victim: 95 F250 4x2 460 4.10 rear, flowmaster cat back exhaust.

I pulled my car trailer with Jeep on it to work (25 miles each way) today. When I got there I noticed the inner fenderwell was melted on the right side. While driving it I had no power (less than my old f150 with a 302 and 3.08 gears) and it was running warm (on the a of normal). I used my laser temp gun and the exhaust pipe temp going into the cat was 100 degrees hotter than coming out of the cat. The manifolds were over 500 degrees, I am thinking I have a clogged cat and am planning on gutting it and removing the pulley from the smog pump. am I wrong with my diagnosis? what should I do?

 

leave the air pump setup alone. the temp is gonna be hotter at and before the cat than after the cat. do you know what the tranny temps were? what tranny do you have? if it has o/d, did you have it in o/d?

 

tranny temp was around 180 (E4OD) I was not towing in OD (couldn't if I tried).

Is there something I am not seeing?

The other reason I want to stop using the smog pump is because it sounds like there are a bunch of marbles in it. I would rather not replace it if I am going to gut the cat anyway.

 

So now I have a gutted cat (may replace it later). The truck runs a little cooler. I filled it up and checked my mileage, 6 mpg I either need to take care of this, or sell it.

 

put a high flow cat in place of the gutted cat. whats the mileage on the truck? when was the last tune up? how olds the fuel filter? check fuel pressure.

 

113,000 miles with a fresh tuneup oil change and all filters changed (except tranny).

I talked to a friend today and he told me his did the same thing (but he was stuck in the mud) and it is common when you work that 460 hard. I also learned that the later year 460s had been detuned to try to meet emissions.

I am going to replace my radiator and fan clutch, and flush out the block and see what happens.

 

Good luck man, sound like a bunch of suck.

 

I recommend you STOP damaging your truck & start putting everything back the way it should be. Remember how well it ran years ago? Wrecking the converter won't bring that back - it can only make it worse.

And converters don't CAUSE engine problems; they're VICTIMS of engine problems. So by removing the cat, you haven't fixed anything - the root problem still exists, and will continue doing damage to the truck the more you ignore/mask it.

Start diagnosing the rich condition. It's probably something simple like a leaking FPR or bad ECT.

 

I have only owned this truck for 4 months, it has not seen any maintenance in many years. I have consulted with my neighbor who has 5 F250 and F350 trucks all with the 460 engine (most with over 200,000 miles on them, and one that's going to hit 300,000 miles very soon). I asked the questions on here first but got no reply, so I did what I did.

You must not have read the above post saying that I may replace the cat later. I know it is getting hot, so I am getting ready to change the radiator and fan clutch. i may also take the pulley off the smog pump for all the happy folks here.

I have asked for help, and you have lectured me like I am an idiot, thanks for the one line that was actually worth reading. I will check the fuel pressure, and the temp sensor as soon as I can.

 

It doesn't take an idiot to damage a vehicle - I've done plenty of damage to mine, and I'm only borderline. So no: I wasn't treating you like an idiot.

 

The problem is fixed


There was a wire stuck in the spout connector up there by the test port, I have no idea why it was in there (I did not pay much attention to it, I thought it was an antenna for the remote door lock). Now I have a ton of power, and the temp gauge behaved, and the floor stayed cool.

After 4 other owners, this truck has the right owner.