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I have a 1996 Lincoln Continental that is having some issues. Whenever I start the vehicle, the engine starts stuttering and shaking pretty bad. Also, whenever I press on the gas pedal it tends to die; not always, but most of the time. Am I not getting enough fuel to then engine, as it lacks power and dies? Moreover, there is a rattling noise sometimes coming from underneath the car. It almost sounds exhaust related, but not entirely sure. The vehicle as is, with the issues stated above, is not driveable. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have been trying to diagnose and fix this myself for a couple months now. Thank you very much!
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You could very well have a plugged catalytic converter. The noise under the car was what helped point me in that direction. A loss of power. and shaking means that the engine is suffocating…it can’t breathe out through the exhaust and the back pressure is causing the engine to choke itself out.
Sometimes you can take a piece of paper at the exhaust and see if it wants to get sucked into the exhaust as a test.
A bad cat is usually the cause of excess fuel getting into it from a rich condition in the motor from flooding the motor with fuel due to hard starts.
Has it been a hard starter for a while before this finally became the end result? Likely you will have 2 issue to deal with…the first being the cause of the caytalytic converter failure and then the replacement of the catalytic converter. Removing the O2 sensors from the exhaust and then trying to start the car is a way to see if the converter is plugged up to the point of causing your issue. If it runs considerably better, then the holes from the 02 sensors has freed up enough flow to allow the engine to breathe. You can’t leave it this way, but it is a free way to see if the converter is the issue.
The interesting thing is that the catalytic converter was replaced awhile back, along with all the O2 sensors, due to a check engine light being on and noting that engine was running rich, if I remember correctly. The check engine light was corrected for a short time, but then came back on triggering the same code.
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