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[ducati-boy]

Hi Guys

Left the car on saturday it was running fine, went to start it up today, will not fire on all cylinders and it stinks of bad eggs/sulpher type smell!

anybody had this or can point me in the right direction?

no warning lights on or other obvious symptoms  

Regards

Tony

[Dazzler]

Rotten egg smell is the cat converter, maybe it has collapsed and causing a blockage, hence the bad running :-/

[TheBoy]

or continued use when running bad has destroyed the cat (more likely)

[ducati-boy]

Thanks

Has not been running bad at all, its been at its best for the last couple pf weeks!

would the cat collapsing cause the bad running?

[Dazzler]

It can yes because the engine can't bteath out very well, so to speak

[ducati-boy]

so excuse my non mechanical mind, but do i now replace the cat or the whole exhaust or what, and will it automatically run right once it is replaced???

[ffcgary1]

Cats are avalible sep  but are expensive.Try to use gm/vx cats as aftermarket are not as good as gen parts

[nemesis_v6]

if the cats are at fault then replacing them will make it run sweet again and the egg smell is prop cats

[TheBoy]

The cats are generally very reliable. They have probably failed for a reason (ie, previous, continued bad running). Simply replacing will only cause them to fail again

[ducati-boy]

Msg for the boy - you keep saying that it is previous bad running, the car has been running fine. can you help me out here before i make an expensive mistake.

[TheBoy]

Msg for the boy - you keep saying that it is previous bad running, the car has been running fine. can you help me out here before i make an expensive mistake.

Cats are very reliable. Its rare for them to fail, unless physically damaged or contaminated by unburnt fuel or oil.

If the cats do block, generally exhaust gases will come out of the easiest location, frequently the SAI system.

If you do decide to replace cats, due to reliability, get some genuine 2nd hand ones (£60 a pair is going rate).

[Marks DTM Calib]

Not wanting to state the obvious to people but.....why would a collapsed cat smell any different ot a good cat?

The smell will be sulphur and is most likely caused by an in-efficient burn, I would be checking leads and DIS pack as a first off.

Blocked exhausts generaly have little efect on tickover and more often than not blow the air injection pipes off!

[Jimbob]

my cat is very unreliable, hell of a mouse problem!
smells of catfood normally  
wet cat, now thats a nasty smell  

[Grumpy]

Hi Ducati-Boy.

Just to clear something up here, in case you're getting the cart before
the horse.

What folk are saying is that it is not a faulty Cat that is causing your
misfiring.

But the faulty engine misfiring that is causing your Cat to smell.

If your Cat isn't damaged already, then it will get damaged if you continue
to run the engine without rectifying the fault.

As 'Marks DTM Calib' pointed it, a probable cause is unburnt fuel being
passed through the Cat due to an ignition fault.

Hope that clears up any confusion.

[Tony H]

Have you changed the petrol station recently? some suppliers still sell petrol that is not reduced sulphur , this could be the cause of the pong