Ok, I am a negligent LS owner, I must admit. I am not a mechanic, and this is my second car. I believe in my ability to fix things and I do have the sop manual for my car. My car has not been running very well, I've had a CEL for a couple months now and much like my taxes I have ignored it. Here's a list of my problems.

1) CEL, dealership scan said Bad CATALYTIC CONVERTER on the passanger bank.

2) Car has a rough Idle when stopped. It also has a hard time cold starting, sometimes I have to pump the gas when cranking to start it. Also when I turn the wheel right on start up the RPM's drop signifigantly and the car has stalled out on me a couple of times.

3) When I drive in the city (not on the highway) the car overheats. The temp gauge goes all the way up. After I park the car the coolant overflows and there is a big puddle on the drivers side under the wheel well. The thermostat has some coolant on the housing, so I think I will replace the thermostat.

4) I probablly have some suspension issues (ball joints) and its really rough when I hit potholes.

5) Weather stripping is falling off my doors.

Basically I've done some research and I came to a conclusion about the CATS. I think that the bad cat would explain the rough Idle and the loss or power on steering etc and might be responsible for the overheating. If the cat is clogged then The exhaust is not flowing and is causing the engine to choke and overheat because the exhaust gas is recirculating back into the engine. I want to replace both cats with Universals (because they are much cheaper) but I am concerned that the O2 censors might be bad as well. My exhaust is stock except for the mufflers and they are welded up to the car via some metal piping....so any exhaust work is gonna involve cutting and rewelding the mufflers on. I want to do some vital stuff while i'm at it (like replacing coolant hoses ets) I'll check back in later, I gotta go to work now. I live near NYC btw if anybody has a shop or anything that could be helpful. Thanks in advance.

MK

when the car is runnning.... do the cats glow red hot?

The engine overheat issue is most likely a degas bottle and cap. I'd replace both of those. If the cap or tank can't maintain pressure, that changes the boiling point of the coolant. The lower pressure would cause the coolant to boil quicker, hence the overheat. If your coolant level got low enough, you probably also have air in the system.

I would do the easiest part first, and buy a new resevoir cap, and bleed the system properly.

yeah and if the cats arent glowing red hot or even orange.... they arent clogged.

2) Car has a rough Idle when stopped. It also has a hard time cold starting, sometimes I have to pump the gas when cranking to start it. Also when I turn the wheel right on start up the RPM's drop signifigantly and the car has stalled out on me a couple of times.

Could this be a battery problem? Kind of like when the RPMs drop and surge when you turn on the lights?

The idle I would look into the IAC valve. May just need to be cleaned.

Have you gave seafoam a shot in the entire system? From what it sounds your car could be do for a good cleaning with seafoam anyway. I wouldn't clean the IAC with seafom though. Just the fuel tank, vacuum and the crank case.

I was thinking maybe vaccuum leak, but don't know anything about vaccuum systems, so that's just a guess.

Maybe one of the lines is just disconnected under the hood.

Dirty MAF could cause rough idle too.

I'm full of random guesses :D

Trade it for an Xterra ;)

Also any parts you need you can purchase for from Max at 5 Star Ford his prices will be close to discount auto store prices but for OEM parts.. Low price on quality parts not the crap at Autozone.

Max for Cap and T-Stat..

So call Max you'll be surprised. He's everyone's LvC Parts guy Friend.

Push on the front of the car usually when ball joints go you'll here some squeaking. Buy OEM or Moog ..

So far what you are listing isn't too bad to do yourself. We have a large LvC membership in your area and I'm guessing that there is someone who wouldn't mind coming to give you a hand or letting you drive over and help you out.

We do this all the time in the Mark VIII forum. Invite members over to help them work on projects that can save them $100's to $1000's of dollars.

That friend you told me about should be able to help you with these.

As for the cats I'm not sure as I haven't worked on an LS's cats yet. But if it's just replacing the cats that's not a real hard job just need someone to help you out to coach you through and usually a nice sawzall or pipe cutter.

Weather stripping can usually be pinched back on.

Stealerships will milk you $100's for these prject. You maybe able to do them for a not much over $300 max... depending on the cost of a cat.

OMG! Someone report him to child welfare services :P
On a more serious note, could it be a cracked coolant reserve tank? Had that happen to an 01 LS V8 and it was a relatively simple fix.
As far as the stripping goes, I have the same question myself (on the passenger side). Probably the cause of the excessive wind noise @ highway speeds as well.

1) Go to auto zone and get codes read and post them here. 2) Let car warm up before you yank on wheel. PS pump puts load on engine when engaged. It also might be your IAC valve getting clogged up.
3) I would put FORD therm in only 17 dollars and 9 years old. Also the degas bottle are famous for cracking and leaking where you mentioned. Replace. Also make sure your hydro fan is spinning while engine is running and goes to HIGH speed while AC is turned on.
4)Jack up front end. Have buddy with long 2x4 or pipe place under wheel as to pry up on wheel. You get under car look at lower ball joint as friend prys up and down on wheel. You WILL see the play in the ball joint if bad. No MOOG or OEM on ball joints. Ford will want to sell whole knuckle with ball joint @300+ per side. I just bought ball joints off auction site for 120 a pair. Yours will need to be pressed out and new pressed in.
5) dum dum down molding.

when the car is runnning.... do the cats glow red hot?

I'm gonna check tonight or tomorrow.

Could this be a battery problem? Kind of like when the RPMs drop and surge when you turn on the lights?

The idle I would look into the IAC valve. May just need to be cleaned.

Have you gave seafoam a shot in the entire system? From what it sounds your car could be do for a good cleaning with seafoam anyway. I wouldn't clean the IAC with seafom though. Just the fuel tank, vacuum and the crank case.

I replaced to battery about 2 months ago. I probablly could check it though. Its the original alternator and the car has 101k so its possible.

1) Go to auto zone and get codes read and post them here. 2) Let car warm up before you yank on wheel. PS pump puts load on engine when engaged. It also might be your IAC valve getting clogged up.
3) I would put FORD therm in only 17 dollars and 9 years old. Also the degas bottle are famous for cracking and leaking where you mentioned. Replace. Also make sure your hydro fan is spinning while engine is running and goes to HIGH speed while AC is turned on.
4)Jack up front end. Have buddy with long 2x4 or pipe place under wheel as to pry up on wheel. You get under car look at lower ball joint as friend prys up and down on wheel. You WILL see the play in the ball joint if bad. No MOOG or OEM on ball joints. Ford will want to sell whole knuckle with ball joint @300+ per side. I just bought ball joints off auction site for 120 a pair. Yours will need to be pressed out and new pressed in.
5) dum dum down molding.

I'm gonna go get the codes read today at 5. pm.

Could this be a battery problem? Kind of like when the RPMs drop and surge when you turn on the lights?

The idle I would look into the IAC valve. May just need to be cleaned.

Have you gave seafoam a shot in the entire system? From what it sounds your car could be do for a good cleaning with seafoam anyway. I wouldn't clean the IAC with seafom though. Just the fuel tank, vacuum and the crank case.

When you say "vaccuum system" what exactly does it consist of and whats the vacuum system's function....sorry just think it would be helpful and i'm honestly just getting into working on cars

Here's the Code
went to autozonein bergenfield nj, guy was very helpful

P0420- Catalytic Converter Lower Bank 1
Possible symptom of
1) cylinder #2,3,4 misfire
2)Vacuum leak (PCV Valve)
3) Exhaust gasket

What do you guys think? I'm still not really able to narrow it down.

Trade it for an Xterra ;)

smart@$$...:p

your car is fuel injected, pumping the gas wont do any good will it??

Disconnect the line to the brake booster and have someone give it some gas so it dont stall on you. Put the hose in the can and let it suck some of it out. You dont want to use a lot, what ever it says on the can. Then shut the car off for about 5-1o minutes and start her back up. Give it some gas cause it might gurgle and want to stall.

Make sure you do it in your annoying neighbors drive way or when wind is blowing in his direction cause it smokes like a mother fvcker!

Hmmm known for coils but you do have a v6 so you do have a PCV.


Try to narrow it down from those two.

Hmmm known for coils but you do have a v6 so you do have a PCV.


Try to narrow it down from those two.

I'm pretty sure that my cats need replacing anyways....I think the exhaust manifold might be in for a replacement as well , maybe just the gasket, because my car rattles alot underneath. Ugh this sucks. I got the LS cheap but i'm gonna make up for it with all these damn repairs.....im gonna do it though...your guys' help is appreciated more than you can imagine

PCV cleaning would do you good. If it's clogged, that could be the cause of some of your symptoms.

I'm pretty sure that my cats need replacing anyways....I think the exhaust manifold might be in for a replacement as well , maybe just the gasket, because my car rattles alot underneath. Ugh this sucks. I got the LS cheap but i'm gonna make up for it with all these damn repairs.....im gonna do it though...your guys' help is appreciated more than you can imagine

Well, I would start with that seafoam treatment. You would be amazed at what it will do, and it will show!

bump. Any bright ideas? I'm thinking im definitally gonna need help with the work, but maybe if I get a good sense of what I will need I can order the parts in advance and save my ass a little pounding.

Alright, I'm getting ready to research and order 2 universal cats to remedy my problems. Heres my question though, If I had a misfire on cylinder #2,3,4 would I get the code P0420 or would it be a different code entirely? I want to do the coil, gaskets, and plugs if the P0420 code could mean that. I would also do the PCV valve as well because its on the passanger side. Thanks , any advice is greatly appreciated.

First thing I would do before spending one cent is to pull the cats down and look at them. Not to hard to do and costs nothing. Also I would not buy a universal cat that welds in when you can buy a direct fit cat for same money. You can give the cats the "thump" test while still on car to quickly tell if toast or not. Use rubber mallet to thump on cat and listen for stuff bouncing around in there.

And yes you would get a code for each cly that was miss firing.

Thanks. I guess that I could tell by eye when I pull the cats off if they are shot.

Where can I get direct fit cats? I dont wanna buy OEM I got a quote from MAx at 5 star and he quoted me like 650 per cat. I know I can get universals for 2 hundred or so a piece but I havent seen direct fit yet. I suppose I just need to match it up with the width of the pipes.

You can find them on the auction site.

Do you know the pipe measurement that plugs into both ends of the cat? I think its 2.5 inches but im not sure.

You can find them on the auction site.

Direct fit cats you mean? Is that gonna mean that they are not gonna require any cutting and welding or is that just gonna mean that the pipe is the right width? I've seen magnaflows for like $65 with a 50,000 mile warranty but a company called "catco" is advertising direct fit replacements for $220about. Anybody got any ideas?

Direct fit means just that it fits directly on NO modding. Unbolt your old one bolt on new one, done. The front cat pipe is only like 2 feet long,then they slip fit into rest of exh. Unless you have a welder and do it yourself this would be the easiest way.

Only thing I would recommend is take car to shop with torches and have them touch heat the manifold/cat 2 nuts on each side and loosen them coat them with anti sieze then put them back on. Then if you do it at home it will come right apart no fight. If you snap off a manifold stud it will be more work. The nuts are easy to get to.

I think I'll try to unbolt it myself first. Question, Does the exhaust rear of the cat pipes need to have any play? My Mufflers are welded to the stock exhaust and welded to hangers. I don't wanna cut the hangers unless I have to....anyways....I'm gonna do a little more research on Direct fit cats and post the options up here so you guys could give me some opinions. I hope the O2 sensors are gonna plug right in. I probablly need new ones since they are probablly corroded really badly. Thanks RightonTheMAark. Your help is saving me money.

The new direct fit cat will have the bungs in the stock place for your 02's. You will need to somewhat slide your exh back to weisel out the cat pipe from the exh. Don't know what will be needed to do sence your car has custom exh work. FYI even though I torched my manifold nuts cherry red one stud still snapped off. I didn't care because I was removing the motor anyway. Ford charges 9 bucks per just stud. You WILL need tourches to get old stud out of manifold if you break it and even then it was a B to get out, that was on the ground. If you have to do it in the car oh man.

I have a v8, but i've read that the v6's have a problem with the pcv hose cracking.that could explain rough idle and it cold cause the motor to run lean which could make it overheat. Sounds worth checking into huh? I did replace my cats on my old 93 cougar. it turned into a pia after i broke one of the manifold bolts off. spent hours drilling out the old bolt(dont want to say stud haha) and tapping new threads.

Yeah, but I don't wanna just show up at the dealer for an ass pounding, so i'm trying to learn as much as possible about the job. I might get lucky and have easy bolts. You never know.

I never said dealer. Thats the last place you want to go to. Mom and pop place better.

Oh yeah, let me tack on another problem....Leaky oil pan and the oil level is low. My friend put Lucas Life in on the last oil change so that might have something to do with the low level. But i'm not sure. Gonna try and order parts this week and get the install going soon. Just thought I'd share. I might need some advice on a couple parts so i'll keep you guys updated.

Leaky oil pan? That is interesting. I would assume (and hope) you just need a new gasket on that. Do the PCV valve for sure, it is very cheap and easy. I have no idea where the EGR valve is on the LS, but they aren't too bad to do on most of the vehicles I've worked on and is a simple thing to rule out. I kinda doubt the exhaust gasket is the issue. As for the Cats, it can't hurt to replace them. The worst case scenario is you will know for sure that component that isn't causing the problem and you'll be out the money for the replacements. I'd try other stuff first becuase I'm cheap.

There is another thread here that shows the cylinder numbers. I assume that #2, 3, 4 are all on the same side but I'd search for the thread to make sure. Then check for the classic oil in the well problem. When you see that issue replace the valve cover gaskets.

good luck

Have you gave seafoam a shot in the entire system? From what it sounds your car could be do for a good cleaning with seafoam anyway. I wouldn't clean the IAC with seafom though. Just the fuel tank, vacuum and the crank case.


I read awhile back about that while seafoam is good, that it craps the O2 Sensors to the point they should be replaced.

Is this true?

Could this be a battery problem? Kind of like when the RPMs drop and surge when you turn on the lights?

The idle I would look into the IAC valve. May just need to be cleaned.

Have you gave seafoam a shot in the entire system? From what it sounds your car could be do for a good cleaning with seafoam anyway. I wouldn't clean the IAC with seafom though. Just the fuel tank, vacuum and the crank case.

Dude...never heard of a Seafoam clense...that :q:q:q:q sounds badass!!!! now to push my car into the tide for a bit :P

any updates on this? did you replace your cats?

our cats are welded into place - no?

exceptional, how long have you been in new milford? i knew there were a few other nj members but didnt think there were any so close to me.