Long story short:

Drove car through too deep water. Car died. Long time later, car starts, runs like ****, won't rev past 3K. I rev engine, rev rev rev rev...blowing smoke and burping fire. Girlfriend says "wow, not only is fire coming out of the exhaust, but it's dripping from underneath".

Cat is glowing and trying to start the car on fire. Obviously cat is clogged (the big main one, I'll asusme the others are OK, they didn't glow).



Now...

Car is parked 15 miles away on the side of the road. I plan on heading out in the morning and pulling the cat, taking it home, punching it out, and putting it back.



Help I need:



Wrench size needed for cat bolts.

Should I pull and gut all 3 cats, or just the one that is obviously clogged.

HOW do I punch out cat (I think I can use various screwdrivers/pipes/rebar whatever I can get my hands on). How hard it is to do, how long does it take, is it something that can be done while sitting on the front porch, any tricks/tips???



Finally, what is the chance that it's just got water in it (hot cat, dipped in water, vacuums water in) and that it will have cleared out by tomorrow morning?



You have until 9AM Mountain time to help me

 

It's probably not likely that it will unclog itself, not really sure what the water would have to do with anything. I believe the front cat is brick style cat, but brick or pellet the concept is the same, grab a pry bar or a long screw driver and a hammer and start breaking everything inside the cat. You'll need some sockets and some open end wrenches or a cresent wrench and maybe some penetrating oil as those bolts are usually coroded on a bit. Another option is to get you a piece of that flex pipe they sell in the store, put that in there long enough to get it home.



I think the bolts are 13mm, but it's late I can't remember LOL

 

Late?! You mean early! East coast guy here.

I think the bolt heads were 14mm, but I'm not sure. Take both.

 

Might as well gut all three cats.. the pre cats could be breaking up clogging the rear one too.

 

bring 10, 12,14, and 17. i would just remove the cat and drive home without it



mike

 

I thought of that, but was afraid that porting 1200 degree exhaust gas under the car might not be such a good idea...



Problem solved anyways. While I was away, someone broke in, stole about $10 worth of cassettes...costing me 8 billion dollars for a new window...the sherriffs towed the now disabled and vandalized car, costing me $20 and a drive to a towing company (and several hours of sweating wondering if it was stolen...)



But it runs nicely after drying out for the evening!



I'm still going to pull the entire exhaust system, check it out, punch the cats, then get down to my earlier coolant leak...



When it rains it pours...

 

Been in a similar situation...



Who the hell steals cassettes? I mean, seriously.

 

Who still has cassettes? They get any eight tracks?

 

People who own an RX-7 with the stock stereo system!!! you know, the CD player that only works when the car is floating on pillows, the radio that only works within 5 miles on major cities, and the tape player that is the only respite from the terrors of life

 

theres prolly smarter things you could do but if you're stuck...



i drove mine with no exhaust at all to the muffler shop twice, and nothing happened