I have a 01 3.0 ford ranger, I recently loaned it to my brother and it began running really crapy and the check engine light started blinking. I Inspected the truck and noticed the exhaust up to the Cat was red hot. Exhaust is coming out of the tale pipe. I have not had the codes ran because do not want to risk causing more damage by driving it to town. Any advice on what my problem could be and where to start to begin fixing it would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

Sounds like your catalytic converters are plugged. Fairly cheap fix if you do it yourself. How many miles you got on ur truck

 

Yeh, i agree sounds like a clogged cat,

 

that is what my truck was doing and the shop wanted 1200 to replace them and i did it myself for around 600 that is what it cost for all the cats on my truck

 

Not a plugged cat.
More like the fuel system is dumping fuel that is not being completely burnt in the cylinders.

Remember people , a plugged cat is the sign of a major problem with the engine.
A cat does not plug no reason.

 

My truck has 135xxx miles. Where do I start to diagnose the problem, I would rather do it myself to save money if possible? Why would it be dumping extra fuel into the cylinders? Could it be bad spark plugs, they haven't been changed in along time.

 

If you're having fuel problems, start with the injectors and work your way backwards to the fuel pump

 

Cats are cheap. Get some aftermarkets for like $60 or just replace them with pipe. If you replace them, it could be virtually free if youve got parts and welding experience.
And if the cats are clogged, you gotta fix them anyway, no matter what else the problem is. Im not a mechanic but this is just from experience. If you just do pipe, then theres nothing to clog in the future :)

 

If i go without cats will i have to do anything with the computer system.

 

Fix the problem that plugged the cats.

 

Wirelessly posted

I removed my cat and retained the smaller ones no issues

 

This.