Problem coming home from work

[rmp2711]

My car is a 90 EFI manual. Today I was driving home from work, and when I got off the highway and stopped at a red light it just died. It started up so i keep driving and it was running rough. Everytime i had to stop it would die. I did notice for the past week or so, that when I was stopped it would idle rough and only idle at around 600 rmps. it also sounded like I had a small exhaust leak but was not really loud. When I finally got home I popped the hood and I smelled something burning. I notice smoke coming from the catalyic converter where it connects to the down pipe from the engine. I also noticed that one of the hangers at the cat is not connected. (Broke Off)The temp gauge was in the normal zone so the temp never went up. Could my cat be clogged? I pulled my service records, I had some exhaust work done 12/02/09, but it the invoice doesn't show that the cat was replaced. Just muffler, connection pipe, and gaskets installed.So I don't know how old the cat is.Its weird because I just had the car inspected and it passed Emissions on 05-30-12. I need to know if anyone thinks my cat could be clogged or if there is something else wrong. I just tuned it up before inspection. New cap, rotor, plugs, pcv, and air filter.

I never had a cat clogged before so I need some advice to know if its the cat that could be the problem or is it something else.
sorry for the long post.

[FeistyFesti]

If your cat was clogged, you'd have a serious power loss, especially in a B3. Does running rough mean loss of power or just shakes a little bit, like a miss? Do you have an injector leaking or bad fuel pressure regulator, causing excessive fuel to melt your cat?

[rmp2711]

Its running really rough, with a bad miss. like its running on 3 cylinders. when i let off the gas it just dies. Don't know if an injector is leaking or if its the fuel pressure regulator.How can I check? I can turn a wrench but not good at trouble shooting. if its the regulator where is it located and how can it be tested? If its an injector leaking how will I know, will I see gas leaking from it? Sorry for the dumb questions, but I not that good at these type of issues.

[windy1]

u could let a seasoned mechanic look at it. id replac your cat first,and maybe a fuel pressure regulator. what about your fuel filter?

[rmp2711]

Ok, I went out to start my car to see how it would run. I opened the back hatch so I could here how it sounded out the tail pipe. When I gave it gas (around 2000 rpm) it sounded like it wasn't running on all cylinders. I know you will smell fumes with the back hatch open but I was smelling raw gas.It just may be the regulator. I think I last changed my fuel filter about 2 years ago.

I'm going to have a shop look at it tomorrow. I have AAA so maybe I can have it towed to a shop near work. There's a shop I go to around the corner from work so if I get it towed there,i can walk from there to work.

[shadetree]

u could let a seasoned mechanic look at it. id replac your cat first,and maybe a fuel pressure regulator. what about your fuel filter?

Replace all the expensive stuff first , in order okay . WHAT ????
Have you changed plugs or wires lately ? How is the regular maintenance on the car ?
Start cheap and easy , dont have it towed for a bad plug wire ?

[rmp2711]

Wires are good. Inspected them when I changed the plugs last week. I'm going to check the plugs tomorrow, to see if any are loose.

[windy1]

if you re smellin raw gas,dont play with it. a little spark and u, could be toast. let the garage handle it. better safe than sorry.

[shadetree]

Wires are good. Inspected them when I changed the plugs last week. I'm going to check the plugs tomorrow, to see if any are loose.

Inspected ? How old are they ? Good luck bro ! Windy can help ya from here .

[rmp2711]

Wires are 2 years old.

[Movin]

What? send a bomb like that to a poor unsuspecting shop full of seasoned mechanics??
They will pull the fuel rail back where you can see the injector tips and cycle
the fuel pump. They will replace the one that leaks. Two bolts, 10mm wrench, good
finger nail for injector plug in and again for injector retainer.

There are many other possibilities but going by your descriptions I would
head in this direction first. After pulling the short vacuum hose from the
round thing on the rail holding the injectors..it should be dry inside.

Windy may ask seasoned mechanics to replace the fuel pump and sock,
the filter again and the other injectors after flushing the fuel lines, replacing
the pressure regulator and cleaning the tank, inspecting with boroscope
to to verify cleanlyness.

Another member would have the faulty injector analyzed and find that the bit
jamming the injector came from the pump at the service station and then have
his lawyer present the station with both the customers and the lawyers bill..

[DriverOne]

Easiest way to find out if that's the case is to look. After the engine is cool to the touch (maybe 2-3 hours?), pop the hood, make sure you have ample lighting (and a small handheld flashlight), and look along the fuel rail to see if there is a source of fuel leaking. If you can smell it in the engine bay, there are only a few places to have to search to find the problem. If you don't smell gas, start the car and idle it. If there's a fuel leak anywhere, it'll start dripping. You won't need to worry about blowing anything up. If it was going to, it would have already.

If your problem is NOT in the engine bay, then there is a quick and easy way to find out if it's the fuel pump. I'll mention this, just in case you don't know. Open the hatch, remove whatever you have that would keep the seat from folding all the way forward (once down, then forward to the front seats), and you'll probably see some plastic rivets in the carpet. Yank 'em out and lift the carpet forward. You'll see a square metal panel. That's the fuel pump access panel ($500 pump replacement at a shop btw, damn near free to do it yourself). Four screws, and you're on top of the pump. I had a particular problem with the pump seal on my wife's '90 L+ not quite wanting to do the job.

If you find that the hoses are at fault between the tank and the body, PM me, and we'll 'talk shop'.

[rmp2711]

Called AAA at 7:00AM. They told me they send out a truck in 45 minutes.Truck arrived on time.Got it towed to a shop I usually go to close to work.So I got my car towed and got a ride to work to boot, for the price of 00.00. Ok, my membership fee is 95.00 for the year.Still a good deal.gotta love AAA. Driver to me on the way that non-members would have to pay 60.00 to put it on the truck and 4.00 per mile. The shop is 12 miles to work. that comes to 108.
00. my membership has already paid for its self. got the car fixed. it was the MAF Sensor.I would have never thought of that. They charged me alot for the part and labor but car is running great and the RPMS at idle is back to 750 to 800 with no miss at all. I just happy as a pig in slop. They did have a problem finding the part which may be the reason for the high cost.but I don't care because I'm happy my baby is back on the road.

[DriverOne]

How much did it come to?

[FestYboy]

^ VAF, Festys dont have a MAF, Aspires do, just for clarification.