HELP: CEL after installing UR Test pipe and o2/dump??
Oct 16, 2010 | 07:23 AM
#31
Eventually P140 triggered so it appears the code isn't working on the car for me with any combination. In the meantime I drove down at Watkins Glen this Monday/Tuesday and car was great until Tuesday afternoon when that tiny exhaust leak started really opening up. Turns out the bolts holding down the external wastegate adapter for the ATP O2 DP backed out while on track and what was a tiny puff of a leak turned into a 2-3mm monster pouring 1600* airflow and probably some flames from downshifts right into my engine bay. 
As I pulled into the pits there was smoke rolling out of the vents so I knew I had a serious issue underhood... Opened it up carefully and the back firewall material was smoldering and burnt back about 12"! I doused the fire with water as it wasn't a raging fire but it took a good 5 minutes because the firewall material just didn't want to go completely out. What is the point of that material if it can burn!?! Luckily I had just about everything else wrapped with heat reflectant tape which seemed to keep them from getting effected by the heat.
In the mean time I fixed the exhaust leak hopefully once and for all by using a new gasket, new bolts that don't extend quite as deep, and changed my ECU settings back to stock. I also installed an extended heat shield out of aluminum sheet that I sandwitched underneath the stock shielding because the stock shielding just didn't protect the upper and left portions of the firewall very well. Now after ~60 miles the car passed all ready checks and there are no pending or current CEL's. I got really lucky nothing got damage on the car as there was some wiring that came very close to burning up when the firewall material lit up. So even very small exhaust leaks can throw off the reading at the rear O2 sensor and can open up into larger leaks that have the potential to burn your car to the ground...
So don't ignore those exhaust leaks!
As I pulled into the pits there was smoke rolling out of the vents so I knew I had a serious issue underhood... Opened it up carefully and the back firewall material was smoldering and burnt back about 12"! I doused the fire with water as it wasn't a raging fire but it took a good 5 minutes because the firewall material just didn't want to go completely out. What is the point of that material if it can burn!?! Luckily I had just about everything else wrapped with heat reflectant tape which seemed to keep them from getting effected by the heat.
In the mean time I fixed the exhaust leak hopefully once and for all by using a new gasket, new bolts that don't extend quite as deep, and changed my ECU settings back to stock. I also installed an extended heat shield out of aluminum sheet that I sandwitched underneath the stock shielding because the stock shielding just didn't protect the upper and left portions of the firewall very well. Now after ~60 miles the car passed all ready checks and there are no pending or current CEL's. I got really lucky nothing got damage on the car as there was some wiring that came very close to burning up when the firewall material lit up. So even very small exhaust leaks can throw off the reading at the rear O2 sensor and can open up into larger leaks that have the potential to burn your car to the ground...
So don't ignore those exhaust leaks!
Oct 18, 2010 | 08:20 AM
#32
Eventually P140 triggered so it appears the code isn't working on the car for me with any combination. In the meantime I drove down at Watkins Glen this Monday/Tuesday and car was great until Tuesday afternoon when that tiny exhaust leak started really opening up. Turns out the bolts holding down the external wastegate adapter for the ATP O2 DP backed out while on track and what was a tiny puff of a leak turned into a 2-3mm monster pouring 1600* airflow and probably some flames from downshifts right into my engine bay.
As I pulled into the pits there was smoke rolling out of the vents so I knew I had a serious issue underhood... Opened it up carefully and the back firewall material was smoldering and burnt back about 12"! I doused the fire with water as it wasn't a raging fire but it took a good 5 minutes because the firewall material just didn't want to go completely out. What is the point of that material if it can burn!?! Luckily I had just about everything else wrapped with heat reflectant tape which seemed to keep them from getting effected by the heat.
In the mean time I fixed the exhaust leak hopefully once and for all by using a new gasket, new bolts that don't extend quite as deep, and changed my ECU settings back to stock. I also installed an extended heat shield out of aluminum sheet that I sandwitched underneath the stock shielding because the stock shielding just didn't protect the upper and left portions of the firewall very well. Now after ~60 miles the car passed all ready checks and there are no pending or current CEL's. I got really lucky nothing got damage on the car as there was some wiring that came very close to burning up when the firewall material lit up. So even very small exhaust leaks can throw off the reading at the rear O2 sensor and can open up into larger leaks that have the potential to burn your car to the ground...
So don't ignore those exhaust leaks!
As I pulled into the pits there was smoke rolling out of the vents so I knew I had a serious issue underhood... Opened it up carefully and the back firewall material was smoldering and burnt back about 12"! I doused the fire with water as it wasn't a raging fire but it took a good 5 minutes because the firewall material just didn't want to go completely out. What is the point of that material if it can burn!?! Luckily I had just about everything else wrapped with heat reflectant tape which seemed to keep them from getting effected by the heat.
In the mean time I fixed the exhaust leak hopefully once and for all by using a new gasket, new bolts that don't extend quite as deep, and changed my ECU settings back to stock. I also installed an extended heat shield out of aluminum sheet that I sandwitched underneath the stock shielding because the stock shielding just didn't protect the upper and left portions of the firewall very well. Now after ~60 miles the car passed all ready checks and there are no pending or current CEL's. I got really lucky nothing got damage on the car as there was some wiring that came very close to burning up when the firewall material lit up. So even very small exhaust leaks can throw off the reading at the rear O2 sensor and can open up into larger leaks that have the potential to burn your car to the ground...
So don't ignore those exhaust leaks!
I think the material on the firewall was meant to be a heat shield, not a fire suppressant. Its there to keep the heat from ruining your paint and heating up the cabin. The primary heat shield around the exhaust is there to actually hold those temps in. Glad you got the fire put out and didn't wreck anything!
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dannyz
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