Blue cats?

[MidLifeC]

Sanity check from new owner:

Been reading about the plugged cats and the symptoms. Besides poor performance and engine missing, one indicated symptom is the metal discoloring to a blue tint.

I'm breaking my engine in 1000 RPM increments, today was 4000-5000; the car had good power and the boost was pegged all the way to 10#. When I got home I checked the cats and the metal between the primary and secondary cat's was blue.

Is this a normal symptom, or plugged cats only?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sqidd]

The color of the cats will not tell you if they a plugged or not. Mine are all sorts of colors. Someone correct me if I am wrong but if your cats were over saturated with fuel they would not get up to temperature and therefore not discolor. I may have bumped my head.
When I replaced my mufflers they were pink and blue (some ricer must have gotten a hold of em) and my car ran fine. I still have my stock cats and the car went 121mph in the 1/4. I do not think they are plugged.

sqidd

 

[2003 Cobra]

I have a second production run 03 Cobra and my car ran great right off the dealer's lot. With about 400 miles on the odometer, I changed the cat H-pipe to a Magnaflow cat X-pipe and it ran even better. Were my cats partially clogged? I don't know, but changing out the stock cats sure made a difference.

 

[Got Incon?]

No if you put raw fuel into cats they will glow cherry red and will melt and clog.

Steel discolors when heated, ever seen polished motorcycle headers, turns like purple/blue/pink.

 

[sqidd]

I was thinking the saturated cats would not burn very hot due to the cooling effect of the excess fuel (to much to burn).

All of my motorcycle exhaust systems turn blue and pink and they have had there a/f set perfectly. When they run rich the exhaust gas temps go down. But they also do not have cats.

When cats get fuel saturated does it just sit in the cat and burn?


sqidd

 

[Matt03]

Originally posted by MidLifeC
Sanity check from new owner:

Been reading about the plugged cats and the symptoms. Besides poor performance and engine missing, one indicated symptom is the metal discoloring to a blue tint.

I'm breaking my engine in 1000 RPM increments, today was 4000-5000; the car had good power and the boost was pegged all the way to 10#. When I got home I checked the cats and the metal between the primary and secondary cat's was blue.

Is this a normal symptom, or plugged cats only?

Thanks in advance.

When I got my car the cats were clogged. My car would be alright to about 3000-3500rpm and then it would fall on its face, and the cats would turn cherry red. It doesn't sound like your cats are totally clogged if you can run it into high rpm's without any power loss.

Just my 2 cents

Matt

 

[Got Incon?]

Originally posted by sqidd
I was thinking the saturated cats would not burn very hot due to the cooling effect of the excess fuel (to much to burn).

All of my motorcycle exhaust systems turn blue and pink and they have had there a/f set perfectly. When they run rich the exhaust gas temps go down. But they also do not have cats.

When cats get fuel saturated does it just sit in the cat and burn?


sqidd

Yep, it burns off very quickly on the cats adding lots of heat until the honeycomb melts....

 

[Ryan]

Re: Re: Blue cats?

Yeah tale tale sign of clogged cats. I learned this first hand from my CSVT. I melted my cats (won't getinto how), but it was due to too much fuel getting into them and thus melting the honeycomb in them and they broke up, and rattled. Actually sounded like bearings....

Originally posted by Matt03
When I got my car the cats were clogged. My car would be alright to about 3000-3500rpm and then it would fall on its face, and the cats would turn cherry red. It doesn't sound like your cats are totally clogged if you can run it into high rpm's without any power loss.

Just my 2 cents

Matt

 

[MidLifeC]

Thanks, guys.

I will assume my cats are good since the engine pulls very strong.