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El Cheapo Duratec Plugged Exhaust Test.

T

Tony2005

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Jun 18, 2005
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For the Duratec, a good cheap way is to remove the O2 sensors, in this order (and see if the performance improves).

1) Uninstall Bank 2 lower (radiator side) to determine if main catalytic converter is plugged.

2) Reinstall Bank 2 lower and then uninstall Bank 2 upper (radiator) to determine if Bank 2 precatalytic converter is plugged.

3) Reinstall Bank 2 upper and then uninstall Bank 1 upper (hardest one, close to firewall) to determine if Bank 1 precatalytic converter is plugged.

4) You don't need to mess with Bank 1 lower as Bank 2 lower will also be a test of that issue too (if it is an issue).

What you are doing is to give the exhaust an outlet. If it performance improves with the O2 sensor removed, you know that is where the Catalytic Converter is plugged. Battery needs to be disconnected before uninstalling and installing O2 sensors. In addition, you need to make sure you have some sort of heat shield where the hot exhaust is coming out of the open O2 sensor hole. The hot exhaust could melt wires and rubber hoses near it. Victor Muffler Repair Kits has some of the muffler shields. Do not drive for more than a few minutes.
 
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Plugged pre-cats

Plugged pre-cats

Looked through the site for a how-to on removing exhaust manifolds and gutting pre-cats, but couldn't find one. Can you point me in the right direction? Also, should I gut the pre-cats or get the headers from MSDS?
 
Rainman444 said:
Looked through the site for a how-to on removing exhaust manifolds and gutting pre-cats, but couldn't find one. Can you point me in the right direction? Also, should I gut the pre-cats or get the headers from MSDS?
Click to expand...

This has been discussed multiple times, to see the most gains go with msds, although u will notice a small sound improvement and maybe 2hp if u cats are bad and u gut them
 
Yes, I've read the discussions about which is better. I'm leaning towards going with the MSDS headers.

But I haven't come across a "How-to" on how to remove exhaust manifolds from a Duratech V6. I'm not a mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but I can follow directions fairly well.
 
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