Need Some Help..Not sure where to start

[bogart101]

Hey Guys,

The car has been running perfectly...until today. I took her out and noticed some funny backfiring pops and some hesitation. When I press the pedal down I get more of the same. I drove it for 10 minutes and none of it went away. So I park in the garage and leave it running and look/listen under the hood. All seems normal enough although the idle is a bit rough. I rev the engine with the throttle cable and more odd noises but now it really appears to be coming from the exhaust area. I looked under the car and noticed that the pax side cat is glowing orange! The drivers side is fine. So I shut it down.

A little more backround:

I have had some issue with the temp sensor/gauge which still is not reading after replacing the sensor
I am running Labree high flow cats which I installed this spring.

Someone suggested the car may be running lean on the pax side which might be caused by a vaccum leak. Ive ordered a pressure tester to check .


Can anyone provide guidance on how best to troubleshoot? Im sure I will have some questions as well, as my mechanical skills are definetly not extraordinary, if you know what I mean.

Thanks All.

[J30tChumpCar]

A cat will glow when fed too much fuel, the cause of the extra fuel is usually a misfire, you already have it narrowed down to which side, try disconnecting each coil to identify the non contributing cylinder.

[bogart101]

Ok. If I have a misfire what is the fix. Is it a bad coilpack? Or something worse. Thanks very much.

[jaredta1a]

if you have a misfire go feel your exhaust if you still have factory or close to it setup, basically without a h or x pipe you will instantly be able to figure out if its a miss in bank one or two.... if the engine is already running crappy pulling coil wires is hard to distinguish. Its not suggested anyway because your injectors are still firing fuel and can lead to was down, am i splitting hairs yes.... i would do basics check timing, make sure one cam gear didnt skip a tooth

[bogart101]

Ok heres where I am at the moment. I did a pressure test on the intake and found a fairly significant leak at the pcv valve on the passenger side. Im going to replace the hoses and valves and then move into coil packs. Hopefully im making progress.

BTW where can i find a diagram that laels the cylinders? Im embarassed to admit I do not know which is 1 -6.

Thx.

[Ace2cool]

Start at the front right, and alternate counting back and forth left to right. Essentially:

6|5
4|3
2|1

[marty1mc]

This might make it easier for you.

http://autorepair.about.com/library/fir ... o-7459.htm

[bogart101]

This might make it easier for you.

http://autorepair.about.com/library/fir ... o-7459.htm

Perfect! Thanks very much.

[Ace2cool]

Whoops, I got it backwards! My bad!