Should the CAT glow????
- Thread starter pompeyal
- Start date
looked this up for you..
It's NOT clogged (yet) and it's not "doing it's job." A cat normally gets very hot when in use, but NOT GLOWING hot.
Something is causing raw unburned fuel to be sent down the exhaust pipe where the cat "burns" this fuel. The cat is designed to burn the tiny amount of unburned fuel that comes from a normal engine. Now, if you pour excessive hydrocarbons (fuel) in the exhaust, the cat will burn that too and since it's burning too much fuel it glows red hot. This won't last very long, this is very damaging to the cat. The catalyst can get hot enough to melt. And that won't take long! And when it melts, then you will have a blob of molten metal blocking the exhaust pipe (now it's clogged!) and the engine will stop operating. At that point, the only fix is replacement of the catalytic converter.
However, if you find and fix the problem now you can avoid that expense. You have to find why raw fuel is going through the engine. The most common reason would be a bad spark plug or bad spark plug wire. If the spark doesn't work, there is no "combustion" in that cylinder and the raw unburned fuel goes out the exhaust pipe.
A spark plug can be replaced for 0.97 cents, but if you wait till the cat melts, well those can cost $100's or more to replace.
Other problems could be a bad carburetor mixture, bad computer causing overly rich mixture, clogged fuel injectors, even bad /burnt valves and/or rings but heck lets not think about that.
But get an expert to look at it NOW and don't drive it any more till it's fixed, or that cat will melt and then you'll be in deep do do.
Good luck.
It's NOT clogged (yet) and it's not "doing it's job." A cat normally gets very hot when in use, but NOT GLOWING hot.
Something is causing raw unburned fuel to be sent down the exhaust pipe where the cat "burns" this fuel. The cat is designed to burn the tiny amount of unburned fuel that comes from a normal engine. Now, if you pour excessive hydrocarbons (fuel) in the exhaust, the cat will burn that too and since it's burning too much fuel it glows red hot. This won't last very long, this is very damaging to the cat. The catalyst can get hot enough to melt. And that won't take long! And when it melts, then you will have a blob of molten metal blocking the exhaust pipe (now it's clogged!) and the engine will stop operating. At that point, the only fix is replacement of the catalytic converter.
However, if you find and fix the problem now you can avoid that expense. You have to find why raw fuel is going through the engine. The most common reason would be a bad spark plug or bad spark plug wire. If the spark doesn't work, there is no "combustion" in that cylinder and the raw unburned fuel goes out the exhaust pipe.
A spark plug can be replaced for 0.97 cents, but if you wait till the cat melts, well those can cost $100's or more to replace.
Other problems could be a bad carburetor mixture, bad computer causing overly rich mixture, clogged fuel injectors, even bad /burnt valves and/or rings but heck lets not think about that.
But get an expert to look at it NOW and don't drive it any more till it's fixed, or that cat will melt and then you'll be in deep do do.
Good luck.
phoenixv6quattro
staylowmovefast
It is actually very obvious as to why it is glowing. There is a dragon living in it. Sell the car before you get eaten. The forcefield of the mighty "CAT" will not contain her forever....YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
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pompeyal
Registered User
Opps never let your guys here the bottom of this problem, twas a coil pack dead thus filling the cat with neat fuel, new set in and all was well....
