cat going bad, now white smoke ?
02-06-2006, 10:09 AM
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cat going bad, now white smoke ? I previously had Mac mids/3" Y-pipe, and I recently put some JBA CARB-legal shorties and the stock Y-pipe back on. The pass side stock cat is rattling around like the contents are loose inside and I am getting little metal flakes out the exhaust (I can see them in sunlight).
Normally I wouldn't care so much, but right after the exhaust change I also started seeing white smoke at WOT. I mean a good amount, as in look behind the car and it looks like I'm fogging for mosquitoes. The first time it happened I hoped it was tire smoke but it doesn't appear to be... Happens from a freeway roll too...
I'm thinking the increased backpressure has grown the cylinder pressure and it's now pushing coolant across the headgasket at WOT. The car has also overheated a couple of times in summer LA traffic with these same headgaskets installed.
Things I'm thinking it could be, in order of least to most suckiness factor :
- headgaskets (hoping that's all it is)
- warped heads from overheating
- ringlands on #7
- crack in block/sleeve
The plugs looked OK when I swapped them when I did the exhaust, but it has been eating a lot of oil lately. Coolant level is still full under the cap.
Has anyone else had smoking problems when the cats were removed/blown out ?
I'm hopin' it's not something more serious...
Rob (Bad30th)
Normally I wouldn't care so much, but right after the exhaust change I also started seeing white smoke at WOT. I mean a good amount, as in look behind the car and it looks like I'm fogging for mosquitoes. The first time it happened I hoped it was tire smoke but it doesn't appear to be... Happens from a freeway roll too...
I'm thinking the increased backpressure has grown the cylinder pressure and it's now pushing coolant across the headgasket at WOT. The car has also overheated a couple of times in summer LA traffic with these same headgaskets installed.
Things I'm thinking it could be, in order of least to most suckiness factor :
- headgaskets (hoping that's all it is)
- warped heads from overheating
- ringlands on #7
- crack in block/sleeve
The plugs looked OK when I swapped them when I did the exhaust, but it has been eating a lot of oil lately. Coolant level is still full under the cap.
Has anyone else had smoking problems when the cats were removed/blown out ?
I'm hopin' it's not something more serious...
Rob (Bad30th)
02-07-2006, 04:34 AM
#3
A lot of people run cats with forced induction, it doesn't normally hurt anything.
Since you had a clogged cat, and you've also had overheating problems, it certainly sounds like you're going to have to at the very least pull the heads off the car. If you don't hear any knocking, you probably just have a blown head gasket. Do check for warped heads... I wouldn't drive it like it is, have it fixed right away. Bob
Since you had a clogged cat, and you've also had overheating problems, it certainly sounds like you're going to have to at the very least pull the heads off the car. If you don't hear any knocking, you probably just have a blown head gasket. Do check for warped heads... I wouldn't drive it like it is, have it fixed right away. Bob
02-07-2006, 08:24 AM
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Thanks for the reply Bob.
I wonder if the white cloud could be cat contents blowing out ? Prolly not.
I should probably pull the heads anyway. I guess I knew that already though but was hoping for some LS1tech magic, haha.
Rob (Bad30th)
I wonder if the white cloud could be cat contents blowing out ? Prolly not.
I should probably pull the heads anyway. I guess I knew that already though but was hoping for some LS1tech magic, haha.
Rob (Bad30th)
02-07-2006, 08:57 AM
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Originally Posted by Bad30th
Thanks for the reply Bob.
I wonder if the white cloud could be cat contents blowing out ? Prolly not.
I should probably pull the heads anyway. I guess I knew that already though but was hoping for some LS1tech magic, haha.
Rob (Bad30th)
I wonder if the white cloud could be cat contents blowing out ? Prolly not.
I should probably pull the heads anyway. I guess I knew that already though but was hoping for some LS1tech magic, haha.
Rob (Bad30th)
