% chance that I won't have to pull my engine? **** yeah.

 

[98SF19]

Thanks Eric. It's good to know my approach is in accord with a SHO veteran!
Any advice you can lend to my upper intake vacuum leak mentioned above? As much of a pain as it was to get the horns aligned and bolted down, I'd like to know what the most likely cause is before tearing back in. I've only done that twice and both times it was an issue. Is it easier to leave the rear surge tank bolts a bit loose until horns are back on and secure?

Also, thanks for rescuing my hijacked thread. I dub thee Rambo of SHO (or perhaps SHO-Rambo Thread Saver - figure out those initials)

 

[E1]

The gaskets that go between the surge tank horns and the upper intake runners go over some little pins in the surge tank.

The upper intake runners have little holes in them to receive those little pins. You have to feel those pins lock in to the back of the runner piece. Even with the screws in place, those pins might not be lined up properly. When you crank the bolts tight in this case, it will lock the runners against the pins instead of locking them down on the gaskets. Looks tight, feels tight, leaks air between the gaskets.

An old trick to finding leak locations is a can of carb cleaner with a hose on it. Start the car, spray cleaner around gasket edges. When idle surges, you found the leak.

 

[98SF19]

Start the car, spray cleaner around gasket edges. When idle surges, you found the leak

Thanks! I was going to do this with some PB blaster after getting home last night, but as usual, got pulled away.
The irony here is that I first saw this tip while watching the youtube channel "Eric the Car Guy".

The metal gaskets seemed to align easily into the little dowels, I just couldn't get the horns to align with bolt holes. I may have stated this earlier, but it seemed that the longer horns (connect to lower, forward-most ones) were about 1/4" too far aft to line up. I had to actually LOOSEN the lower horn piece to allow it to flex upward a bit. Then I was able to adjoin the long tubes to where I could get bolts to engage, then tightened all bolts down. There must be a small gap under one or both of these pieces. I guess I need to stop typing about the problem and get out and fix the son of a bitch.

All those years of running the K&N panel filter are being undone with each minute the motor's sucking in air from the top. The O2-sensor feedback is surging the motor rich to lean and back again, but tries its hardest to find an equilibrium. I had a stall while stopped at a light last night after going wide open for a few seconds.