Had the FD idleing in the driveway today. A few sputters here and there, no real worry. All of a sudden after hosing the car off I see smoke around the left rear. I got down and looked under the car, the tailpipe was GLOWING RED!!! The car needs to make a short drive (5-10 minutes across town) so I can get it in my parents driveway.

What could cause this?
Bad cat? Bad compression?

Also the car doesn't like to idle under 900RPM-ish. Tell me the engine isn't toast. =(

 

Could be bad cat but more likely could be fuel getting dumped into the exhaust.

Post your mods and history of the car.

 

92 FD3S 99km
Mainly stock except Blitz Nur exhaust.

It's actually my moms car. She isn't good with computers/cars so I do most of the research and maintenance.

I'm most worried about the engine failing as she just bought the car a month or so ago.

I'm going to get the car towed tomorrow hopefuly as I need the wheels off it for my car and to install new rubber.

 

Any suggestions??

 

The only way to test the cats are to remove them and inspect them, which kind of sucks as a job to do. But that's the most likely area to check.

Another possibility is that a fuel injector has failed and is dumping fuel. You may be able to diagnose by cleaning spark plugs, running the engine for a while, then checking the plugs. One may be obviously sooty/greasy.

 

A clogged cat would make the exhaust in FRONT of the cat glow, but wouldn't likely cause the exhaust behind the cat to glow. My money is on a severe rich condition.

 

Thanks guys. I'll check er out when I get the chance to.

I'm suspecting more of a injector problem by the sounds of things. The Cat didnt get hot just the tailpipe was glowing. The heat seemed to start in the first bend after the flange. To me that would be blocked/catching fuel to create the initial hot spot.

 

Does it start fine?

 

After jumping the battery it starts fine but after a bit it'll sputter some. It doesn't like to idle lower than 1000rpm or so.