cat looks fine. the honeycomb looks intact.

looks like the person had a 2nd cat welded on there. why? i dont know. but 1 cat is -10whp. so 2 cats is probably -20whp. and you said you ordered a cat, please tell me you bought one off the forums for $150-200. if you bought one new.... put a sign outside saying you are rejecting delivery of it, the shipping company will ship it back to the sender at no cost to you.

coils and plugs are a more common failure than a cat. i'd give them a try.

 

$240 after shipping, stock cat :-)

 

Great info here! Plugs, Coils and I would recommend wires because you are right there with them removed as well. Check your PM's about the pipe!

 

Hrm, yeah, something is fishy with your 'stock' cat on there, but it doesn't look melted inside. The honeycomb usually slags. Not always, but usually. If you are still getting power loss without a cat on at all though, it definitely would point to a problem pre-cat. I feel bad leading you in that direction. It really made sense with the symptoms you described.

At least the stock cat has value, and if you can't cancel the purchase with the seller, at least reselling it is a viable option. If you do that, I would also slap on the newer cat coming at least briefly, and see if there is any difference at all, in case your existing cat has it's own set of problems.

Not sure what else would cause the smoke you saw

 

Well the plug for the o2 sensor was melted but there was nothing else that looked melted or had signs of wear on it. Im gonna get the stock smog, replace the coils and spark plugs and then if im still having problems see if i can get a compression check. Hey ya never know I may need a new engine...

 

Just another quick Update, borrowed an obd2 scanner from Jeremy Larson over ar Larsons rotary performace out in antioch ca, he's been a big help thus far, and it wouldnt give me error codes. :-( So just for the hell of it I pulled the coils and this is what I got
The Tops


and the bottoms, at least 2 of them look bad, and they were the ones right next to each other and one other that looks like its starting to show signs of damage.



Im just gonna get Jeremy to order all 4, i think he quoted me $128 or so, put in the new ones and cross my fingers thats what it is. I also got 4 new spark plugs from Jeremy too they cost me $32 bucks for all 4 :-)

 

Check your PM, stock cat shipped yesterday and is in route to you.

 

White spot on the coils dont necessarily mean they are bad, but I wouldnt use them if they looked liked that. I replace coils/plugs YEARLY and the car runs great.

Also, what others said, the internals of the CAT look ok but look at that O2 sensor. Pretty freaking hot to melt the connector, I think. Plus the O2 sensor internals look pretty scorched.

 

The price of the coils is nothing special but 4 plugs for $32...what are they? What are the numbers on the side of them?

 

Today I got my coils and replace them, started car up with no exhaust and had no CEL, but now i have the little car with the squiglly lines behind it and the DSC light are both on..? Maybe kuz i need to put exhaust back on? anyways took it for a drive and its 120% better it shifts smoother and my idle is a constant, its not bouncing all over, I also seem to have a lot more power...? anyways I get the exhaust on friday and ill do the plugs and that on the same day and see if all is well I also need to look up this DSC light thing too..

On to the pixx

Here is a pic of the plugs, there all trailing, mecanic who i bought them from said that we in cali are not in a cold environment and dont need both he also said that all trailing burn hotter thus les carbon buildup.


A shot of what the manifold bolts look like if you didnt know, and when i stood my cat on end this honeycomb stuff came out, guessing bad cat too.


--------------------Edit--------------
Forgot step 19

19. Put the key in and turn it to "on" - don't start it yet. Reset all the stuff you need to. The DSC light will flash, and the Traction light will come on solid - this means you need to recalibrate the steering sensor (happens after battery disconnect) - see owner's manual: turn wheel clockwise to lock, then counter-clockwise to lock, then center wheel, then turn key to "off," then turn it back to "on."

 

Ok, that is making me feel better that I was right about your cat

Yeah, the DSC gets reset with 1 complete turn of the wheel from lock to lock, the TCS gets reset on the next car start after as little as 1/4 mile of driving. Might be less, might only be 1 rotation, but 1/4 mile is the shortest I have gone before turning it off and back on to reset it, normally alot farther to get the temps up.

 

This thread should be referred to when people have power problems that appear to be plug/coil/cat related.

Classic presentation and symptoms of a clogged/fried cat, and bad plugs and coils might have contributed, all with some decent pictures.

 

Glad every thing is working out. Those plugs are RX-7 plugs and I would not run them for many reasons...they will not last as long .... the gap is larger ...the reach is not correct. Please let us know how long they last.

 

I have not put these plugs in. Should I take them back? What should I inform him of the difference between rx7 and rx8 plugs? I dont want to put plugs in that could potentially ruin my engine.

 

Correct, do not install them. You might not ruin your engine, but if you did, Mazda sure as hell wouldn't cover it.

Use OEM.

 

I used them RX-7 plugs with shims for about 3 months then on day got shitty crossfire I mean missfire I removed them and they where all craped out. DO NOT USE THEM!

 

there aren't 2 cats in the pic, its the silencer on the right and the cat on the left ;-)