Not sure what I have going on.

Towed 300 miles right after header install, didn't mod anything else.
Infrared temp gauge showed approx 360F in the area where right and left join in the Y pipe - right beside the right side sway bar link.

Before I finished the 300 mile trip, nasty clunking under wife's feet. Figured the original 10yr old link puked out on the nasty interstate. Had a nearby Ford dealer replace the link the next day.

On the way home, same (new) link toast again. Local dealer went thru the motions of what I've done, where I've been - he believes the close proximity of the Y pipe, combined with the stock muffler, is over heating the sway bar link. Ok, sounds credible, and I did see excessive temp there, but that big shiney new bolt and heat shield on the upper mount of the link, doesn't show any signs of heat.

Do you think the rubber is melting on the link cuz the exhaust isn't getting out of the stock muffler?

Already convinced the "resident" banker that we need to get the air box and Flowmaster, so not a problem, but hard to believe a muffler would restrict enough to cause heat to burn out 2 links in less than 600 miles. I wanted to believe the dealer goofed up.

Thoughts?

 

That stock muffler is not restrictive whatsoever - it SOUNDS like crap, but otherwise I don't think that's your problem.

Does the rubber LOOK melted or otherwise overheated?

And 360 degrees for exhaust? That's hot?

 

Never had any problems with my Thorleys melting anything but my truck isn't stock.

When towing especially for long trips your exhaust is going to get hot. After half a day towing even a meager load of a 3k lb boat, 3 adults and 1k lbs of gear in the bed and stops in between my exhaust tip is that hot you can't touch it for more than a couple seconds. For long grades pulling heavy loads I wouldn't be surprised if the headers would have some glow to them.

What mileage on the truck and any tuning?

 

Think you either got a new bad link or another front end problem. 350 is not hot for exhaust. Harley Davidsons run 210-300 all day long at the cool parts of the engine. Run truck and touch the link, is it hot?

 

Quick question: How long do you run at wide-open-throttle while towing? Maybe it's time for a tuner to reduce the cat/exhaust temps.

 

I had a hard time believing that the stock muffler would cause a 'heat-backup' problem, though it sounds slightly possible I guess, but I did notice my passenger side inner fender is a little shorter than it used to be - melted. Now what the heck is going on?
Did the dealer torch off my sway bar link near there and make a boo-boo? Doesn't look like it - no signs of heat near the upper link mount on the frame.
But I have a small zip tie holding heat wrap around my rear heater lines (Excursion) and the zip tie has got to be no more than 1/8" away from the headers - but it didn't melt. The bottom of the melted inner fender isn't anywhere as close to the exhaust as that zip tie. I post a shot tonight from home.

Rubber on the upper link mount isn't melted in any way, no discoloration on the bolt or heatshield behind that bolt. I assume all SD's have a small round heatshield with the upper bolt on the passenger side right? It all looks good, but flops around in my hand.
Not sure what the dealer did or how you could screw that up, likely not the highest paid dude doing that repair.
On that note, that link was replaced while on vacation, local dealer says they can't warranty it just cuz they're another Ford dealer - says I have to take it up with the other dealer. Is that true? You can have a repair done at a dealer while away and they won't cover it at home?

I'll have to run that gauge again incase I'm loosing my memory, but I positively remember the heat gauge doing something I've never seen it do when I pointed at the Y pipe in front of the convertor - blanked out and said Out Of Range, then displayed over 300f if I remember correctly. I'll check that again.



Bad drive back with the camper. Up hill, against the wind and lots of it,(not a small camper - see avatar) truck not performing well for various reasons that I've since dived into(plugs, cracked coils, program update that I didn't know about).
I was in 2nd gear (3.73's) for probably 40% of a 300 mile drive. I hate that. Mind you I drop back and "cruise" when that happens, stay around 55mph and don't push it back to interstate speed until the hill is gone.
So I completely believe if there was ever a time that my exhaust got hot, that trip was one of them - and this was my first trip with the Thorley's so I didn't know what to expect.
90k on the truck. 2000. Often sees 4k/yr. Four miles to work. Only a K&N in the stock box.


While I was installing that Moog link on the weekend, I thought to myself, "Self, is there something else wrong up here causing this??" I guess time will tell with the new one, but I'm not feeling like it's wandering any worse or driving any different than normal.
Good thought about the link temp - but I'll see if I can get a halfass reading from the infrared gauge as well. Maybe compare bottom to top.
Can't be changing a link every 300 miles if heat is in fact my problem, but why me and not anyone else? That's why I wondered if the dealer here had any credibility to his 'stock-muffler-backing-up-heat' theory.

Will have more info this week.

 

Here are the shots o the "burnt-out" sway bar link with less than 300 miles on it. And my melted passenger inner fender - dealer says stock muffler backing up heat from headers.
I think 2nd gear most of the way home uphill with camper in tow on a hot day had something to do with it.

 

2 more shots

 

Well, I don't know why it would be getting so hot. But that certainly doesn't look like something the dealer did wrong.

 

That inner fender really has me thinking. I even went back to see the shots I have after the header install, and it is certainly all there like new.
Wierd cuz there's all kinds of stuff closer to the headers that aren't melting.

 

Don't know about your link wearing out,but I hope in the "loose after 300 miles" pic you aren't running that tire in the back ground on you truck or trailer with all the weather cracks in it!!??

 

I would warm that engine up and idel about 2500 RPM and check for heat blowing in that area. Just wave you hand around there to see ware the heat is coming from. Sounds to me like you may have an exhaust leak.

 

Do you have wider angle pics? Looks like an formed exhaust clamp near the suspected melted link.

Long periods of time at high rpm pulling what you are will make the headers get EXTREMELY hot. The stock manifolds are a lot thicker and the stock exhaust tubing in the Y-pipe is thicker and stainless which helps to keep the heat in. I suspect the heat is further compounded by a lean A/F ratio due in part to the headers and filter as well as the factory tuning that runs stoich the majority of the time.(Then add the 10% ethanol your probably running) Honestly if you had issues with the truck prior I would suspect possibly a damaged cat converter than a muffler. If exhaust temps get to high it can damage the cat and actually melt the substrate and cause excessive backpressure.

My thoughts also. Could be why I have no issues, I'm tuned.

 

An exhaust leak could make sense. You may have hot exhaust blowing on localized areas. Would explain why nearby parts don't show heat damage.

 

Yeah we're pissed about that. Still fighting with the tire place that put them on. Keep telling us E's are fine like that, just superficial rubber cracking.
Next step is to contact manufacturer.
They're about 1yr old.