ThomasK(austin)

I have a 2001 Z06 and one side of the exhaust (out the back)(no crossover pipe) is cold and has a little water collecting in the exhaust pipes on that side. The cold side also feels like its pushing out a lot less exhaust.
The other side is normal temperature. Is this caused by misfire on my passenger side (cold side)? I was thinking to just replace the spark plugs. If anyone has any advice please let me know. The car runs just fine, has its normal amount of power.
Thomas.

Ryan's Daddy Dan-Na

Maybe you have something in there restricting the flow to that side?

ThomasK(austin)

I have no engine related error codes. Only the stupid steering position sensor, which should have nothing to do with the passenger side exhaust being cold/not flowing as much as driver side.

noahdr

This is gonna sound weird but does your exhaust smell funny? Does it have a sweet or sulfur smell to it?

ericdwong

Is there a leak somewhere? Clogged cat (if u have them)

ThomasK(austin)

No, there is really no sweet smell. I am actually kindof afraid to drive the car like this because if the exhaust isnt really flowing on that side very well, that could cause some problems.
I do have cats, and that has to be the only thing clogging anything. I dont hear any leaks anywhere thou.
The reason it is cold is because there must not be enough exhaust going through it to make it hot.
Any more ideas?

The Wrench

Hmm, if you have a stock system, there is no crossover between the exhaust until the "H" behind the cats. So, if the cats were clogged on that side, the cylinders would effectively be clogged. This would definitely cause poor performance, and probably set a misfire code - that misfire sensor is pretty sensitive.

To see if the exhaust is pretty badly clogged, plug in a vacuum guage, and see if vacuum drops as the engine idles (but where do you easily plug in a vacuum guage on these dogs?).

If the right muffler were clogged, then part of its flow would pass thru the "h" and out the left. That would make sense. The 'h" hole is pretty small, but under normal driving, could allow enough crossover to let the engine run okay.

Why not try unbolting the mufflers just in front of the axle and firing up the engine, should be pretty obvious if one side is clogged that badly.
While you have them disconnected, try running a water hose through each muffler and compare flow.

DG

Threed

Check the temp of each cylinder on the header at the head. See if it is getting hot.

ThomasK(austin)

thanks for the input guys.
I jacked the car up and started it up and let it get warm. I have longtubes on it and both sides of the headers were the same temp (hot) where they bolted up to the cats, so that must mean all my cylinders must be firing.

I then felt the DS (drivers side) cat. It was pretty hot but not too bad, then i felt the PS (the side that blows cold exhaust). And it was pretty damn HOT (hotter than the DS). I felt the exhaust pipe after both the cats and the DS was pretty warm and the PS was luke warm.

So it seems that all the heat is building up in the PS cat, restricting the flow, causing resistance, causing heat, so forth. So, i think it is the PS cat being clogged or blocked somehow is the problem.

What do you guys think?

Bill Curlee

You have an 8/80 powertrain warrenty. If your in that slot,,,take it in for repairs or atleast let them give you an estimate and se if they will cover it.

Yes, I tink the cat is bad.

BC

ThomasK(austin)

I dont have any sort of warrantee, the car is pretty modded and i bought it with no warranty from a private party.
The car has the full Kooks exhaust system besides catback. Unfortunately kooks wants $724 for a new set of cats w/midpipes, so Im just going to pull them and get some other cats welded on instead of paying that much. crazy.
Ill let yall know if it fixes it.

ThomasK(austin)

unless GM just has some warrantee i dont know about. I didnt get any warantee paperwork from the seller, the car has 39k miles on it. Unfortunately it has a cam, heads, etc etc, so i think the dealership would know it was out of warantee.

noahdr

Sounds like cats to me. Do you have to pass emissions in tx?

hotwheels57

Were you checking the temperature at the exhaust tips?

T VETTE

I remember a video of a guy who had Kooks and all kinds of rusty junk came out and went in the cat. Pull it down and look inside. Bet the cat is full of crap.

ThomasK(austin)

We do have emissions in texas where i am living, but i registered it in a non-emissions county . so all my renewal inspections are done in non-emissions.
So im going to pull off the cats and see how much crap is in there. They are probably full of power robbing clutter.
I will probably just gut them if it means i have to buy Kooks special cats/pipe set.

ThomasK(austin)

at first, yes that is when i noticed one side was barely flowing and had cold tips. It started when i drove in floodlike rain one day. Dont see how it could clog a cat, but maybe it was on its way out. Then i started to test other places on the exhaust and figured it was probably the cat.

cenzo

Thomas, the 8 year/80k emissions warranty comes with the car. You don't need any paper work. Whether or not the headers matter will largely depend on the dealer. But, before you do anything else, have it checked by a dealer as it may very well be covered. I just got a new PCM under 8/80 warranty on my '99.

ThomasK(austin)

Wow. good to know. I will look into that seeing as though replacement parts cost a bundle.

thisMSGgood4me

If the OP replaced the OEM cats when he put the full Kooks exhaust system in, then GM's 8 yr/80k miles emissions warranty no longer applies to the cats. So if the cats are bad, GM is not going to do a damn thing about it.