I got the rear cats deleted today, nothing wrong with either one, at all! I left the 2 pre cats intact because it appeared nothing was wrong with them and the guy who took off the cats said it was way more invovled than he wanted to get, but he was convinced it wasn't my cats even before he took them off. His suggestion was replacing my fuel filter so..

I replaced my fuel filter, I have a feeling that it was never changed, I bought the truck used this spring. My truck reads 67,500 miles, and when I popped off the filter, I flipped it over to see dirt, black, thick, nasty stuff come out. I tried blowing through the filter after doing that and barely could get air to push through. After replacing the new filter, I put it in drive and hit the gas like normal and my tires instantly broke loose.

So for a $9 fuel filter and $3 for a 5/16 fuel line quick disconecter tool I think I solved a majority of my problems.

I left my tuner a message, I think my tune could be thrown off because it was tuned with restricted fuel comming through, but I could be wrong. I'll see what he has to say.

Asside from this, I still have an oil leak issue. I hope it's not a problem to do this, but I made my own oil catch type thing comming off the passenger valve cover to see if oil is comming out of the breather hose that goes into my vortech inlet, I sealed off the hole on the inlet so I don't lose boost. After testing my truck out briefly after the fuel filter I didn't get any oil in my catch, I'm really hoping it's not a bad seal in the vortech.

I have a little bit of sputter/hessitation if i go to WOT from a stop and I'm not sure if I need more tuning or if my throttle body needs cleaned, I plan on doing this after resolving the oil, because I'm getting some oil down into my throttle body. I know there is oil getting to my throttle body, and a few times under harder acceleration I've had the "yellow wrench" light pop up and my truck go to reduced power. It's only done this since the oil has been leaking, not before I supercharged it.

So it still leaves me wondering if my cats aren't plugged, why was I getting up to 11 pound boosts on an 8 pound pulley? Would the fuel filter affect this?

 

Are you sure you don't have a dead cylinder?

Something is just way wrong.

 

there's more to this story...


clogged i/c core, or something

 

I'm not sure why you think I would leave details out, there is no more I can really add. I'm not mechanic, that's why I'm on here seeking help.

How would I know if I had a dead cylinder or something like that? I have an SCT hand programmer I don't know if I could read anything with that? I haven't changed the spark plugs or anything, I don't know how to tell if any of those things are bad. I don't have any CEL lit so I'm at a loss, and open to any suggestions. Thanks

 

since you have an sct hand held you need to check for codes (codes can appear without a CEL)...


as fas as your attitude here regarding my opinion isn't needed, as there is clearly something else wrong and you haven't even checked for anything else...



good luck sir I hope you haven't caused any long term damage

 

I just hooked up my SCT and it said "no DTCs found" I suppose that means there aren't any codes being thrown. I wasn't questioning your opinion, I know there is something else wrong which is why I'm asking. I'm just not sure what else I can add to make the story more clear, it's leaving me quite perplexed. It may have a lot to do with the oil weeping out of my vortech, but the biggest thing I don't understand is why it's making 11 pounds of boost and not 7-8.

 

what size pulley do you have on it?

are you burning lots of oil?

Have you pulled the plugs to see if they are covered in oil?

Did the muffler shop guy actually test the front cats?

 

pulley size: as far as I know it is the stock 8 pound pulley from vortech, I'll contact the guy who had the supercharger before me. I'll feel really dumb if it isn't that size pulley. He had the stock bolt on kit from them and didn't say anything about modifying the pulley.

I did not touch the spark plugs, I heard they are a 2 piece design and I was too afraid of trying to change them out right now. I was thinking of replacing them sometime soon. I need to read up on what tools I need and how to get those out safely.

The guy at the muffler shop did not test the front pre cats. He said that my truck would be running hot if they were plugged, and that the heat shields would turn blue from the heat and they would have shot out and left debris all over the cats he took out, and he said the cats behind the precats would be damaged so I just took his advice. I have the cats he took out and they are perfectly fine. He said I could try dropping the exhaust down myself and see if it helps but I really don't have the time or means of doing that. He said I could get a non contact temperature gauge and see if there any hot spots too, I never thought to do that before I took off the cats.

 

I just confirmed with the guy who had the supercharger before me it is a 7-8 pound pulley.

 

What size is the pulley... 3.2? 3.0? 2.87? Don't go by boost. 2.87 was 12lbs on my truck.

CHANGE YOUR PLUGS! You are probably blowing out spark. Gap to .032 to .035. Auto-lite HT0's.

I had no signs of my front cats changing color at all..but they were sure f'd up.

Here is my factory passenger side...I blew it out...

and my severely clogged driver side...

 

Just double checked the pulley size, I couldn't come up with a good way to measure it so I used a compass to make various size circles and cut them out to hold up to the pulley but it was right about the 3.2 size. Like I had said before, my truck was at 2 different tuners (only one tuned it) but on 2 different dynos and both came up that I was making up to 11 psi boost and around 220 horsepower.

I cleaned out my throttle body and the truck ran really good for a short trip across town, the tires would break loose with no problem, but that only lasted a while. I think it's the oil coating the throttle body that has it screwed up and running rough on the low end. I'm going to try to find someone to press in some new seals around the impellar shaft, I think that's where my leak is from. I'll change the plugs then after I get the oil issue fixed. I just don't want to send the head unit back to vortech and pay $600 and wait a few weeks to have that done. It's still very laggy on the highway when I get on the gas which has me still concerned about some type of restritction, let alone the high boost readings I'm getting.

As for the cats, how could you tell they were screwed up? Like I said, I had the rear cats deleted and they look fine, the guy didn't want to mess with the pre cats because it was "too involved". I guess if I can for sure tell that they are the problem I will take them off, do you have pictures of how you did it, and what the setup you have looks like. I only ask because of all the bending in the exhaust pipe you would need to do comming down off the exhaust manifolds and then there are all the 02 sensors.

Thanks!

 

I had one cat go bad and it let me know with serious rattling noise as chunks of media were bouncing around in there, but no loss in performance.
The second one went out quietly, but plugged. The truck ran fine at idle to moderate throttle, but fell on it's face with any boost at all....much worse than the "laggy" feeling you describe, and no doubt that there was something wrong.

the guy didn't want to mess with the pre cats because it was "too involved".
Not really, cut them out with a sawzall , inspect , replace if needed, weld.......

It seems like looking at the rear cats might be a waste because they are operating cooler than the fronts. I'm not sure you can visually inspect the front and rear of a cat without holding it in your hand per photos above. The front biscuit could be blocking the flow through the rear biscuit. No? Mine was.

I would revisit the cats. The blower may have problems, but at 11 psi you shouldn't be making the same power as before the blower was installed.

 

If your seeing 11 psi and only 220 HP it sounds like you got a major restriction on your exhust side. try unhooking your exhust at your y and see if your issue clears.

Have you always seen 11psi on a 8psi pully?

 

I just got back from getting the pre cats removed and my truck sounds and smells horrible. I can't even describe how bad the sound is, especially at low rpm's. My friend who dropped me off drove behind me and said it smelled really bad. I looked at the precats and they looked to be perfectly fine.





here is all my cats, nothing wrong with them from what I can tell

here is a look inside of one of the precats

here is the patch job after the cat delete


Here is my pipes after the factory H or Y pipe whatever it is called before it goes into my exhaust, from there I have duals that come out. I had that welded back up last week when I got the rear cats out and it got black over the fresh weld, so I think there is or was enough pressure that it broke the weld maybe? Here is a picture of it now after it was re-welded, there is a little hole in it which I am pretty sure wasn't there after it was welded.



This whole thing just isn't making sense to me.

it's made around 11 ever since I got the supercharger put on my truck this summer, but the guy who had it before me was seeing the 7-8 it was supposed to make.

I have intentions of getting new seals put in by next weekend, I'm planning on sending the blower out Monday to have it done.

 

Did your friend describe the odor as raw fuel, or or was he that specific?