Posted by Caligula I have a 1996 Subaru Impreza L wagon edition. The smoke comes up out from under the hood and by the tires. It's usually a light color, Greyish. I got it back today, Guy said that the Cat or an o2 sensor might be going bad. The guy gave us a discount. The cam seal was fixed. The engine we got was a used motor, Not a new one.

yeah, the guy gave you a discount because he was fucking you to begin with? Didn't you get under car and look to see if oil was coming out of the engine. Better yet, we used to put cardboard under the car and wait to see where the oil puddled.
light color? Grayish? without looking at it, you've got more problems than a cam seal.
Does the engine run hot? overheat? is the engine oil look like a chocolate shake? is there sludge in the overflow/surge bottle?
Usually, light colored/white/gray smoke indicates that the engine is burning coolant that is getting into the combustion chamber, usually caused by a failed headgasket.

You know how a catalytic converter goes bad? They plug up. And then they get hot and oh believe me, you'll know. The car will have zero power, quit often, overheat... a whole cornucopia of issues. In fact, a friend of mine just lost his 2002 Impala to a fire caused by a plugged catalytic converter. Now back to your Subie, 1996 is a touchy year because for most manufacturers, it was a transition year from OBD I to OBD II... some 1996's were twin O2 sensor-ed, some were not. Oxygen sensors don't go bad gradually... they either work or they don't. When an O2 sensor fails, the CHECK ENGINE light will come on and the car (generally) will enter Limp Mode where it returns to the base timing/ base fuel tables just to get the car home. It's what I call a Hard Code. If an O2 sensor had failed in you car, the CEL would be lit and the car would feel underpowered. A simple code scanner available at a Napa, Advance Auto, Auto Zone, etc will read off what code you have if the CEL is illuminated. As an example, my Lumina continues to trip a Check Engine Light for (i love this one) small evap leak, which is engine speak for the gas cap is shot or the filler neck as a hole in it. I'm too lazy to replace the filler neck so I live with the light. As it is a Soft Code, or dumb code, it does not send the computer into a panic mode. It's just a nagging light as if to tell you, 'the car's got 182,000 miles on it kid. fix me.'

I think your mechanic is fucking you and I think you got fucked on the engine they put in your car. I'd always wager that they never changed the engine out, just merely made yours look pretty. I've seen that scam more than once. There are some unscrupulous motherfuckers out there and too many work under hoods of cars.

Posted by Samurai I think your mechanic is fucking you and I think you got fucked on the engine they put in your car. I'd always wager that they never changed the engine out, just merely made yours look pretty. I've seen that scam more than once. There are some unscrupulous motherfuckers out there and too many work under hoods of cars.

Couple cans of Gunk Engine Brite and a hose, good as new.

The last time I looked at used cars I asked the salesman if I could take the car home overnight and of course leave mine there. He was me telling how there were no leaks yadda yadda. He was full of shit since I could clearly see it was having a problem. I was not interested in the car I was just playing fuck fuck with him. Now since I worked for a dealer I know that they use them for loaners. Having a customer take them with dealer plates is not unheard of. He gave me a big song and dance about where it would parked and what not. I just told him it would be perfectly safe in my garage with a nice sheet of cardboard under it. He then tried to steer me in the direction of another one only driven by an old lady.

a friend of mine quit working for Wicker Ford in Ticonderoga NY because of shit like that. Charging people for parts that were never replaced, work that was never done.
fuckers.

First, if the guy can't tell if maybe the O2 or maybe the cat is going bad, you are obviously at the wrong place. Second on how cats go bad, they don't just plug up. Something causes it. Too much hydrocarbons for vaious reasons is the biggest cause. Burning oil, too much fuel. People that don't tune up their vehicles can not expect a converter to live. When you have a misfire, it means some or all of the air/fuel mixture hasn't burned. An O2 sensor senses, you guessed it, Oxygen, and only Oxygen. It does not see fuel. So It sees too much Oxygen and the ECM adds fuel accordingly, as it should when it sees lean exhaust. But the exhaust isn't lean. So now the cat has to work even harder to burn all that fuel so it passes smog. After they get too hot they start to melt, and that plugs them up. Sometimes the monolith breaks up and I love these, causes intermitant backpressure problems because the chunk at the tail end turns sideways sometimes. The Bonk test works good here. Bonk it and if it rattles and is not the heat shield, you need one. A backpressure tester will test a plugged, yet solid one with a pass or fail answer, unless the guy can't count to 3, in which case he should be pushing a broom or working in IT. More than 3 lbs at 3000RPM and you have a problem. If you have like 10, it's pretty easy to figure out. Stick a straw in a soda and blow......now try it in ice cream. Anyone that drives a car with a plugged converter that gets so bad as to not let it get up to 30 MPH, or catch fire, must have had some idea that something was wrong for some time. My guess is they neglected to take it in and have a qualified technician diagnose and repair it. As far as cats not causing smoke, right on, except that no cat or one with a hole doesn't cause smoke either. And I have no idea who would use a used cat, but I have seen some dumbasses do it. They would also be a mechanic and a half assed one at best. And converter warranties are different for different year vehicles. The newer you go the longer emission warranty mandated by the federal govt. That's why oil has been changing, less Sulpher and Zinc, which poison cats. It also sometimes wipes out new cams in flat tappet apps. But almost everyone now is using rollers. You really need to have some experience to work on cars these days, lots of things, like even oil LOOK the same as 50 yeras ago, but are VERY different. And If a vehicle falls under the emission warranty, only a dealer can replace a cat unless they sign off for a few specific reasons. Otherwise it is ILLEGAL for an independant shop, such as mine to replace one. It is also illegal to replace a good one to put a high flow one on. Technically it is illegal to install a cat-back dual exhaust on trucks. But the EPA has stated they will not enforce that one at this time. But it is on the books in case they have a need to in the future. Now on to O2's, they are not always good or bad, but actually do degrade over time. I have seen many that are what we call lazy, or switch much slower than a new one. It's like a set of tires with 1/4 tread left on them, they still hold air and roll, but you'd have better wet traction with some new ones. So it's up to you if you want to fix it or live with a bit lower mielage. They don't always set codes, and often set codes when something else is the problem and the ECM notices they aren't switching. If I replaced an O2 every time I got a code for one I'd be rich. Still need datastream to make any kind of judgement. And in 1996 if you wanted to sell a new vehicle in the US market it had to be OBDII compliant, or you did not sell it here. That means it had to have misfire detection, and catalyst efficency detection. P0420. Funny code. The downstream O2 made sure there was less Oxygen behind the cat as opposed to in front, meaning it was doing it's job and actully burning the leftovers that made it out of the combustion chamber. Now I don't think anyone here knows what the warranty on this engine is because none of us were there. So if this what I think it is and a salvage yard warranty on the engine assy itself, they will replace it in event of catastrophic engine failure. If it blows up and NOT from overheating, that is YOUR job to pull over if it gets hot, you have the guage and the keys. They will replace it. Now if it leaks, too bad, it's got 100,000 miles on it and it runs. They cannot warranty a cam seal since it is USED. That is why you take your chances, but for more money can get a REMAN with a good warranty, they will also warranty the labor. It is not the cheapest way out the first time, but usually is by the second, and I would have to say always by the 3rd. So unless the warranty is scanned and posted here, kicking the guy in the nuts, probably isn't the best way to go. I had a customer like that and had to physically remove him from my shop. He came back at me and next thing I know he's up against a post with my hand around his neck. I was not proud of that moment, but wasn't going to be assualted by some shit bag in my shop.....or have that happen to any of my guys. I'm glad business is almost never like that. Also the BBB can't actually do anything, just investigate and if found in error, they will keep it on file. Had two people in 5 years go that route, their problem is that I never refused to fix their vehicle. I just refused to fix it without being paid. They paid to fix an intermitant problem, we thought we had it. There was another part wrong both times. That NEVER happens when a vehicle is neglected for years. I refused to diagnose and repair the other problem for free. They figured if you spend a few hundred EVERYTHING should be fixed. Hell why not throw in a new set of tires too? One refused a tow when I showed up with the wrecker, didn't get paid for that tow, but I got to pay a guy and for fuel. They got the car started just as my guy was showing up. I just can't fix something if they refuse to even have it at the shop. Funny thing is it was 10 or so year old Escort, no start. We tested the ignition module, it tested bad, we replaced it. It was a VERY common part, Ford even had a class action suit brought against them for all of them. It wasn't fixed. A few days later it wouldn't start, we finally found after they NOW told us it has been doing this the last 3 winters, only when real cold out. The car warmed up in our shop and would have started anyway, but we didn't know because the part was already changed. It did test bad again when below -20. That was the magic number, we found through testing. SOMETHING else was masking the module. I don't make my guys work in that weather for any longet than needed. Which means they will not be diagnosing it for hours there. Funny thing they finally had it towed to the last shop that worked on it forever. It sat there with snow piled on it and until summer when they went out of business. They were better than my place because they were cheaper and I don't know why. But previously they replaced the entire throttle body, which I can't see any reason why that would ever cause a no start. Even if the ISC valve was stuck shut, cracking the throttle would allow air in. That was the funniest replaced part I rememeber, but there was quite a list. The BBB didn't find any fault on my part. Cars just suck, and we all get the pleasure of dealing with them. But like I've always said, it beats walking.

paragraphs, junkyard, paragraphs.

Wall of text crits you 14203.
You die.