Okay Well I Think I May Have A Clogged Cat

[candy coated lexus]

i bought some bad gas which fouled my spark plugs but before i figured out the spark plugs were fouled i dumped a bunch of injector cleaner in the gas tank and it didnt fix any thing. i replaced the plugs and it ran fine then the nest day i was driving around and i almost hit empty when my car started sputtering like it was out of gas. so i went home and i replaced my ignition wires, maf, air filter,oil,radiator flush and ignition coils. none of that fixed anything.i noticed the cats were glowing and the engine was randomly misfiring in random cylinders, so i tried to see if i left it running at 2000rpms for about 10min when the check engine light came on then the car stalled and then stoped working...

[eatingupblacktop]

i bought some bad gas which fouled my spark plugs

Why not stay with top tier suppliers? Another tip ... don't fill up when you see a supply tanker filling the station's tanks. The process stirs up all the crap at the bottom of the tanks which winds up in your tank! And don't fill up at a station that has rusty or corroded pumps. Chances are very good the tanks are in similar condition.

i was driving around and i almost hit empty when my car started sputtering

Why are you driving around on empty? You're sucking up any crud that might be at the bottom of your tank and sending it through your system. This only serves to clog up your filter and everything downstream from there if the filter can't handle it. Keep at least a quarter tank at all times.

none of that fixed anything

I think you might benefit from getting an estimate rather than spending a lot of money guessing at the problem.

[candy coated lexus]

i bought some bad gas which fouled my spark plugs

Why not stay with top tier suppliers? Another tip ... don't fill up when you see a supply tanker filling the station's tanks. The process stirs up all the crap at the bottom of the tanks which winds up in your tank! And don't fill up at a station that has rusty or corroded pumps. Chances are very good the tanks are in similar condition.

i was driving around and i almost hit empty when my car started sputtering

Why are you driving around on empty? You're sucking up any crud that might be at the bottom of your tank and sending it through your system. This only serves to clog up your filter and everything downstream from there if the filter can't handle it. Keep at least a quarter tank at all times.

none of that fixed anything

I think you might benefit from getting an estimate rather than spending a lot of money guessing at the problem.

well let the car sit and it started up again and the check engine light was off, but there is a rattle coming from the underneath of the car near the cats. the cats glow at the elbow so obviously gas is being dumped into them because its building up and only burning at the elbow. and the car is still misfiring so im assuming that there is still an ignition problem. also when i rev it between 1000 and 1500 rpms theres a metal jingling sound almost as if metal shavings are going down my exhaust.. also from the right upper front of the engine there is a slight ticking sound almost like something sparking. there is also a rattle coming from i believe somewhere behind the engine and it does not usually start until after the car warms up, but i think its just a rattling shield. I can post a video of the car running if that may help determine my problem. also my fuel filter was just changed before these problems arose so i doubt that contaminated gas clogged it. if i can figure it out today im going to have it towed down to Lextech Automotive inc in naples because they are the best that ive herd of for working on lexus vehicals. its hard to find a good lexus mechanic around here..

[chilkoot]

symptoms also seem to possibly indicate a bad coil. your glowing cats are a direct result of the misfire, IMO. Does your car seem to have no power beyond 1000RPMs?

[candy coated lexus]

symptoms also seem to possibly indicate a bad coil. your glowing cats are a direct result of the misfire, IMO. Does your car seem to have no power beyond 1000RPMs?

I replaced the top coil but not the bottom one yet. ya i figured that they were glowing from a misfire. it has no power period theres enough to move and if i floor it it barely climbs speed and rpms its accelerates like an increasing idle i takes half a mile to get to 40mph also if the car is in park or neutral and idling and i hit the pedal it slowly rises in rpms but if its at about a 1000rpms its a little bit more responsive.. the only things i can think of is i need to change my spark plugs again and i need to change caps and rotors, replace the bottom coil, clean the throttle body, maybe use some sea foam to clean out the carbon in the engine. so im gonna do all this today hopefully and see if it changes anything, but if not all be down at lextech tomorrow. I've already changed the fuel filter, air filter, mass airflow meter(sensor also includes intake temp sensor). I know my ac is going bad because it whines with rpms, but i don't think this will affect any of this. and my power steering pump had a leak so i put stop leak in it and that was 35000miles ago so i doubt that would be the problem also about 7000 miles ago i had the engine removed and flushed but there were no problems after that. i have sub woofers and stuff so the alternator maybe strained to much but it doesn't make any noises that i can find and the if i unplug the battery while the car is running it stays running, so i assume the alternator is still good. on my passenger side cat it is missing the front top bolt but it has been missing that for a while so i doubt that has anything to do with it. also as i stated earlier the gas problems and the metal rattling and jingling noises and the ticking coming from the top front if the engine. all my fluids seem good i just recently changed my oil i used quaker state high millage 10w30, and i used a k&N high performance filter and i dont think that any of my problem came from this because i have been using the same oil and oil filter types since 75,000miles and im now at 178,000. i had the trani oil changed when the engine was flushed but i was told that the metal rattling(not the jingling) could be from the trani and all id need to do is empty the pan and add new toyota trani oil.. the exhaust seems to be in good shape its not rusted anywhere. the fans on the engine all work and my radiator is working fine, i checked all my fuses and they seem to be good i had a mechanic check the cars computer for fault codes and the only codes that came up were the maf and i replaced that. also the exhaust is blowing out good on both pipes i can feel quite a bit of exhaust moving out of them while the car is idling it does not seem restricted in any way. the engine shakes a little because of the misfiring but not a lot. also there is a sulfur smell the smell of burning cats but this is only while there glowing so obviously theres gas burning in them. the car never over heats it runs below the middle, there is stp injector cleaner and stp gas treatment in my gas tank along with 93 gas and its at 3/4 of a tank. if it sits for a few days and i start it up it will blow white smoke for a minute or two but then returns to normal. the wires in the trunk seemed to have already been taped up by the previous owner. i know there is a lot here but i want you to know everything i know so that maybe you can tell me what might be wrong..

[wwest]

i bought some bad gas

Maybe not....

which fouled my spark plugs

Fueling with diesel, maybe.

but before i figured out the spark plugs were fouled i dumped a bunch of injector cleaner in the gas tank and

it didnt fix any thing.

Hardly ever does, placebo at best, catalyst destroyer at worse.

i replaced the plugs and it ran fine then the nest day i was driving around and i almost hit empty

Injector fluid didn't "mix", floated, like oil on water, on top of the gas...??

when my car started sputtering like it was out of gas.

What do you suppose the octane level of that injector cleaner fluid is..??

so i went home and i replaced my ignition wires, maf, air filter,oil,radiator flush and ignition coils. none of that fixed anything.i noticed the cats were glowing and the engine was randomly misfiring in random cylinders, so i tried to see if i left it running at 2000rpms for about 10min when the check engine light came on then the car stalled and then stoped working...

" i dumped a bunch of injector cleaner.."

A BUNCH...??!!

At 178,000 miles the catalyst might have very well been on its last "legs" and the BUNCH of injector cleaner may have very well pushed it over the edge.

It is not at all unusual at high mileage for the honeycomb structure of the catalyst to break apart and and begin clogging the exhaust outflow. It is HOWEVER pretty unusual for both to fail simultaneously. What do the directions on the injector cleaner container say about this possibility...??

[vroom8]

A mechanic once told me, always keep your tank above 1/4 full...in the winter keep it full, and you should not have any problems with your cats.

[candy coated lexus]

i bought some bad gas

Maybe not....

which fouled my spark plugs

Fueling with diesel, maybe.

but before i figured out the spark plugs were fouled i dumped a bunch of injector cleaner in the gas tank and

it didnt fix any thing.

Hardly ever does, placebo at best, catalyst destroyer at worse.

i replaced the plugs and it ran fine then the nest day i was driving around and i almost hit empty

Injector fluid didn't "mix", floated, like oil on water, on top of the gas...??

when my car started sputtering like it was out of gas.

What do you suppose the octane level of that injector cleaner fluid is..??

so i went home and i replaced my ignition wires, maf, air filter,oil,radiator flush and ignition coils. none of that fixed anything.i noticed the cats were glowing and the engine was randomly misfiring in random cylinders, so i tried to see if i left it running at 2000rpms for about 10min when the check engine light came on then the car stalled and then stoped working...

" i dumped a bunch of injector cleaner.."

A BUNCH...??!!

At 178,000 miles the catalyst might have very well been on its last "legs" and the BUNCH of injector cleaner may have very well pushed it over the edge.

It is not at all unusual at high mileage for the honeycomb structure of the catalyst to break apart and and begin clogging the exhaust outflow. It is HOWEVER pretty unusual for both to fail simultaneously. What do the directions on the injector cleaner container say about this possibility...??

a bunch means i put in a full bottle for up to 25gallonsand it doesnt say anything on the bottle about harming the cats plus my exhaust seems to be flowing just fine..

[candy coated lexus]

alright well i brought my car down to a local mechanic that was recommended to me and their keeping my car over night until tomorrow and there going to test everything and see what could be wrong.. but im thinking its the fuel pump because on my way to the mechanic my car sputtered and stalled(no check engine light) started it back up drove 10 ft and it died and it wouldnt start after that, so i believe my fuel pump stoped working. do you think my no power, misfiring and glowing cats could be from a bad fuel pump?

[chilkoot]

I could easily be wrong, but I don't think a fuel pump would lead to glowing cats. Your description of power loss in post #5 sounds exactly like an ls running on 4 cylinders.

however, IIRC if you can see your cats glowing red the honeycomb structure inside is already hosed, so while a dead cat may not have been your original problem I'd bet money that it's an issue now.

my vote still goes to that second ignition coil.

[candy coated lexus]

I could easily be wrong, but I don't think a fuel pump would lead to glowing cats. Your description of power loss in post #5 sounds exactly like an ls running on 4 cylinders.

however, IIRC if you can see your cats glowing red the honeycomb structure inside is already hosed, so while a dead cat may not have been your original problem I'd bet money that it's an issue now.

my vote still goes to that second ignition coil.

well i figured everything out okay to start from my spark plugs fouled so i replaced them and when i replaced them i guess i put one of the ignition wires to close to the engine and it rubbed and melted it. so i replaced my wires and still didnt fix anything.. but what happened is when the wire melted it grounded out and destroyed my driver sided router and shorted out my ignitor so i replaced my carps and routers again and my ignitor and no my car runs perfect..