Hey-O

As about 10 threads from me about this show, I've been banging my head against this problem for like 6 months. The car would intermittently have a hard time starting, then run very poorly for about 2 minutes, then run great.

I did everything... new filters, eliminated vacuum leaks, replaced the cold start valve, new plugs/wires/cap/rotor, new coil, added new grounds, installed rebuilt fuel injectors, new O2 sensor, swapped relays, new intake manifold gasket, new block coolant temp sensor... on and on.

Each time the car ran better, but still had intermittent issues starting when cold.

2 days ago I was tinkering and decided to tighten up the heat shields on the exhaust. I don't like rattles. I got them all clamped tight, and went to start. And there was still a hellacious rattle from the exhaust.

Catalytic Convertor is bad. I rapped on it, and I could hear stuff grunching around in there.

So: I drilled a small hole in the cat... and sure enough I could move the honeycomb around in there. I kind of gave it a stir... went to start the car...

It started on the first turn. I mean the FIRST turn.

It's clear the convertor is intermittently blocking the exhaust... why it would clear up and let the car run after it warmed up is unclear to me... but anyways there's a new one coming and I'll find out for sure. Lord knows I've had enough times where I thought it was fixed, but... the car has never started that quickly before. Totally different.

Fingers crossed. This might be one for the FAQ if it turns out.

~merry motoring~