Catalytic Converter

[marshoaksyukon]

My 1999 Yukon ran beautifully two months ago and then one day I noticed water pouring from the water pump area. I replaced the water pump and things seemed fine for a couple of months and then I noticed the temperature guage started showing the engine to be getting warm and then all of a sudden the temp would drop down to normal range. It has continued to do that for the past week. Now a check engine soon light is on. A friend suggested that it may be bad catalytic converters. I put a laser temp guage on them and the temps up front are cooler than the exit area of the cats, so, if that is an adequate test, then I guess they are okay. The engine is running rough. I walked to the back and looked at the exhaust tonight and noticed one side is putting out a white smoke. I put my hand near the exhaust and held it there for about 3 seconds. When I pulled my hand away it was very wet. The car had been running for a 20 minutes, so it wasn't cold. The other exhaust was clear and no moiture.

Any thoughts or ideas? I'm not a mechanic by any means, but can do a few projects within my minimal scope of capabilities.

The vehicle is a 1999 and has approx. 154,000 miles.


:badger_1:

 

[lesterl]

Blown intake gaskets.......

 

[marshoaksyukon]

Thanks Lester, but isn't that also a symptom of a blown head gasket or a cracked head? Is there anyway to know which it might be (manifold or head) before diving in?

 

[lesterl]

Could be, but the LIM gaskets are pretty notorious, had that happen on my 96 Sierra and my 97 Venture, very common issue, and there are updated gaskets (the originals are plastic with a silicone bead on them, the new ones are rubber over a steel backing.)

 

[hshark]

are you loosing any water from your radiator? Have you checked your oil? look at you oil guage if it seems milky like a chocalate mix then you are passing water from your rad to your engine for sure. Now if you have no loss of water or chocolate oil I dont see this being the problem. Check your coolant level first then add water if low. Run the engine for a day or so under normal conditions and re-check water level the next day( make sure you dont overheat your vehcile). If your low on fluid then you know the water/antifreeze is going somewhere its not supposed to. Report back and well go from there. Lets not jump to any conclusins until we have eliminated some doubts...

 

[lesterl]

I have no doubts, no doubts that this thread is 6 months old.... I suppose it is fixed, parked, or blown by this point......