Androman

So I found one for about $60 with over 200k miles on it. Is it risky? Like, possibility of it cracking etc? My car has almost 160k miles on it,

Lexmus

I would only go with a new one, given the pain of replacing it. If you do buy it, replace the spark plug seals if they are hard.

Androman

i understand. I just don't know if the car is really worth dumping any more money into. The valve covers are a little leaky, and it needs spark plugs, it will need shocks soon. Ive only had it about 6-7 months and already spent over $600 on it

Edit: also just gonna note, the car was originally silver, the previous owner had it painted black, they didn't do a very good job and the paint is starting to peel off around some of the edges, door handles etc, its kinda fading also. Theres numerous things i could list but overall it runs alright considering how old it is lol

trhs75

If you're not dealing with the oil burning issue, maybe consider waiting on replacing that rear cover since it's such a chore. You can change plugs without removing the intake parts. I don't know enough about things to say if a valve cover would be likely to crack, but by the time you replace those spark plug seals in an old cover, you're down to a little over $100 more to just buy a new cover. The spark plug seals are already installed, I found out.

Androman

Thas what I was thinking about doing, just change the plugs for now. See how it goes. Im just worried the old plug seals might be leaking, which would make it kinda pointless.

Edit: i pulled two of the front plugs out to see if there was any oil. Just some on the threads. Me and a Buddy pulled the throttle body off twice, first time to clean the iacv, and second to replace the throttle position sensor. Both times there was a little pool of oil just inside the intake. I definitely have the oil consumption issue, but it must be slow, considering the valve covers are leaking, and in about a months time, i might see a mm or two loss on the dip stick. But i dont do much highway driving, did do a couple hour trip not long ago over 70mph and might have lost a mm or two.

trhs75

I see -- the electrode area does look dry, which is a good sign. I wonder if all your oil is leaving via leaks and not getting burned? I guess that would be good. I would buy that rear valve cover and front/rear gaskets when you can, then install them when you have the inclination.

Androman

Well since theres a little pool of oil inside the intake, where the throttle body and intake meet. wouldn't that mean that i do in fact have the "oil consumption" issue, just a very minor one?

trhs75

Now that one requires more knowledge than I have! You may be right, but let's let someone smarter than I am chime in on this. I changed my plugs when I changed the valve cover, and they did look completely dry now that I think about it, both front and rear. I certainly was having the oil use problem, but I never had the smell or smoke I would normally expect from an "oil-burning" car.

Androman

Interesting. I never have smelt any "oil burning smell" or seen any blue smoke either.

I went ahead and me and a buddy changed my plugs last night. Took us about 2 hours. Theres no way I would have been able to do it without him. Even with the cruise cable removed I couldn't get my hand in there.
Sadly though, It didn't make much of a change. RPM's still drop at idle and warm, and runs rough. It does however feel a little peppier. One thing I always noticed about the car, was on the highway about 55-60 if i punch it, it would down shift but just didnt seem like it wanted to go, like it struggled a little. Now, I definitely feel it pull, its not like a rocket or anything, but definitely noticeable. Im kinda glad I decided to just change the plugs for now. All I was really worried about was maybe the tube seals were leaking oil into the spark plugs making it run rough. But every plug looked almost identical to the one i posted. And not a drop of oil on the coil pack tubes. So im just gonna let it be for now.

So, its not the plugs, it wasn't the leak in my gas tank. not the idle control valve,(pretty sure) no vacuum leaks, there is however, one thing that I am worried it might be.
One or more of my CAT's, when I punch it i smell a very strong rotten egg smell. I used to have a Ford contour years ago, and it had the same exact symptoms I have now, except it idled so rough I had to drive with two feet to keep it running. Same rotten egg smell, same bad idle, then one day, it just wouldn't go over 5 MPH, even if you floored it, and it was a bad CAT.

So, does anyone know any good ways to diagnose a cat. are the pre cat's just as likely to fail as the main one? Do I really NEED the two pre cats? A buddy told me as long as theres no O2 sensor after the cat then you can remove it. they're so expensive, I was thinking about hallowing out the pre cats, and getting one of those high flow magniflow cats and having a shop replace the main one. That way I would still be legal, even though we dont have emissions down here and at the same time, maybe get a little more power.

Anyway thanks for the thoughts. If someone with some more knowledge on the subject would please chime in it would be greatly appreciated. I really need to figure something out before this thing breaks down on me.

Oh and one last thing I noticed. OK, so the car runs fine when in park, no accessories on, no headlights, radio, nothin. When i put it into drive, or reverse the RPMS drop maybe to 600 sometimes even lower, then, if I turn my headlights on, the RPM's raise up to 700-750 and it is smooth as butter. Someone said it could be a ground issue or maybe alternator, I just had it replaced at a shop that charged me $500, I looked up the part number on the new one and found out its a O'reilly's brand "Ultima 130 amp Re Manufactured"
Isn't the 130 amp for cars with the towing package? could it be that its getting too much power?? My car is a 2001 FWD no towing package. Did they put on the wrong one??