chpsuey

I have an 05 TL and filled it up at the gas station the other day. I got about a mile down the road and felt a loss of power. After another mile, the car had no power and was making terrible noises. Pulled over, checked oil - OK. Figured maybe a bad tank of gas, so I topped off the tank at a new station with high test. The car ran rough but the fuel seemed to burn through and drove back to work and home with no issues, minus a small amount of lag. Next morning, car would crank but not fire up. I had it towed to a shop and they are saying a code is showing a clogged cat. Has anyone run into the cat completely shutting down the car? If so, its covered under warranty and I'm good. Also curious if the O2 sensor can shut it down completely? I don't believe it is a fuel pump because 1. not in the recall range and 2. the plugs were flooded from me trying to start it. Right now I'm $200 into diagnostics and just not sure if that is correct. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I hate cars

Bad fuel, fuel pump, or regulator.

I've never seen a converter clog up so bad that the car wouldn't start and the odds of both of them clogging up are slim to none.

Bad 02 won't cause a no start.

There's no code for a clogged cat. You can have a converter efficiency code where it compares the primary and secondary 02 values but bad gas and misfires can cause that code as well. Basically, if you car was running terrible and misfiring, ignore any 02 codes for now.

The other 3 things listed will.

When you first turn the key on, listen for the pump to come on for a couple seconds to prime the system. If you can hear the pump come on, odds are you have bad gas, specifically water in the fuel.

If you pulled the plugs and they were wet with fuel, clean them off, install, and try and start the car with the gas pedal to the floor. This will put it into clear flood mode and the fuel injectors will be shut off until you let off of the pedal.

I can't remember the name of the product but it's made specifically for water contamination as long as it's not too bad and it goes in the tank. Something with "heat" in the name I think.

Topping it off wasn't the best thing to do. Water goes to the bottom.

chpsuey

Thanks, I appreciate it. I have never heard of a cat causing the car to not start. I'll give the heat a try and see if that helps.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

A completely clogged cat can shut the car down, but never had personal experience with that situation. If the main cat is what they are referencing, have them disconnect the exhaust at that cat and give it a try, or if other cats, do the same for a test. A completely clogged cat would allow the engine to fire up, but then immediately die as the exhaust can't escape and as it came on suddenly, I have doubts, unless the converter suddenly exploded inside and the core blew apart. Normally as the cat clogs, the engine performance will dwindle until only an idle is available, but when throttle applied, the engine will die.
Emissions warranty 8/80:
http://owners.acura.com/Documentum/W...t/bpl27695.pdf

Check to see when the station had a delivery and if a tanker dumped fuel into the tanks just prior to your fill-up. The in ground tanks have pickups that are off the bottom of the tank, but a delivery will stir up any water/sediment that resides at the bottom of those tanks and if the filtration system is poor, not only the water, but debris can move to the car's gas tank. As you say that the plugs are wet is an indication that gas is moving from the tank to the cylinders, but is the gas contaminated?

Many, many, years a friend couldn't get his car started. His wife got gas the day before drive home and that was it. I checked everything before I concluded that the attendant had pumped diesel fuel into the car. Car was towed, tank and fuel system cleaned and the station paid the bill. I do know that the diesel fuel nozzle is larger and it is not possible to fit into the restricted neck of cars that must use unleaded gas.