So I left my house to go somewhere and within a mile my car started shaking. The acceleration was reallllly rough. My car then started smelling like a sewer. Like poop or something. I was like wtf is this. I have never smelled this before. The Engine light was flashing.

So immediately pulled over and shut the car down. Looked under the car and there are no leaks. Engine temp was fine. Did not smell any coolant or anything. I just checked all the fluids 2 days ago and everything was fine.

So I start it back up to head back to my home since it is only a mile away. Engine is still rough. Even in park, if I rev it to 3k or so it is obvious something is wrong. Even idling forward the car is shaking. Check engine light comes back on and starts flashing. Then it becomes a solid icon. The sewer smell starts coming back again.

It's now safely back in my garage. No leaks still. Car was fine yesterday.

Any ideas what could be wrong?

Thanks guys.

 

O and on the way back home, it also said "Cruise Control Not Available". Though that might just be a default procedure because of the CEL.

 

May be the catalytic converter. It happened on my Acura TL a couple of years ago - smell of rotten eggs. It was expensive to repair/fix. Could also be other fuel injection problem....but smell of sulfur is usually cat.

 

cat might have just used up its 8th life...

you'll probably want to go to a auto store and get a code reader, more than likely they are going to want the codes to be able to diagnose your problem

 

As you will see on other posts, the 'Cruise Control not available' message is part of the CEL routine. The sewer smell sounds like hydrogen sulphide gas. Now when we had high sulphur petrol this was a common-place smell with the early catalysts, but now it is all low-sulphur petrol, it is very uncommon, so I would think you may have a problem in the fuelling system, or maybe a coil-on-plug has gone so the fuel is passing straight through to the exhaust for that cylinder, then getting burnt in the catalyst. The rough running certainly indicates a problem with one or more cylinders.

It needs checking by a skilled mechanic who is familiar with these cars.

 

Master, get the codes read, but if you get something about "bad efficiency of cat", then you are more than likely looking at a cat that had a plate shift and it is now blocking your exhaust on one side of the engine, leading to all the smells and performance you are seeing.

Get the code(s) read and we'll take it from there.

 

Thanks a lot guys. For some reason when it happened, I kept thinking about my exhaust system. No idea why but that was ironic.

Is the car still drivable if it is a cat problem? (Like I mean drive 10 miles to a shop or dealer)

Can a bad cat cause all that shaking and rough acceleration from the engine also (in addition to the smell)?

 

Sounds like classic misfire symptoms to me - get the codes read, it will tell which cylinder(s) are misfiring, if it is a misfire on certain cylinders you're looking at replacing the coils.
Drivable? - Yes, but you're putting unburnt gas thru the cats - that's why it smells so bad, very bad for the cats!

 

A flashing CEL indicates serious misfiring that could damage the cats if you continue driving. Do not drive it in this condition! Bring the code reader to the car!

 

Well the cats are covered by a warranty for 8 years/80k miles. Right now my car is 7.5 years old and just passed 70,000 miles. So that is a good thing at least.

Hopefully there isn't something worse wrong. I'll take the car in soon and let you guys know what the shop says.

But sadly, I'll probably be selling this car and getting something new after I fix this. This was the last straw for my parents, who have been dropping $1500 a year into my car to simply keep it running since warranty ended. I am starting medical school in August and I don't want to deal with car problems then. I'll be getting something new that's cheap and reliable. Looking at VW Golf or Honda Fit right now. And if all goes well, this should be my first manual car too so I have that to look forward to at least.

 

Ok guys,

The dealer called back. Piston 1 was misfiring and needs a coil replaced. It will be $640.

He then said, Pistons 3 and 5 usually start going soon after. So he can replace them also for just the price of the coils (no labor charge) which is $140 for both of those.

And then he said he can change out all 6 spark plugs for only $54 and not charge any labor since it is already opened up.

And it seems that $570 of that $640 is the labor charge

 

Yep,that's cos they're all underneath the manifold, it's money well spent to bite the bullet and do the lot while it's already off.

 

Coil pack 1, 3 and 5 - is that all rear bank? So it's heat failure?

 

No, it's only cylinder #1, but as the others are such PIA to get too, it would be unwise to not change the lot at the same time.

 

That's nice , your dealer is a good dealer not one of those whom to be called "***********" which is very nice

 

Yes I had all of the work done. I'll pickup the car tonight!