Ok so yeah, dont ask why but let just say i had a clogged cat and drove it around for a week or so. here is what happened. I was using my Mothers trailblazer to move something around for her and one day the thing just lost all power and would not turn on. I changed coil packs, plugs in a frantic attempt to get it moving and out of where it was sitting. someone recommended cutting out the cat because well maybe they had experience with it. and so i did and it did turn on and was working for about a day. then the transmission started to go on it. so first the motor would not stay on, then it would stay on but the tranny would'nt take it anywhere. I am currently looking at a tranny rebuild but before i do that, i want to know if a clogged cat could have caused some other damage that makes the tranny behave in such a way as to appear as a slippage. so yeah, and any help on finding write ups on replacing torque converters would help to.
what could happen if you drive a car with a clogged Cat for a while?
- Thread starter Ozenith
- Start date
Sparky
Member
- Dec 4, 2011
- 12,927
A clogged cat wouldn't kill the tranny, no. A clogged cat can make the engine not run well due to not being able to breathe well, and may lead to a fire because sometimes clogged cats can get ridiculously hot (friend's clogged cat on his old car years ago got glowing red hot and scorched the carpet on the interior).
WOW. okay so my engine cranks up fine now, so i guess the clogged cat didn't do anything. fyi i cut the cat out so the exhaust just flows out under the car now, until i can fix it, it will remain like that. I saw somewhere that someone had similar problems to mine, they had a bunch of miscellaneous electrical trouble codes tied with the tranny code, and the folks on that form said it might just be a wiring issue that is causing the problems. And that does seem likely because this issue just fell out of the sky. aside from a trouble code that had to do with the pwm solenoid, " i think that's what its called" but back when i was researching it, the apparent issue was to either replace the valve housing under the tranny or to buy this new plug that essentially made the solenoid either completely off or on. taking the pulse out. i just fixed my Jetta that had issues with the CAN Gaetway and "no Communication between tranny, ECU and CAN (intermittent)" but the problem ended up being an o2 sensor that was shorting out. Good thing with the Jetta was that i have a Vag Com so i was able to dive deep into the car, armed with a Bentley manual for the car i was able to look up wiring diagrams, component, and detailed repair instructions, along with service alerts. i know similar resources exist for trailblazers just have to find them..... for free. lol