Catalytic Issues. (I did the search before creating this thread)

Hey all its been a while since I have been on the forums because well after my upgrades I have not had any issues and love everything so far with the truck. That is until today.

Before we get all crazy with the "did you use the search box?" questions, yes I did and there are some similar threads but not quite the same as what I had happen today. So lets get started.

To start things off I drive my 3rd gen taco anywhere from 100 to 200 miles a day for my job. Most of those miles are on dirt roads and some of them tend to be pretty rough. Today I got off the highway on route to my work location and about 2 miles down the dirt road I heard a strange clank type noise and a slight stumble in my power. Last week I did my own oil change and the first thing that came to mind was I forgot to tighten something so I pulled over immediately. After 5 mins off looking under the hood and under the truck I saw no signs of oil or anything loose. Hopped back into the truck, put it in gear, and it would barely move. I had lost all power to the wheels but the truck idled fine. After a few times of getting in and out trying to figure out what was wrong I decided to limp it the rest of the way to work so that I was not late. While continuing down the dirt road I noticed that when the truck downshifted and hit a higher RPM there was the sound of leaking air pretty loud coming from under the truck. Also the whole exhaust sounded twice as loud as it had before. The strange thing is I don't have any check engine lights nor any other kind of lights on the dash saying there is a problem other then it just wont go anywhere when I push the gas. The truck still has 30k miles on it now so I am still under warranty but a month after I bought it I put in a CAI.

To me it seems like one of my cats has a blockage and its causing the loss in power but I don't have any lights on the dash to know for sure if it will through a code.

Has anyone with a 3rd gen experienced this issue and also not had any dash lights come on? If I take it to the dealer do I need to put the stock intake back in before I go for warranty reasons?

Thanks for your time.

EDIT: While having someone rev the engine there was barely any exhaust coming out the tail pipe but there was a load sound of rushing air somewhere near the cats. I would assume from one of the exhaust connections.

UPDATE: Well preliminary finding is they thing it is ether the torque converter or something internally in the transmission. Positive is that its is covered under warranty. Negative is that I might be in the shop for a few weeks. Bigger negative is they only had a PriusC for a loner vehicle... I hope they don't mind me driving 100+ miles a day on back roads that I would never drive a car on. O.O

FINAL UPDATE: I got this message today saying that my truck was done. I was under the assumption that it was a tranny replacement. When I took the truck in I said I think something is plugged off in the exhaust and come to find out that was the issue the whole time. Imagine that. With that being said it was still covered in the warranty and now I have a shiny new muffler and tip.

 

I looked in there to see if I could and the cats are welded to the headers..

 

Bump

 

Engine wouldn’t idle well with a blockage either. Something similar happened to my old frontier. This happened after replacing the cats, crazy coincidence, but it turned out to be the transmission control module.

Take it for what’s its worth, just bring it to the dealer. You’re still under warranty, why are you here?

 

You are correct in that it really could be anything I am no professional mechanic. I am here because its the weekend and of course I cant take it in till Monday and I needed to calm my nerves are curiosity about what it happening to my truck. First personal vehicle I have owned in 10 years because I always had company vehicles and I am kinda partial to my taco. lol. Call me crazy but I have dreamed of owning a nice Tacoma since before I could drive more then 20 years ago.

 

Yikes. I’ve heard this before. From another member, except he needed a brand new engine. All from a CAI, and AFE wasn’t going to warranty it, nor Toyota.

It was going to cost $18k for a A new 3.5L engine.

He ended up having a friend help and get a new engine.

I wouldn’t touch my engines air box at all. Just my personal opinion. To much a stake.

 

Yikes that sucks. But how many decades have people been running them problem free? plus if they are known to ruin an engine you would think maybe they shouldn't make them.

 

So replacing an engine cost half of the value of the truck..... doesn’t add up, are you sure?

 

When the cat went on my old Jeep TJ the exhaust guy slid under it and kicked it, you could hear the catalyst that had broken off and plugged the flow rattle around.

 

Looks like it might be a tranny issue. I am not sure I have heard of that in a Toyota other then gear hunting in the 3rd gens...

 

There have been been a few of everything gone wrong on these trucks.

 

Final update in first post up top.

 

So i'm assuming you are out of the standard warranty and this is covered under the Powertrain warranty? I had a situation similar to yours (different failure but with the rental car) and made it clear I would have to drive said rental many miles on poorly maintained dirt roads. Of course they pulled a Tundra out of no where. I was kind of disappointed I didn't get to take the corolla off roading.

 

Haha I was writing the final update on the first post when you wrote this message. It ended up being the muffler plugged off and it was warranty work. I did get to drive the prius off road and let me tell you what I am glad to have my truck back. The windshield broke the first day when I passed a truck on the dirt road cause it sits so low to the ground a rock got it. Luckily I got my truck back today because It rained for several hours and I am positive that car would not have made it out here lol.

Oh and by the way I told them I thought it was an exhaust issue when I took it in and they went straight to tranny replacement.