Catalytic Converter

[Melissa]

I was talking to a mech here in heppner this afternoon and he asked me if I had ever had my catalytic converter looked at. I said no and he said that if the converter has blockage then that would cause my jeep to heat up while pulling a hill (most the roads around here are hills and that is where I am seeing the most of the high running temps on my jeep).

The mech here will not touch my jeep because of the dispute I am having with the orininal owner of the motor I bought and put in my jeep.

Could the catalytic converter being blocked cause the head to heat up and ruin head gaskets and crack heads?

Could this be the root of all my problems? :eek:

The catalytic converter on my Jeep has never been looked at as far as I know and it has 275,000 miles on it.

[BudgetXJ]

If your cat was plugged, you would notice a definite decrease in power. Does it feel under powered? Has the engine overheated to the point that the guage went into the red?

I find it highly unlikely that the cat being clogged could cause the kind of heat needed to crack a head or blow a gasket without stifling the performance of the vehicle to the point that it would barely go up a hill.

[Melissa]

I do feel my jeep does not run as strong as when I bought it, but I chalked that up to mileage and age.

Not since I ruined the head on the original motor has it heated up to the red, but has gotten way to close

Here is a picture of the temp it's running, the picture is fuzzy but I think you get the idea

http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/melreese83/my%20family/HPIM0564.jpg

[BudgetXJ]

That is pretty close. I would be looking at the head gasket or cracked head as the root of the problem from reading your other threads (you mentioned oil getting pushed out of the dipstick tube I think).

As far as the cat goes, if you think the XJ isn't running up to par, it would definitely be something to look into changing as you do have alot of mileage on it but if your jeep is still driveable (or at least was prior to the overheating issues), it shouldn't be restricted enough to create anywhere near the heat needed to overheat the engine.

[Melissa]

Yes I am getting oil blowing out around the dip stick, so I do have a problem with the head or gasket, but I thought maybe the cat could have started the problem by being plugged and because of being plugged cause my motor to heat up and there for the head or head gasket getting ruined.

After talking to the mech, I just thought maybe it was all tied together.

[BudgetXJ]

Stranger things have happened I guess but if the cat was plugged bad enough that it would cause the engine to overheat, there would be a very noticeable decrease in power. It would feel like it is bogging down throughout the rpm range and your exhaust manifold gaskets would probably be blown out.

I've worked as an auto mechanic for over 7 years and I have seen plugged cats on lots of cars, none of which were causing overheating problems. I've seen them being confused for tranny problems but never causing overheating. I'm not saying that it definitely is unrelated to your overheating but I can't see any way that it would have caused you to blow out a head gasket or crack a head while you could still drive it anywhere. What I'm trying to say is, if it's plugged bad enough to get it to overheat bad enough to crack a head or blow out a head gasket, you would have to be flooring it everywhere and barely moving down the road. Hills would pretty much be out of the question.

[Melissa]

I'll still have it looked at, but I can still cruise up a hill at a good clip. The only difference now is that I shift it down into 3rd instead out of OD going up hills as where when I bought it I never had to shift it out of OD going up hills

[BudgetXJ]

I would definitely have it checked out either way. Keep us posted as to what the mechanic finds with it. I'm pretty curious. Good luck!

[Melissa]

I will keep you posted, this whole thing has me scratching my head thinking WTF?!?!?!

[Howler_GT]

Budget is right, you would notice a drastic decrease in HP.

Easy way to tell if cat is clogged...
Know anyone with a laser thermometer?
Take a reading of the pipe in front of cat, and pipe just after cat.

Normally there should only be a few degrees difference. If its clogged, the forward pipe temperature will be exteremely hotter than the rear.

With as many miles as you claim are on your4 XJ, and not knowing when the DAPO/or PO changed or IF they changed the cat, I am willing to bet there is SOME sort of blockage, but maybe not enough to cause the problems with the engine..IMHO

[Melissa]

Thanks for the input Spanky

What does DAPO and PO stand for?

[Melissa]

Okay so I ran my jeep down to the parts store cause the owner Dale has one of those laser things. He crawled under my Jeep to check the temps and guess what?, I don't have a cat. Somewhere along the line it has already been removed, so no cat, no blockage. At least I know that now

[Howler_GT]

PO= Previous owner

If the PO was an IDIOT you have a DAPO

D=Dumb A= <expletive> P= Previous O=Owner

Ya can figure it out...:smiley-laughing021:

[Melissa]

That went right over my head before

Thanks Howler, I get it now!

Oh Spanky Spanky Spanky you said as many miles that I claim is on my jeep, I give you proof

http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/melreese83/Jeep/HPIM0573.jpg

:D:D:thumbsup:

[kennzz05]

That went right over my head before

Thanks Howler, I get it now!

Oh Spanky Spanky Spanky you said as many miles that I claim is on my jeep, I give you proof

http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww305/melreese83/Jeep/HPIM0573.jpg

:D:D:thumbsup:


ha ha got ya beat by almost 30k and mines a 98:smiley-taunt002: forgot to mention a clogged pcv system can cause blow by oil in your aixbox or i suppose oil blown out of your dipstick

[Melissa]

ha ha got ya beat by almost 30k and mines a 98:smiley-taunt002: forgot to mention a clogged pcv system can cause blow by oil in your aixbox or i suppose oil blown out of your dipstick

Pictures to prove it!!, lol :D

pcv - positive crankcase ventilation

I will put that on my ever growing list of things to have checked out, thank you!!.

My jeep leaves me in three weeks and is not comming home until it is running perfectly

[DETOURS]

How'd I get dragged into this???

If you had cat blockage, it would run like crap...period, but you have no cat.

[Melissa]

How'd I get dragged into this???


Cause at one point you said as many miles as I claim is on my Jeep, so that gave me an excuse to snap a picture of my odometer :driving: :thumbsup: