What happened to my baby?

[my350f]

Hey everyone been a while since i posted. Winter time is ruff. Anyways i recently had bbk ceramic coated headers and a flowmaster american thunder cat back installed on my 97' formula. I took the car out for the first time last night and drove it about 30 miles. The service engine light came on and started to blink. The exhaust started to sputter and i had a lose of power. when i pulled the car over there was a funky smell and something underneath the car was BRIGHT RED. i had it towed back to the place that did the install but they haven't looked at it yet. (it was about midnight when i got there) Just wondering if anyone knows whats up and if this is serious. Any knowledge would be greatly appreciated.

Thanxs, Michael

P.S. ever since thi happened when i hit the lock button on the factory key fob the headlights go up then down and the motor on the passenger side keeps running for about 45 sec. Wierd Huh?

[wolfdogs]

a blinking ses light means "ignition missfire"...

maybe a plug wire was hanging down and a header fried it... the missfire caused the cats to heat up and glow........

just a thought

[my350f]

Thanks wolfman

[Gary94Formula]

Where abouts under the car are you talking about? I have seen a plugged cat get red hot and cause alot of your symptoms..

Let us know what they find.

Good Luck

[Joe 1320]

Any unburned fuel ends up going into the exhaust and lait by the other still burning gasses. That can cause the cat to glow red hot from the cumbustion going on inside the exhaust. A restriction in the exhaust can do this too.

[my350f]

Got a call from the shop. One of the spark plug wires was too close to the new headers and melted. this caused the cylinder to not fire. the excess fuel ended up going to the cat and burning there which caused the cat to heat up.

for another call to find out if the cat burned itself out and what to do about the wire.

you guys were right on the money. Thanx for all the help
Michael

[wolfdogs]

Got a call from the shop. One of the spark plug wires was too close to the new headers and melted. this caused the cylinder to not fire. the excess fuel ended up going to the cat and burning there which caused the cat to heat up.

for another call to find out if the cat burned itself out and what to do about the wire.

you guys were right on the money. Thanx for all the help
Michael

the wolfman was right.........





nailed dat suka!

[my350f]

Hey wolfman if they installed the headers and the wire melted because of that is that there fault. I replaced the wires last summer with taylor 8mm and they are saying thats why and now they want me to replace the wires again and pay all over again. are they f-ing me?

[Trash man]

if they did the work they did the mess up. just tell em to buy u one new 8mm wire of same quailty and all that neat stuff. if they moan just tell u'll go to consumer reports and give em a bad name.
also whats up wit the lock and headligts deal?

[94 formula]

If they installed it then it is their fault. Many people go with over the valve cover wiring after header install to make it easier to keep plug wires from burning up but it is definetly possible to do it without going that route. Make them replace the wire and do the labor for free it is their fault. LT1's have very limited space for the wires and headers make it worse but it is still possible. You paid the money to have all of that done and that was expecting that it was done right so make them do it right. Also if your cat is ruined they should pay for that because it is their fault due to the unburnt fuel getting in their from their mistake.

[Joe 1320]

One last word....... Firesleeves. They are a woven 2000º boot that slip over your wires to protect them from being burned by headers. You can order them from summit racing and they work! They aren't cheap, but they save your wires.

[Joe 1320]

when i hit the lock button on the factory key fob the headlights go up then down and the motor on the passenger side keeps running for about 45 sec. Wierd Huh?

The headlight motor gear is stripped. The circuit uses a current sensing feature to shut off the motor when the light pops up or down. Because the gears are a constant fit, once the headlight reaches it's position the load against the gears goes up, so does the current and the power gets shut off. If it still runs, the gear is stripped. No additional current load is produced so the module doesn't turn off the motor until the circuit sees a "timed" out, evident by it shutting off after about 30 seconds. You can either replace the motor or order brass replacement gears as the factory gears are nylon.

http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/headlightfix/