My mom's 98 vdp overheated while idling as sister started it while she was on vacation.

Seemed like water hose issue.

Just arrived here in Ca. to check it out myself, but following an overheat why would it fail to start?

tia

 

Well if too hot it will drop the exhaust/intake seats out of the heads and then you have no compression and bents valves on thos e cylinders. You need to do a compression test and keep your fingers crossed. Im assumming it cranks and no starts? Check fuel pressure at the rail first though. It may just be coincidental and the fuel pump went out too. You need more checks and info

 

The nikasil engines don't like overtemp. The 2 best ways to kill one is to use high sulphur fuel or over heat it.

bob gauff

 

Did some testing, looks like the fuel pump.

Having it replaced today.

 

Just heard from the mechanic replacing the fuel pump.

He said the Catalytic convertors are blocked and its affecting fuel flow.

Does that sound right?

Anyway its about $700.00 each to replace.

 

I'm a cynic, my feeling is you don't need cats. Blocked cats give poor gas mileage, the car feels down on power - they usually give a death rattle too, has the car ever stalled after a few minutes running?
It might be possible to have one fail, but both, without you noticing a loss of power, is doubtful.
Also, it wouldn't effect fuel pressure/flow, the reason I think your tech is chatting sh*t, or you'd have an engine light.
Second opinion before shelling out $1500.

 

he's f.o.s.
These can be checked many ways,
inferred temp gun when running,
stored codes p0420, p0430
vacuum gauge.
Back pressure gauge screwed into upstream 02 sensor holes
and even the price for replacement seems low to me.
The drivers side is not that easy the pass is, and these are not a generic weld it type cat either, so where is he getting price for them at and is that with labor..but all that really doesnt matter i still think he's f.o.s.

 

I'll be telling them asap.

They also said the cooling fan wasn't operating, but on my car, only the hottest summer days did I see it run.

 

I *did* experience a blocked cat in a Mercedes 190 once- if you pull them it is easy to tell if they are blocked. Honeycomb rattles around.

The symptoms were it idled fine, ran good until about 40mph, then it would bog and not go any faster.

If you describe the current symptoms after the pump was replaced, we could probably help pinpoint what is happening now. Also, did they replace the fuel filter? Probably, but I have to ask.

Hope that helps!

 

How does an overheat got to a bad fuel pump and/or bad cats?

 

Turn on the ac and the fans should come on in the engine compartment, if not then you have an issue. Thats is a definite check for most cars electric fans

 

I had a blocked cat on DOHC V6 -- one cat on each bank and a combined center pipe cat -- the center pipe was blocked .... and it still started?

 

is that a question? if you think about air/fuel being drawn in your v6 it'll start no problem, its when pressure builds to the point the engine cant get rid of exhaust gases, chokes and dies. Depending on the extent of the blockage it could be straight away, a few minutes, or never, then you just see low gas miles and low power. Brutal's bang on with the tests to do.

 

UPDATE!! and thanks to all who posted here!!

Did a visual today with car on hoist, with flex pipe pulled the honeycomb or (element) was down into the cast iron portion of the cat rather than in the actual vertical part of the cat case.

Called Jag and can get a drivers side cat for about 1023.00 total from the UK.

Bad news, can't get the passenger side from anywhere new!

Thanks again for the tips.

If I missed anything please advise.

 

Brother in law said car didn't get hot, he was letting it run while my mom was away and the upper Rad hose popped off. He replaced it.

I did some extensive testing on the fuel pump and it was bad for sure.

Cats were the new issue that I thought was off the wall.

 

pretty sure if the radiator hose 'popped' off (sure, sitting in the driveway) it overheated...you're not getting the entire story here, it seems.

 

Sean B -- my point was that even with a seriously clogged exhaust my car would still start ..... it did not have any power but it would start. I was trying, in a few words, to say that I find it hard to believe that an over-heat situation would cause both sides of a duel system to clog enough for the cats to be the cause of a no start condition.

This is a common scenario with an aging car with a problem -- it may have had a few things wrong with it prior to the no start and they all get fixed and it still won't start.

The hose should not have come off - they just don't pop off unless it was recently played with or the plastic on the fitting has failed.

 

How about dropping Nameless a line about their cats? they're members on here, and I bet a lot cheaper. I've a pair of decent second hand cats you can have for £300.

 

He was running the cars since they were just sitting, and was in back yard when he returned to see coolant spilling, but he got there soon after water started to leak.

 

Update:

Gas tank needed 2 fuel lines replaced, car runs good.

One of the cats was bad, one was good.

The fuel pump didn't work when I tried it, soooo 2 cats, fuel pump, and 2 fuel hoses to finally get it going.

thanks for all the input.

ap