Loss of Power - 1995 SC400

[FastSC]

Today, as I left my office I started the car and got a strong fuel odor just like the engine was flooding. Revved up the engine and drove away; a couple of blocks later, the car started to loose power and sounds like is running in half the cylinders. Stopped at the gas station and put some fresh gas and opened the hood to see if anything was wrong.

Nothing seemed wronmg except a bit of a burning smell. Drove away and the car hardly accelerates. Arrived home and let the car idle and opened the hood and heard lots of metal tingling from the exhaust.

Got down and looked under the car: the catalytic converters and the resonators were glowing red hot!!! Shut the car down and have not started the car until I can determine the root cause.

No engine light has displayed. Engine temperature normal and the engine idles fine, however, the engine will not rev.

So...what do you guys think? Injector hung open putting lots of fuel? Bent valve? ....I am open to any possible diagnosis... the car has 98K miles.

Thanks!!!

 

[spf_lexus]

Well from the sound of it it looks like the substrate inside the cat broke off and is lodged inside restricting flow. That would explain your loss of power and acceleration, as well as the red hot cats. Those dont get that hot under normal driving... and shouldnt really under hard driving either. I wouldn't expect a check engine light for another tank of gas or so, ecu has to notice the increased backpressure and o2 sensors should pick up the emission. 100,000 isnt exactly "high mileage" on a 1uz but you never know, some cats came off the assembly line sound and some dont. I would take off the cats and holt one end up to a light sounrce and if you cant see perfectly through the honeycomb then new ones you must buy. If not i'm sure a muffler shop would work.

 

[Lextreme II]

One of your coils is out.

 

[RedPhoenix]

Coils. You are running on 4 cyl's. Unburnt fuel is making the cat glow red.


Ive had the problem @ about 95k. No big deal. Just test for spark coming from both coils.

 

[FastSC]

Got the car fixed. The left hand (Driver side) coil had a secondary coil resistance reading of 5.2 ohms. So, I repalced both coils and the car is running great. Thank you all of you, for your assistance on this issue.