Where to start? Absolutely no power!

[Kari]

Yes, but the question is about the diagnostic test itself...if it might have been the same thing, or if the test is covered by any sort of warranty.

[joatmon]

Is the converter bolted in or welded in?If it's bolted in, couldn't you do your own test and uncouple the converter, tie it up so it doesn't drag, and take it out for a short spin to see if there is an effect?

[RoundUp]

Is there anyway that you can get your dealer to hook up a Tech2 to your vehicle? I know a few of the earlier posts have already suggested it, but it will show what gears you are shifting to. Since your shifting sounds erratic, it is probably different from the catalytic converter problem. I had what I think was the catalytic converter problem 2 winters ago. I gradually noticed that I was unable to pass people on the highway. It was very frustrating. The engine would be unable to go much above 3000 rpm. I would be flooring it, but the vehicle would not go any faster. I lost the "boost" from the variable valve timing. The problem just all of a sudden got better when spring came around. If your dealer is not helpful at all, maybe you can try another one in your area. There is so much that you can see with a Tech2 that it is important to get someone to hook one up to your vehicle.

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »Go in there, complain about a sulfur smell and get it replaced.... *looking both ways* Just need to find a "good dealer" even if you have to drive a bit... Yeah, I know... I already tried to get the cat replaced under the TSB by the "ex-dealer" and while they said my car was affected by the TSB, they refused to replace anything because it didn't smell like a raunchy fart that very day.... They even told me that the repairs probably wouldn't be covered under warranty or something... So I'm not real convinced that any other dealer will actually fix the damn thing, knowing my luck they'll still try to feed me some line of bull.... Brush me off.... It doesn't have the smell as bad as some of 'em, and usually it doesn't do it, so I'm very much doubting it that anyone will bother to look at the thing, let alone replace it under warranty...This problem would go away a lot quicker if I actually had enough faith in a GM dealer that they could actually fix this thing...I guess I need to get it in to the new dealer, but I'm still doubting I get anything resolved. I've lost all hope, and lost all confidence in Pontiac's service as a whole.RoundUp, if I ever get that thing in there, you bet I'll make 'em hook up the tech 2.... I know it needs to be done, bigtime....

[ColonelPanic]

Upon reading in the owner's manual that "for best performance," I need to use only Iridium-tipped plugs, I decided to not go with the AC Delco platniums. Since I'm trying to fix a "performance" issue, I guess that was a good call. Sure hit me in the wallet though, four Denso iridium plugs after tax was $55 friggin' bucks man! Tried to replace 'em tonight but I didn't have a long enough extension to reach down that far. It does look easy enough though, with the coil-on-plug thing. A hell of a lot easier than the V6 malibu I put plugs in last, that was almost impossible to get the back threein there. These are buried, but at least they are easily accessible. Anything special I should know about before I tear into Sir Knocksalot? What about gapping? I don't seem to have a figure for what the plugs should be gapped to... Is this simply one of those "screw gapping 'em, just put 'em in" things? The "gurus" at AutoZone also recommended some of that anti-siezing compound to put on the plugs prior to sticking them in there, to make sure I can pull them out later if need be. Should I smear that stuff on the new plugs before putting them in, or just leave it?TIA!

[joatmon]

Matrix manual says plug gap should be 1.1 mm / 0.043" for both the base and GT.

[coratz]

irididum plugs come pregaped you will wreck the plugs if you try to gap them.

[ColonelPanic]

Great, I made it worse by putting in the new plugs. Shouldn't have even messed with it. The plugs weren't in that bad of shape... Got them in fine, but when I went to start the car, it had a horrible miss. That I found was due to me forgetting to plug one of the coils back in. Oops. But now, it's running again, although I have a steady check engine light. Could that possibly be from where I screwed up and had the coil off? Oddly enough the light didn't come on when I had it running and it was missing so bad.I'm scared poopyless now, fearing that I've screwed up the car. Screw the new plugs, I'm going to disconnect the battery cable for a while, and reinstall the stock plugs.

[ColonelPanic]

*whew!* Colonel Panics' brain had a kernel panic there. I didn't have to go to the 'Zone so they could plug in their OBD-II reader to tell me my CEL was triggered by the 'dumb*** factor'. I drove the car over to the store, unhooked the battery cable, and when I got back everything was peachy. So it was just the residual effect of running on three cylinders for the less than 10 seconds. It still runs, and no check engine light now. Good enough to get me down to the Hyundai dealer so I could check out my new baby and even got me back home without incident. heh. A few things are dramatically different now... Number one, the idle has straightened out significantly - it's no longer violently shaking when I'm stiopped at a light. Still has a slight quiver at idle, but I'm afraid that's probably a characteristic of the 1ZZ... With the several cars that have this engine that I've been in, none of them seem to idle all that smooth anyway. So it's back to "normal" there I guess, on par with the other cars and somewhat similar to the way it was when it was new.Acceleration has been inproved a bit too... It really doesn't require the pedal to touch the floor mat in order to take off now. The transmission isn't being as stupid now either, it didn't seem to have any problems staying in the same friggin' gear for a long period of time. Now, the question will be, is this going to be a good long term solution? I didn't see that much wrong with the plugs, but there must have been something going on with them. Ain't no spark plug technician, so I dunno - check the attachment and see if you guys think there is anything wrong with the stock plug. Now, if the plugs did crap out, what made that happen in the first place? And how long until the new set starts to have problems as well?I dunno, I'm going to keep a close eye on this thing. Hopefully it holds up for a while and will continue to behave...BTW, yes, I did find an air filter. The problem I ran into was that the various AutoZone stores around supposedly carried the filter but it was never in stock. One store did have one, but I couldn't get there in time, so I just went to Advance Auto instead and picked up their one last remaining Purolator filter.

Attached files

[Ponyota]

The picture that you provided of your old plug looks to be normal,the anode should be square and the ceramic surrounding it should be light to chocolate brown. A fouled plug would be black and usually this condition is caused by a bad ignition system (misfiring), Too much fuel (a rich condition), or a plug that is too cold. Eventually this condition will prohibit the sparkplug conducting spark and the engine will get dirty from left over deposits. A plug that severely overheated will have blistering of the ceramic insulator and the rounding of the conductor surface. This indicates severe wear and high temperature melting. This is a very bad condition.

[ColonelPanic]

So far, so good... I took the beast out for a long drive this evening, and it did fine. It's so much better, actually. It performed nicely out there, pulled the hills quite a bit better. The trip was 88 miles total, and I filled up before and after. 31 MPG. Granted,that number would probably drop if I had put more miles on that tank of gas. Still, the 31 was damn good considering it's been a miracle to get 25 mpg anymore with that same type of driving. And more often than not, I was seeing values between 20 and 25.I'm hoping Sir Knocksalot is being honest with me and that he's feeling better... But somehow, it wouldn't surprise me if he's just being all nice and stuff now to kiss my (removed), but will start getting revenge once again. This car is evil like that.

[joatmon]

disconnecting the battery to clear the CEL reset the computer. I wonder if yours had gone into some mode where a flaw in the software kept it from recovering, it knew it was running poorly but wasn't smart enough to fix itself, whatever it was trying kept it running poorly. All conjecture.If the troubles come back after a couple hundred miles, you might consider resetting the computer again

[ToolGuy]

Joat, I do not think the cars computer would recover the engine since the coil was off. It just knew there was a mis fire at the time but could not fix it.

[joatmon]

well yeah, obviously the computer can't do much about a disconnected plug, but I was thinking about how he reset the computer to clear the owner induced CEL, and since he reset the computer, he hasn't been having the issue with no power. The "no power" problem was there before he started messing with the plugs, and the plug situation is back to where it was before when he was having power problems, except that the power problems aren't there anynore either. I was wondering if resetting the computer cured the original no power problem, or if it will come back after the computer relearns whatever it learned to make it run like crap in the first place.

[ToolGuy]

Yeah I see, I am sure there is a history on the code the Tech 2 could retrieve. And if it does come back it, it will leave a code again. Guess we will never know...

[Kari]

He had disconnected the battery before, though, and it would clear the problem up temporarily, but then it always came back. So the plugs probably did have something to do with why it's not having as many issues now, but why seems to be a mystery since they don't appear to be bad...

[ColonelPanic]

Yeah, I forgot to mention what Kari said earlier... I had been removing the negative battery cable frequently, letting the car sit 5-10 minutes, then reconnecting after I first discovered the car kinda ran a bit better after doing that. Each time after the fact, I would let it idle for a few minutes, drive in some stop-and-go traffic, then get on the interstate. That did seem to work as a bandaid fix, sort of.But the kicker was, it did run somewhat ok but only for a short period of time. Give it 50 miles or so on a good day, and it was back up to its old tricks again - no power, tranny constantly hunting, unable to idle without shaking the entire car, etc...At this very second, I'm at 130 miles past the last disconnect (which was only done in an attempt to kill the CEL.) And I'm happy to report it's still running quite well. Good power and smoother performance all around, but more so at idle than elsewhere. Now before the plug swap, if I disconnected/reconnected the battery, I would have already been experiencing issues again far before this amount of mileage...Man, I'm hoping this has taken care of it... But I still have no explanation how a set of plugs that appeared in quite good conditions could be the cause of this issue. The remaining three plugs looked no different than the one shown above. Could one or more of the original plugs had a small defect, but wasn't dysfunctional enough to cause a misfire or other problem that would warrant the PCM throwing a CEL and setting a code? Some damage to the plug that wasn't immediately obvious from inspection?I'm certain the car has been running far too rich during this whole ordeal... I was getting pitiful mileage, and the tailpipe was pitch black. Historically, this engine burned very clean, usually the pipe was nice and silver, with some, albeit very little soot present. I'll wipe the soot off tomorrow and monitor as the week goes on. I'm going to keep an eye on this for sure, as I would assume that it's still possible that the plugs were not the root of the problem. If that is the case, then it's likely that something went wrong somewhere along the line and wrecked the original plugs. And it would only be a matter of time until I've wasted $55 on the new plugs, since they probably got trashed as well by the original issue with the engine... For all I know, the damage could have been caused by that nasty knock/tick/etc "mr. goodwrench sez don't worry about it, we hear the noise but it's normal" I've had with the valve train on this engine for so stinkin' long now... Some improperly adjusted valve interfering with the combustion process and trashed the plugs?Who knows... At least it's not as miserable to drive at the moment. It will either stay this way or get worse, I suppose.

[ColonelPanic]

It's baaaaack.... Bleepin' unreliable piece of crap Toyota. (removed)! Yes, the problem reared its ugly @$$ head again. It was fine for a while... Now, the thing once again sits there saying "(removed) mate?" despite the accelerator being completely buried into the floorboard... Tail pipe is black again... Idle is back to being shaky at times.And not to mention, mileage is suffering bigtime... I've gotten anywhere from 18-26 MPG on the crappy side. Only one tank was 31 or so. It's odd, on a recent trip that both of our cars were on, in 200 miles, the Mrs. put in 5.7 gallons to fill her car up. I did 130 miles on mine and it took 5.0 gallons. 35 vs. 26 MPG for highway driving, yikes...It's going to the dealer... I just hope whatever the hell is broken will be covered under warranty. And it woud look like I probably just fouled a set of $55 plugs, as whatever was wrong with the originals have probably screwed up the new ones too... Since it ran good for a while with the new plugs, now it's just as bad now as it was then... Woo hoo! Good times for all!

[ColonelPanic]

Blah... Not like anyone cares, hell I don't even think I care about this god awful piece of **** anymore, but I just submitted an online request for a service appointment. Was going to actually call them today, but I couldn't get around to it. At least with the online thing, I got to write them a book, which I probably wouldn't have been able to tell them personally. Brought up the lack of power, and the nasty fart smell, hopefully the dealer I'm dealing with now won't completely blow me off like the jacknads I used to go to (the dealer where I bought this thing.)We'll see what happens. This low 20 MPG range for highway driving and having to stand on the damn accelerator to make this thing move is complete crap. I'm easily spending $25+ a week for gas.I'm still worried that this is going to cost me money... I'm really not in any shape to be able to spend money on this piece of crap at the moment, here's to hoping that whatever the hell is wrong with it shall be covered under warranty. But sadly, it wouldn't surprise me if I end up with a $1000 repair bill I can't afford. Sorry for the ranting and bitter attitude, I just hate this damn car... Hate it, hate it, hate it... I'll keep you guys posted, I can't get it in the shop until the 23rd at the earliest, so I have to suffer for quite a bit longer... Thanks again, Toyota. I wish I could blame GM for this car sucking so much, but hey - it's not GM's parts that are breaking. (* radios excluded!) lol!

[joatmon]

I am glad your car is the exception, most people are having good reliability.Hope the most recent dealer will be proactive.It appears that I am looking at another week until I get mine back, the shop that has it is fully booked.

[ColonelPanic]

I'm hoping so... This stinks. But you're there too right now, so I know how it feels! Hopefully somehow they can get both of us taken care of.And I'm glad that my car is the exception as well, I wouldn't wish this kind of luck on my worst enemy. Here's to maybe your last tranny replacement, and my last trip in for whatever is broken, and that nothing else breaks for either one of us. And woo hoo, a whopping 20.5 miles per gallon! on the last fill-up.

[pmh013]

ColonelPanic, I sincerely think you need to get a pressure test done on the catalytic converter. If your cat is plugged (like mine was) then it will explain a lot of the weirdness. Unfortunately, I don't know off the top of my head how much that diagnostic is worth ... phone the dealer and ask? Also try a Toyota dealer, just for comparisons sake.There's 2 distinct catalytic converter problems - one where the car won't rev above 3000 RPM (which is what the TSB is for), and one where the cat plugs off, which is why it gear-hunts (and why you get crappy mileage).Good luck!

[ColonelPanic]

It's at the dealer again this morning... The service writer, after I was finished with my lengthy explanation of all the latest, she says "I wonder if the cat is plugged?"Let's hope this dealer actually does something about it.... But if they can't find anything wrong with the thing, it's gonna end up costing me $90 for a "diagnostic" fee. If that happens, and they come back with nothing found, ugh - this damn thing is GONE!Also having them look at the seat while they're there, the popping/rocking/etc it does any time I stop, go, turn, or move my body really sucks. Add in an oil change, and they've got their hands full this morning... Stay tuned for another exciting episode of "As The Colonel's Vibe Sucks..."

[ColonelPanic]

Woo hoo, bend over 'cause we're gonna stick it to you, Colonel... After farting around all friggin' day, they found NOTHING. "Oh, we've been looking at it all day and we can't find anything wrong. We had several people drove it, and they can't even feel the loss of power. Our boss drives a Vibe and they had no problems when they drove your car..." "Believe me, if we could find something wrong with your car, we would love to fix it!" Allegedly they pressure tested the cat but I'm doubting that they did a damn thing to it. And since it's not throwing codes, I guess there isn't anything wrong with this piece of ****.What about the f'in TSB on the NASTY FART SMELL? Oh me oh my, why does GM REFUSE to do this service on my car? It's affected by it. Just because it may not smell like (removed) when they have it there in the shop doesn't mean that I don't have the friggin' problem.Apparently Sir Knocksalot was playing nice because they "couldn't find anything wrong." I think they've pulled the BS card on me when they told me that the other Viber had not noticed a single problem with my car...Oh well, here goes another $90 down the crapper that I could have used to put down on my NON-GM vehicle to replace this worthless piece of crapola.. Rant over. Sorry folks, I'm just really pissed that these people can't see I have legitimate issues with this car...

[rebbierae]

CP, I think you can now safely change your signature line to OFFICIALLY the worst Vibe in the history of Gen Vibe! I wish I could send you to my dealer in Iowa! That sucks--I thought for sure they'd find something this time, and I've been on the edge of my seat all day waiting (slow day here in South Dakota) to see what they came up with.

[sloth]

CP,I had a similar problem with a P.O.S. tempo I had. Run great for a while then crap out. Never through a CEL but it was the O2 sensor. The second time it happen, I changed the O2, and nothing changed. Turned out to be a bad spark plug wire. I think when it got hot enough under the hood that the wire would expand enough that there wasn't a good connection somewhere.I think what you should do is pull the Cat Converter off if it's not welded on, like someone else said. Then see about change the plug wires.

[ColonelPanic]

Thank ya! But yeah, no good news. And I kid you not, this is exactly what they have on the paperwork, spelling and all. Quote »CUST. STATES NO POWER. VERY BAD GAS MILEAGE. INSIDE OF TAIL PIPE IS BLACK. WHEN STARTING INTERM. IT SMELLS LIKE SULFER SCOPED AND SCAN. NO CODES AND RUNNING AS DESIGNED.Um. well, I don't remember telling 'em that it had the "sulfer" smell when starting. I just said it was intermittent. But anyway, indeed there are their findings.I just took their findings and said "hmm, that's great. so there's nothing wrong, yet i'm burning through 1/4 tank of gas just to get to work and back which is 50 miles." They got on the defensive, saying that they can't replace a cat that's not having issues (but I'm not certain I see that they even tested the thing per the paperwork.) Their only suggestion was for me to start logging gas mileage and then come back to see them. At that point, then they will finally contact GM technical assistance, which IMHO they should have already done. The Mrs. was there with me too, and it was rather interesting - perhaps I can let her give you guys the gruesome details... Let's just say if looks could kill, ugh - that service advisor lady would have killed my Kari right then and there! I can't win.

[Kari]

I wish I could have recorded the look that lady gave me when I asked about the TSB because damn...yeah she was staring at me like, "Don't you try nuthin' funny." All I did was ask if there being a TSB out should get the owner of a Vibe matching the affected description any extra attention to the catalytic converter even if the smell can't be immediately reproduced. The dealer I take mine to had a hard time reproducing it and I'm not sure they ever really did, but they ended up replacing it anyway. I told her that and she "informed" me that she can't send back a good part, in a very nasty tone of voice. Then she said that they are losing money by not fixing anything....uhhhh...yeah so what happened to the $90 diagnostic fee?I asked her if he'd get charged for coming back with the gas mileage log and she got an attitude with me again, telling me that's "not a diagnosis" and blahblahblah...She was kind of nasty to me like she must be related to the service advisor at my dealership...LOL. Or she heard about this nasty redhead who comes into dealerships demanding parts and warranty repairs or something. And now she's demanding parts and warranty repairs for another car! So, anyway, I plan to keep a log of my gas mileage too for the sake of comparison, even though I know mine is probably exceptional compared to most Vibes. Hey, that will help the difference look even more stark. Damn I hope somebody fixes his car... I plan to talk to my grandpa who used to be a service manager at a GMC/Buick/Pontiac dealership and ask if he can talk to the current service manager, who he trained, about this issue and whether or not the TSB work can be performed without necessarily duplicating the problem. Otherwise, I sure wish you could record smells like sounds...heh.

[millster]

This all sounds very familiar. I had a similar experience with my Chrysler dealer. Twice, I took my car in complaining of a rough idle. Both times, I left completely unsatisfied. It took getting ahold of an actual copy of the TSB and putting it in the hands of the service manager to get the work done. To tell you what's really frustrating about that is that it was only a procedure. No parts involved at all. All they had to do was reflash the PCM. They did it and low and behold, my car runs like brand new. So in short, what I'm saying is that some people get really stubborn when you try to tell them what needs done but when you lay all the evidence out before them it's awefully hard to argue. Now as for how to get a copy of the full TSB...

[ColonelPanic]

Now that I may be getting the cat replaced, I wonder if I have any recourse against Asshat Pontiac that raped me with that "diagnostic" fee? It was brought to their attention that there was a friggin' TSB for the cat deal, but they didn't seem to care enough to look into it. If I get paperwork showing that the cat/pcm was replaced under warranty at another dealer, and that resolves the lack of power/horrid mileage thing I wonder if I can go up there and raise hell and get my money back? Dad brought that idea up... He was like "(removed) on them, if you get your car fixed, I'll go up there with you and we'll get your money back." But I'm curious if that is even possible. I'm still pissed that they spent all day with their thumbs up their butts, not doing **** to the car, then charging ME for it...

[Kari]

I think you do stand a good chance of being able to get your money back, especially if you call Pontiac customer service, since that stuff goes straight to the dealer's service rating. At the very least, I would think they could force your warranty to cover that diagnostic cost and reimburse you...I hope so anyway.

[Mavrik]

take it somewhere else and just have the back pressure test done through the converter. Have them record their findings "if" any are found. Take that up with GM, call the squeaky wheel line if you must.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »Now that I may be getting the cat replaced, ...I missed something. Are you getting the cat replaced under warranty/TSB?edit, I see it in http://forums.genvibe.com/zero...age=6good luck

[Kari]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »I missed something. Are you getting the cat replaced under warranty/TSB?Hopefully... *crosses fingers for him* http://forums.genvibe.com/zero...09498

[21Rouge]

Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic »Now that I may be getting the cat replaced,I do like reading your posts CP...in a vicarious ghoulish sort of way ie glad its not me . But why do you think now the cat is going to be replaced when this dealership...or was it another already did a $90 diagnostic on the cat and found nothing wrong?

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by Boxgrover »I do like reading your posts CP...in a vicarious ghoulish sort of way ie glad its not me .Um, thanks... I guess. Quote »But why do you think now the cat is going to be replaced when this dealership...or was it another already did a $90 diagnostic on the cat and found nothing wrong?It's a long story, which I posted about in the rotten egg smell thread. But in a nutshell... Yesterday, dad decides to help me out and contacts dealer #1 for me, which is who I bought the car from in the first place and "discusses" this matter with them... I really don't know what took place in the conversation, but it ended up with the service advisor saying something to the effect of "ok, we'll order the parts - have him call us for an appointment."I'm still in "I'll believe it when I see it" mode... I called the dealer but couldn't speak with the service advisor that dad talked to... And the guy I spoke with didn't know much about the situation... Only time will tell if they'll help me out this time around. This dealer and I haven't seen eye to eye for some time now, but I'm hoping this will be the beginning of something good once again - they were always helpful in the past until the last fwe visits. We'll see... It was a different dealer who shafted me with the cheeseball "diagnostic" fee... I flat out refuse to accept their findings. I'll be the first to admit I'm far from a mechanic, but I'm not an idiot... They must think I was born yesterday, as they would like me to believe that there isn't a problem with this car - yet why am I getting 16 MPG and have to keep the thing running at WOT way more than I should, just to pull hills or keep up with traffic if everything's the way it should be? Sheesh. Whether the cat and pcm tsb will fix these other issues is yet to be seen, but it can't hurt. And since i'm getting the rotten egg smell, they won't be replacing parts needlessly. I think it would be a good start. If that doesn't fix it, I'd say I have a problem with deeper roots. (and with all the nasty knocks and ticks from this engine that are also "normal" according to Pontiac, that's always a good posibility...

[ColonelPanic]

The new cat and PCM has been installed, as I stated over in the thread for that subject. Right now, several things are clearly different: The car doesn't sit there and shake like a crackhead each time I'm stopped at a light... When pushing down on the long, skinny pedal on the right, the car like moves and stuff now, whereas it didn't do that before. And last but not least, the tranny finally has no problems keeping itself in 4th gear. Before, even on flat roads, the slightest change in throttle would make the thing downshift, it doesn't seem to be doing that now. It's running so much better, bordering on peppy! Let's see how this turns out. And I hope to god this takes care of my mileage issues, as this crap is draining me financially. Hopefully I'll see numbers over 20 consistently from this point on. I'll really be happy to see 30-ish MPG again!I'm not saying it's completely fixed yet, it's far too early to tell. But it may be well on its way to running halfway decent again. If it is fixed, don't worry kids - the soap opera that is "As the Colonel's Vibe Sucks" shall continue.

[joatmon]

Congrats on getting the repair, and for free even. Lots of extra ++++ to SCVibe, who tagged it as a catalytic converter problem within 15 minutes of you reporting the problem on the forum. You should listen to him more next time.Quote, originally posted by ColonelPanic » If it is fixed, don't worry kids - the soap opera that is "As the Colonel's Vibe Sucks" shall continue. Damn, I was hoping that when the new cat fixed the lack of power problem, you might find something about the car that wasn't unsatisfactory

[Kari]

The smell he's referring to is far preferable to the fart smell, too... It smells kind of like a hot glue gun, and it's basically the labels and such on the parts burning off, I think...

[ZubenElGenubi]

You know, Colonel, I've been lurking on all your posts, thinking how lucky I must be to have a car that runs as advertised.Hope the Cat and PCM replacement work for you. I didn't note whether you'd contacted GM Customer Service, but if you continue to have problems, I would not hesitate to escalate it to them. The lemon laws mentioned earlier in this thread definitely would apply provided that the symptoms began in the 18-month/18,000-mile period; they don't expire once your car crosses that threshold. Keep that in mind when dealing with GM.I'm rootin' for ya!

[Kari]

Quote, originally posted by joatmon »Congrats on getting the repair, and for free even. Lots of extra ++++ to SCVibe, who tagged it as a catalytic converter problem within 15 minutes of you reporting the problem on the forum. You should listen to him more next time.If only the dealer would have listened...LOL. That was the problem. The dealer didn't want to admit that anything was even wrong at all, with any part, cat or otherwise, even the dealer that supposedly tested the cat... I really hope everybody was right and this fixes it too, once and for all.Quote, originally posted by joatmon »Damn, I was hoping that when the new cat fixed the lack of power problem, you might find something about the car that wasn't unsatisfactory Given Sir Knocksalot's track record, I don't think either one of us is too sure something's not going to break again...

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by Kari »If only the dealer would have listened...LOL. That was the problem. The dealer didn't want to admit that anything was even wrong at all, with any part, cat or otherwise, even the dealer that supposedly tested the cat...Yeah, it sure would have been nice if one of the two different dealers that flat out refused to do anything about this twice would have done something! But finally, I have won this battle, and even got the crap installed by the first dealer that refused to work on it. "We're not going to just throw parts on your car!" heh! Looks like they did!The drive in to work was great, I think I *may* be close to having this repsolved... We'll see.Quote »Given Sir Knocksalot's track record, I don't think either one of us is too sure something's not going to break again... Yeah, now that you mention it, my A/C kinda stopped working today, so I still have things to ***** about.

[ColonelPanic]

(removed), 31 MILES PER GALLON! I think I have soiled my britches! And the car still is running great... Almost like it could pin you back in the seat, if it had more engine under the hood. Really, not much to complain about with the car's performance now. That's subject to change, knowing my luck, but....Fingers crossed and shall remain that way. Really hoping this has it fixed, I'll keep driving and keep reporting back.