[bluebyutoo]

I am interested in finding out how many people who have installed a street header have had their catalytic converter fail.

Mine has and the service technician has attributed the failed converter to higher temperatures generated by the aftermarket header. The dealership is going to replace the stock cat this one time but I suspect that the problem will only reoccur

I want to get feedback from Jetters so that I can work toward resolving this issue up with the correct party.

Any information in regard to your failed cat and or the symptoms that were present that alerted you to the fact that it had failed would be appreciated

Please indicate the make of your header and if you want, what you have done to resolve the problem.

Thanks in advance

 

[Marction]

I've had the FS street header installed since fall of '01 with no apparent problems.

 

[daveszx302]

JBA shorty installed at 1000 mi, cat melted by 5000 mi. But I find it hard to believe it was caused by the header, who knows.

 

[ZX3 Canuck]

I have a JBA shorty and had my cat fail. At my dyno today the header was glowing red at one point. What are they talking about high temps?

 

[Dev]

Failed at 16000 with the header on from 10000. I also had a chip and cam gears.

 

[SE SPORTNY]

had my FS street header, for almost 2 yrs with no problem.

 

[YelloZX3SA]

someone told me that it happens if your car is running too rich. My Cat failed a LONG time ago...I have a JBA and am on the 4th one. the damn things keep cracking.
SO, my theory is that the header cracks, or you have a loose bolt that makes an exhaust leak, when this happens you have the chance of a vaccuum occurring that sucks in the oxygen rich air from outside. Then the catalyst sees the extra oxygen and just fragments. My cat was TOTALLY gone....nothing left. This was after running on a cracked header till I could hear that wonderful "hiss" noise.

Anyone have a theory about why the freaking JBA still cracks on my car? I am on the 5th gen header now. Anyone else have a header cracking problem? EVERY one of these things has cracked on the collector around the runners going in, on the collector going to the flange, and on the support bracket. SUCKS!!!...haha

 

[bluebyutoo]

I want to know if the Tube Mounted EGR Pressure Sensor that we are getting the service notice on has in any way contributed to the Cat failing.

 

[FocusedOne]

i went through 3 cats with a shortie header...

 

[Topher352]

hmm.. maybe i shouldn't get a header.

 

[EludeR]

get a race header

 

[Welding Rod]

I've had a JBA shorty on for 1 1/2 years or so. No cracks. No cat problems - and I run an Aerocharger turbo.

I didn't look too closely inside, but is it possible some cats may have failed if the band type clamp securing the cat body to the block is overtightened, cracking the catylast block inside?

 

[BloxZX3]

Ok maybe this is a dumb question but how did you know your cat failed??? I am going to put my FC short header on tomm....Peace

Lox

 

[zetecwagon]

Notice a pattern, the people with the FS header have had no problem.

 

[tdot-zx3]

Originally posted by zetecwagon:
Notice a pattern, the people with the FS header have had no problem.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Probably because it has better fitment..

I think the reason it ruins the cat is what was brought up .. exaust manifold leak.

When i had one this summer.. After driving hard .. you could boil an egg on the buttom part of the hood. I actually burnt myself a couple times too because i would forget.

Gotta mean something.

 

[JoE zx3 609707]

i just have the stock exhaust manifold, and my cat went bad, i think the "running too rich" thing sounds good, due to the fact that the cams are not set to TDC from the factory.

 

[YelloZX3SA]

When my cat failed, the first time I noticed something REALLY wrong was when I was driving to work...30 mile stretch...I was driving up a good sized hill and my car started to overheat and then went into limp home mode...I was like WTF!!!
So, I went home after work....driving downhill was easier...haha
took the cat assy off and found a chunk of the cat stuck in the "downpipe" portion. If you have seen the catalyst brick, it looks liek a flow straightener...lots of square holes for the dirty air to go thru. well, I figured that I was flowing 1/3 of what I should have been with that thing stuck in there.

Now my performance is hurthing pretty bad because of the gutted cat(should be near 15's in 1/4), it makes a bad burble/flow disturbance.

 

[MichaelXi]

Originally posted by zetecwagon:
Notice a pattern, the people with the FS header have had no problem.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Without further comment at this point, I KNOW someone w/ a FS Shorty who has had cat-failure...

 

[justin]

I have a Pacesetter header that I haven't got a chance to put on yet. Now hearing what problems you guys are having,I don't know if I should put it on.

 

[bluebyutoo]

Currently what my car is experiencing is what can best be described as a hiccup. It is idling poorly and idles around 500-1000 RPM’s almost stalls out at times. The car hiccups as you attempt to maintain any cruising speed. Acceleration is noticeably slower. Gas Mileage has dropped off and my emissions light tripped about two months ago. It went out for about two weeks but has come on and remained on for the past three weeks.

[ 01-31-2003, 06:19 AM: Message edited by: bluebyutoo ]