Car Repair Advice

[wetcat007]

I currently own a 2001 Mazda Protege 2.0 liter engine, with 60k miles on it, I bought it used a little over a year ago with 50k miles on it.

Currently I have been having an intermitant problem with a rotten egg smell coming from the exhaust that i notice after I turn my car off and get out of the car. However what really throws me is that this happens about half the time, not all the time.

Anyways I was thinking it could be a bad cat-coverter which would be covered under the extended mazda emisions warrenty - 7 years 80k miles.

So I went to a Mazda dealer to schedule an appointment to have it looked at, and I asked well what if it isn't the cat-converter or another component covered under that warrenty, they said it would be 125 dollars for the diagnostic.

Before I go to get this looked at I was wondering what else could be causing this or if anyone else has had a simlar problem.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Heisenberg]

It could be the cat. It could also be that something is wrong somewhere else, causing the engine to run out of tune enough that the cat can't convert all of the combustion byproducts. Although if that were the case, you'd think the check engine light would come on and set a code as particular as new cars are about emissions.

 

[myusername]

Shell gasoline used to make my vehicle smell sulfury, but yea, that sounds like the cat. Tell them to shove the $125 up their collective asses, however, and take it to an independent mechanic.
If you beat gently on the (cold) cat with your fist and you can hear it rattle, it is bad.

What heisenberg said though... you should have an O2 sensor that would trip if the cat wasn't working properly.

 

[wetcat007]

I would really like to take it to an different mechanic(i hate dealers), but this way if im right it's all under warrenty and mazda gets the bill but if i'm wrong well.... blah

 

[myusername]

Try a different gas station for a couple fill ups and see if anything changes. Lots of time left on the warranty. If the cat was bad you would potentially also see reduced fuel economy and sporadic sluggishness or rough running.