my exhaust is going to hell., and I have
a few exhaust leaks in the exhaust after
the catalytic converter..
It just recently got worse and I lost a bunch of torque and hp..
and the car was running kinda funky.
I thought it was mostly due to the fact that I needed new spark plugs and distributor cap and rotor. so I changed all tha tstuff and the car ran better, but the power is still gone..
the question, is do you guys think the loss of power is from the exhaust? does it make that much of a difference having a exhaust leak?
if so? how do cars on the track that run straight headers with NO exhaust not have the problem of losing power?
just a bit confused on this..

Mark

1991 Royal Blue Firebird t-tops, 305TBI
K&N 3.73 gears, MTX system from hell

 

I dont think a leak is going to make your power "go to hell". It also depends where its at, I think a leak around the headers/manifold would be worse than post-cat. As far as the straight header thing I believe that if i was to pull all the exhaust off my car past the manifold/header it would only HAVE to run better unless I didn't reroute the emissions stuff, if i just left it dangling then there could be a problem. Hope that at leasts answers a little... If not there will be more posts :P

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1985 IROC-Z, nuff said :P

 

true, a post-cat exhaust leak should not effect engine performance, only the sould quality of the exhaust.

 

ok.. then it must be the spark plug wires..
I didnt have nuff money when i got the cap and rotor and plugs to get the wires, but ill go get new wires and see if that helps.
what else do you guys think? maybe the o2 sensor would cause loss of power.

 

the o2 sensor may, and also a blocked egr, if your car has high milage.

 

Those guys that run open headers would lose power if they ran full exhaust like we do, it is too restrictive when you have 900 horsepower.

I don't think 02 sensors would make you lose power, if they go bad your car will not run well though--it will surge and shudder. The exhaust leak may cause you to feel like you car has lost power because of a lack of backpressure, resulting in a less torquey feel when you accelerate.

 

The open header guys at the track have motors to back it up. As for post cat leaks I don't know, but when my header bolts kept backing out my car ran like sh**.

 

i think that i have a similar problem as Bluebird where my car doesn't run properly; it hesitates, surges, shudders, loss of power.

my friend and i are at a loss as to the nature of the problem.
from what i've read in this particular message board i'm still stumped.

i have put new plugs, wires, cap, rotor and my friend and i just checked the plugs the other day.

like iroc5speed says it could be the egr or the o2 but my car doesn't have high mileage.

if anyone can help, that would be most appreciated

thanks
DracoZK

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92 Camaro Z28
Chameleon Paint