Cats working properly?
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 4,394
Likes: 6
From: Melbourne FL
Cats working properly?
Is there an easy way to tell if your cats are working correctly?
I have aftermarket HF cats and I'm not sure they are working. Had a problem with the car a couple months ago and it was running really rich and the cats got red hot. Car is now fixed but, it still smells like its running rich; smells just like it did before I put the cats on.
Thanks
I have aftermarket HF cats and I'm not sure they are working. Had a problem with the car a couple months ago and it was running really rich and the cats got red hot. Car is now fixed but, it still smells like its running rich; smells just like it did before I put the cats on.
Thanks
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 4,394
Likes: 6
From: Melbourne FL
Originally Posted by see5
I melted one of mine into a empty shell, as in clean as a gutted cat by running rich on the dyno.. I took the pipe down and one was clean so I gutted the other one. It happens.
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3,879
Likes: 3
From: Hobart, WI
Originally Posted by Z06ufgrad2002
Was that with a factory cat or aftermarket cat?
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 130
Likes: 1
From: Hollywood FL
Originally Posted by Z06ufgrad2002
Is there an easy way to tell if your cats are working correctly?
I have aftermarket HF cats and I'm not sure they are working. Had a problem with the car a couple months ago and it was running really rich and the cats got red hot. Car is now fixed but, it still smells like its running rich; smells just like it did before I put the cats on.
Thanks
I have aftermarket HF cats and I'm not sure they are working. Had a problem with the car a couple months ago and it was running really rich and the cats got red hot. Car is now fixed but, it still smells like its running rich; smells just like it did before I put the cats on.
Thanks
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 4,394
Likes: 6
From: Melbourne FL
Originally Posted by ettoredjr
Earlier this year I burned up a set of RT metal matrix cats. I first noticed an exhaust rattle and it turned out that when the metal matrix overheats they simply break apart.
The exhaust has too much of an unburnt fuel smell for them to be working properly. Just not thrilled about spending another $350 to get new ones. 
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 14,515
Likes: 24
From: Washington County, South UTAH
The local muffler shop tested my cat(not the Vette) with an lazor thermometer. They measured the temp, at the inlet and outlet, looking for the outlet to be hotter. How much hotter indicates functioning, I do not recall. I would expect a few hundred degrees faranhiet(sp).
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Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 4,394
Likes: 6
From: Melbourne FL
To follow up on the saga.
My initial fears were confirmed this week.
Pulled the cats off the the drivers side was definately bad. The interior cat material was all melted and a large portion of it was gone.
So the bottom line is that running the car extremely rich will burn up a metal matrix cat.
My initial fears were confirmed this week.
Pulled the cats off the the drivers side was definately bad. The interior cat material was all melted and a large portion of it was gone.
So the bottom line is that running the car extremely rich will burn up a metal matrix cat.
