emissions
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Elder User
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 559
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From: Franklin, Georgia
emissions
has anyone had any experiance with gutting their cat? i have a 99 ranger with a 4.0. the past few times iv drove it, it seems as if it is straining at take off. i have a k&n intake and flowmaster exhaust so i can tell by the sound of the something aint right. I kno someone who gutted a cat on their grand am and the car wouldnt get above 20 mph. im guessing it had to do with there being no back pressure for the engine. just something iv been thinking about. any input? thanks.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,980
Likes: 2
From: central ohio
depends if you have a sensor mounted mid-cat or after cat. if you just have the O2 sensors before the cat but nothing else, you can indeed gut it. ive gutted almost everything ive owned and had no ill effects. if there is a sensor in the middle of the cat or after the cat, youre out of luck unless you could get something to trick the sensor into thinking the cat is there and functioning. ive never bought the backpressure throry, my 4.0 runs just as well now as when i got it. no better, but no worse either. some forum sites wont discuss emissions tampering, the topic gets locked quickly. the biggest indicater of a plugged cat is loss of top speed (in my experiance) i had a '82 faimont futura with the 200 I-6. it seemed a little off and one day wouldnt go over 60 mph. gutted that cat and it would do 75+ then.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 4,907
Likes: 39
From: suburban atlanta
Your cat won't kill itself, and doesn't die unless you kill it. If it is not melted, it should have enough area to pass all the exhaust gas without problem. A cat dies because it is abused. My car has 240k+ miles on the original, and does fine, I think[?].
You can also have too much back pressure caused by a muffler that has corroded internally and has all its baffles rusted so they block exhaust flow.
tom
You can also have too much back pressure caused by a muffler that has corroded internally and has all its baffles rusted so they block exhaust flow.
tom
Junior User
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 96
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From: El cajon
1995 newer rangers are obd2 and will have a o2 before & after the cat. if you remove/gut the cat you will throw codes at the least. As your trucks going to think is always running rich, and try to lean its self out all the time. and that can cause problems.
There are way to get around that problem with removing the cat, by having a custom chip burnt. But really ther is no need for it unless you have a rip snortin motor. AS today cats are not that the cloggers they use to be like back in the 70'-80' era.So the only thing you will really get out of removing the cat is a little extra noise.
unless your driving it on the rev limiter all the time,or running a lead gas and melted the cat, you may have a anouther problem in your eng management system. bad o2, fpr, maf dirty etc.
just noticed you have a K&N I would start with cleaning the MAF, as the K&N are know to get oil on the MAF and cause problems
There are way to get around that problem with removing the cat, by having a custom chip burnt. But really ther is no need for it unless you have a rip snortin motor. AS today cats are not that the cloggers they use to be like back in the 70'-80' era.So the only thing you will really get out of removing the cat is a little extra noise.
unless your driving it on the rev limiter all the time,or running a lead gas and melted the cat, you may have a anouther problem in your eng management system. bad o2, fpr, maf dirty etc.
just noticed you have a K&N I would start with cleaning the MAF, as the K&N are know to get oil on the MAF and cause problems
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Elder User
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 559
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From: Franklin, Georgia
i keep the maf clean. i clean it about once a month when i clean the filter. i live on a dirt road so the dust is bad when it dont rain. it dont seam to me like its a air fuel mixture problem. it sounds like im hauling more weight than normal.
Former ******
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,901
Likes: 2
From: Salt Lake City, Utah
Just because you clean it doesn't mean your MAF isn't plugged. Check your fuel filter too.
I would ditch the K&N and get an AFE ProDry instead. Washable, but won't foul the MAF, and its easier to clean too. I switched to AFE and I'm never going back to K&N.
And back to your original question, no you cannot gut your cat, unless you enjoy loosing power, gas mileage, and having a CEL on all the time.
I would ditch the K&N and get an AFE ProDry instead. Washable, but won't foul the MAF, and its easier to clean too. I switched to AFE and I'm never going back to K&N.
And back to your original question, no you cannot gut your cat, unless you enjoy loosing power, gas mileage, and having a CEL on all the time.
