Beware of plugged Cats
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Le Mans Master
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St. Jude Donor '12
Beware of plugged Cats
Last night we had a call of a Car on fire out on the main highway going thru our county. As it turns out it was a 1988 Corvette that the guy had just bought yesterday from a used car dealer. From all indications the catalytic convertor(s) were plugged to the extent that the heat caught the fibreglass floor of the car on fire. Even though the car didn't burn to the ground, the interior was extensively smoke damaged. Thought that if I passed this bit of information along, it might save someone else the heartache of losing their car.
#2
Last night we had a call of a Car on fire out on the main highway going thru our county. As it turns out it was a 1988 Corvette that the guy had just bought yesterday from a used car dealer. From all indications the catalytic convertor(s) were plugged to the extent that the heat caught the fibreglass floor of the car on fire. Even though the car didn't burn to the ground, the interior was extensively smoke damaged. Thought that if I passed this bit of information along, it might save someone else the heartache of losing their car.
#3
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St. Jude Donor '12
You could probably have them tested at a muffler shop, I would think the car would run real crappy because of all the back pressure, , have heating problems in the summer anyway, don't know if the oxygen sensors would be tripping, but surely there would be some check engine light warnings.
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St. Jude Donor '09-'10, '14
If this thing heated to that extent his temp should have shot up. On any clogged converter I ever seen, the temps rose to the point of overheating and ran like crap.
Feel bad for the guy because the person who sold it had to have known about it. Unless he is one of those that just buys/trades and doesn't check out his inventory.
Be careful buying!
Feel bad for the guy because the person who sold it had to have known about it. Unless he is one of those that just buys/trades and doesn't check out his inventory.
Be careful buying!
#12
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St. Jude Donor '12
[QUOTE=RollaMo-LT4;1572475643]Perhaps on the earlier models, but the LT1 cars would not see much difference in performance if the cats were gutted or not.
You know,a guy could take that two ways. Just bein' Catty-oops.
You know,a guy could take that two ways. Just bein' Catty-oops.
#13
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My 91 coupe is muffler delete and yet isn't that loud and I have wondered if the cats were plugged, does not heat up in the Arizona summer but maybe time to replace.
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#16
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Here is a quote from Dave Emanuel "A clogged catalytic converter could be causing some of your problems. If it is, back pressure in the exhaust system will be high. To check this, you'll have to drill a small hole in the exhaust pipe in front of the converter and connect a pressure gauge. Checks are typically made at wide-open throttle and backpressure should not exceed 6 psi at 5000 rpm. Another option is to pull the converter off and examine it."
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Here is a quote from Dave Emanuel "A clogged catalytic converter could be causing some of your problems. If it is, back pressure in the exhaust system will be high. To check this, you'll have to drill a small hole in the exhaust pipe in front of the converter and connect a pressure gauge. Checks are typically made at wide-open throttle and backpressure should not exceed 6 psi at 5000 rpm. Another option is to pull the converter off and examine it."