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Don't know what to do next... help??

tai27yiuop

tai27yiuop

New member
Hey guys, I bought a 98' Grand Prix GTP from a buddy that's leaving for the Marine Corps. Anyway, I bought the car for $700, knowing it would need a lot of tlc. I don't know all that much about cars. The car was exhibiting all the classic symptoms of a faulty CPS. So, I replaced it. No luck.. Turns out it was the ignition control module. I replaced that. After thinking everything was fine and dandy, I took the car up the Santiam Pass here in Oregon. The pass has some steep grades. About 80 miles through the pass (80% uphill), the car starts losing power so I give it more gas. Eventually, gas pedal is all the way down. Car loses power uphill again, more gas, cel starts blinking. Studdering.. I pull over smell smoke. Hop out, open hood, small flame under 2nd spark plus, front side. Coolant boiling out of overflow tank. Put fire out with water. Anyway, tried to flag people down, nobody stops. Whole time I'm driving, temp gauge didn't go above 210*. Eventually decide to drive home downhill mostly. Car fires up fine drives fine to rest stop. Check under hood, tube from radiator to engine has collapsed. Coolant level is low, have to put normal antifreeze in it, no dex coolant rest stop. Got rest of way home, car ran fine. Still running fine. Changed thermostat and I'm afraid to drive pass now. Any ideas? I noticed yellow sludge a long time back when he first bought it. It's gone now and hasn't come back.
 


Not to sure about the other things I know someone will come in and help but I know it is not good at all to mix the coolant you should get that out as fast as possible
 
Being Oregon.. are you using er...at least 91 octane? I think 91 is the best you can get there.

Mileage on the car?
Last tune up?

I'm thinking potentially clogging cat.
 
170k miles.. and no I was using regular unleaded (87). And idk about last tune up possibly a few years back. I'm going to flush the radiator, but I live in an apartment and can't do work here and I don't even have access to a hose. That's interesting about the closed cat because I had a code for p0420 which if I remember correctly is the cat converter. Btw I had car in drive whole time(didn't move to 3rd). And the car is driving perfectly well in the city
 


Hmm if it's the catalytic converter, can I just torch it out and throw in a piece of straight pipe? Any pros or cons to doing that.. By the way I know about emission laws and what not
 


Hey guys, I'm back again. So with deleting the cat do I have to torch it out and throw in some straight bar? Is the cat bolted on or is it welded in? I'm trying to figure out how to do this myself and I don't have an oxy torch to cut it out or a welder. Is it possible to cut it out with a saw zawzall and clamp a tube in somehow? Or possibly cut out the cat and gut it and replace it with clamps? I know these might be "noobie" questions but I'm trying to use all the resources I have. I don't have much more money to go to the shop
 


And by the way, the code I'm getting is p0420. Autozone printed it out for me and it's "catalyst efficiency low bank 1" does that further the suspicion that the cat is out? Or could it possibly be something else ?
 
Awesome..thanks. So can anyone direct me to where I can find one? I looked around a bit. I'm not looking for anything nice just the cheapest bolt in down pipe available.
 
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