Originally Posted by
Nicholas R
Well... actually, in 2007, my car was running open loop on thanksgiving, and I was driving home when the car stalled. I got out to look at the engine and could see something glowing under the car. It was my catalytic converter glowing red. I remember this vividly because neither my mother or my girlfriend at the time were happy about the possibility of us missing thanksgiving dinner due to, (as it was commonly referred to at the time), "that f&*$in' DeLorean. (it wasn't that reliable back then)
Turned out I was running lean due to plugged injectors, melted the catalyst, and all but completely plugged up the cat. I was able to limp the car home, driving a few minutes, then stopping to let it cool. Later on I pulled the exhaust off the car and completely hollowed out the plugged catalytic converter. I still always ran open loop after that, but always made a point to set the mixture by using the voltage from the O2 sensor, instead of just what sounded good.
I know this is just one instance but it's still one :)