Blinking CEL, no power, white smoke... (video included)
 

Was driving home tonight--got on highway and in less than 5 minutes of driving, my car suddenly lost power, the CEL started blinking, and the engine was making a constant shuddering/hesitation noise/feeling. It had no power to rev and I basically kept it at 4k RPM to maintain speed of around 55 mph to try to limp home (I was about 8 miles away). I did not notice any smoke from the back of my car while driving. Halfway, I started noticing a smell--maybe burning rubber or plastic? Decided I should prevent further damage and then pulled off to a parking lot. Upon parking, I noticed white smoke from under hood and coming into the cabin from under the car. Strong smell of burning plastic/rubber (it did not smell like coolant or oil).

I can start the car, but it won't idle and will die unless I give it gas. This is a link to what the engine sounds like as I hold the throttle to keep it around 2k RPM to keep it alive:


I've done some searching and it seems like I should check the plugs, coils, and cat? What should I be looking for? And how can I tell if the cat is bad without taking it off?

Thanks,
FS

Well the blinking CEL is usually always a misfire. White smoke is usually coolant. Was your car overheating? I'd not drive it until I pulled the plugs, checked the oil and coolant to make sure coolant is good and also you can't see traces of coolant in the oil.

I checked temp gauge and it was in its normal spot. The cat seem ok as I checked that today. The plugs look horrendous--I've attached a picture of the front most rotor plugs. The rear rotor plugs looked similar as well. I do not believe I see oil in my coolant (plus there was not a large cloud of white from my exhaust). Any other ideas?

Oil and coolant cannot mix in this engine, not under any circumstances. There is no headgasket to burst.

That trailing plug doesn't look like it has fired in a long time. Is the fluid oil, coolant or gasoline? (sniff it). At a minimum replace those plugs, they're done done done. Strongly suggest you do the coils at the same time.

Suspect that your ignition failed, causing unburnt fuel to go into the cat, causing the cat to overheat producing the wonderful smells you experienced. Out of curiousity, how did you check the cat?

Are there traces of coolant or oil residue anywhere in the engine bay?

The plugs smell like gas. Both rotors 1 and 2 plugs are identically wet/fouled. Why would both rotors experience ignition issues at the same time? Two coils out bad simultaneously? Or fuel delivery issue?

I dropped the cat, shook it and peered into the O2 sensor hole--the first portion seems fine, the second seems a little iffy. But I took the cat/midpipe off and started the car only to experience the same issues as before. I know this is not definitive but I do not have a OBDII reader and can't even get the car to properly idle.

I could not find any melted/broken components and did not see fluids where they aren't supposed to be.

Any other advice/thoughts?

The engine can run with 1 or 2 coils completely failed, if they're both trailing ones. People often don't even notice any symptoms. If a leading fails, then you notice it real quick.

Ignition coil failure is VERY common on these engines, multiple coils fail over time. First one (and the user doesn't notice), then another (and the user might notice), then a third ("hey my car won't idle!").

If you don't know the age of the ignition coils, plugs and wires, or if they're older than 30k miles it's best to replace them anyway.

It would help to have the OBD codes, there may be other reasons like a stuck SSV. But fuel on the plugs is pretty telling. Without the codes, we're diagnosing without talking to the patient :)

FIXED! I dismantled the midpipe/cat for nothing... All she needed was new coils/wires/clean plugs. I'm not sure if the coils or wires were bad but they are old. On an interesting note, all the coils tested fine on my ohm meter based on the TSB. Very strange but at least the car is back up and running. Thanks for your help!

Well, you will eventually gut the car considering of all the fuel dumped in there, the CAT would have possibly clogged up.