Wires to nowhere?

Uh -Oh

 

Those are connectors for the cat temp sensors that some rocket scientist disconnected. It is usually done because the car has an issue causing the lights to come on and rather that fix it they are just disconnected. Catalytic converter damage is often the end result.

We see it all the time in cars that are new to this shop and have not had good quality service.

 

Without Cats and pre-cats there shouldn't be any reason to have those boxes hooked up(Rifledriver can chime in here). Get rid of your pre-cats and put on the hyperflows. With that being said, the test pipes should have come with the portals to hook up all the sensors as the factory would have had it.

 

The "Uh-Oh" was a poor attempt at humor.

A) I'm no expert.
B) I know the configuration of your exhaust system (before you bought it).
Last I saw your car it was running a Tubi with test pipes and the O2 sensors were hooked up. The OEM headers and pre-cats were still on the car but I have no idea what condition they were in (or if they were gutted). Seeing as you have melted one of your pre-cats you might as well pull both and go to after market "Y" pipes.(Ask Rifledriver about those)
C) IIRC (per the previous owner) the main Cats were shot (guts were disintegrated) when removed for installation of the Tubi. The main Cat issue could be the reason why the sensor wires were unplugged in the first place

 

Olin - the original configuration incorporated heat sensors on the cats that, when hot, would light up a slow-down light on your dash. This "fault" came about owing to failure of ignition to one of the 6-cylinder banks (left or right). Hence, raw fuel would be pouring into the cat and burning there. The cat would glow red hot, and hence the risk of fire.

However, this was a rare occurence, and most often recognized by other symptoms, such as diminshed power or rough running. The astute driver would slow down and check it out before the light came on.

Much more common was failure of the temperature sending unit(s). This led to intermittent illumination of the Slow-Down-Cylinders 1-6 or Slow-Down-Cylinders 7-12 light(s). This drove many of us crazy, albeit it did confirm that the lights on the dash were working correctly. Many disconnected the sending unit to rid themselves of the obnoxious light glowing on the dash. The sending units are no longer available.

Jim S.

 

I could not disagree more. Overheating cats come from any number of running problems. In fact he has one right now or his precat would not have overheated. Cats overheat from incorrectly timed cams, bad sparkplugs, bad sparkplug wires, bad distributor caps, incorrect operation of the fuel injection, incorrect operation of the O2 sensor system.

In 99% of the cases when a cat overheats it is from a running problem that is minor enough that the driver has no awareness it is happening.

A good, proper running Ferrari is already running the cats so hot they are very near their maximum temp in many operating modes. A slight problem of almost any kind is enough to destroy them.

 

Brian is correct in everything he said. But... They could have been removed because they malfunctioned and the previous owner decided to disconnect then rather then pay the stupid amount of money Ferrari wanted for replacement units.

I have recently located 2 units for a customer, and after informing him of the price...he is gong to live with the light. This could have been the situation with the previous owner of your car.

Test your cats with an infrared temp gauge, and check the emissions of the car with a 4 gas analyzer, before and after the cats. Hell even go as far to remove them a check them. You don't want a melt down of these units. Not only are they costly, but serious engine damage can result.

 

A) You don't know me
B) Yes, I know Robert. We live about 30 miles apart.
C) I helped Robert do the axle boots on your car. (I hope they are still holding up)
D) US spec TR engine compartments should be relatively the same with some assorted differences from 84 to 91
E) I'm not your dad and definitely NOT your stripper friend.(but I DO accept tips)
F) I haven't met your Dad................... yet.

 

The Main Cats are no longer on the car. Are you suggesting he do this with the pre-cats?

 

I guess I've been told! The verbal equivalent of a 2" by 4" across the side of the head. I deserved it.

Jim S.

 

"In 99% of the cases when a cat overheats it is from a running problem that is minor enough that the driver has no awareness it is happening." Rifledriver - Brian

Saltie - you are rather astute. I guess you fall into the 1% that recognize that something is amiss and that you should pulll over.

Jim S.

 

By your statement you still have precats. Cats are cats, doesn't matter where they are mounted.

Even if you were to decide to remove the cats and be done with it you should still fix whatever is causing the overheat.

Cat overheating is caused by one thing and one thing only, unburned fuel going out the tail pipe. There is a very simple math equation....Unburned fuel = horsepower loss.

It really is that simple.


Why drive a Ferrari and throw away horsepower?

 

Could be but he still has a cat overheating. Also about 3 out of 4 TR's we get in here as new clients or for PPI's have disconnected or missing cat temp ecu's. It has become so common we started to do a precat inspection on every TR on its first visit. 90% of those with non functioning or ignored sporatic slow down lights have destroyed precats. My storage area has a big pile of them I was going to have rebuilt before they made it illegal.
Convert the car to later ECU's. They are more reasonably priced.

Infared temp gauges tell you very little about the temp of the cat matrix which is all that really counts. The exhaust needs to be measured precat by someone who knows what they are doing. And the cats need to be inspected for damage.

 

Just found out the the cat ecu's are the same units used on the Lamborghini Diablo, they are still available through Lambo, though no dealer that I spoke to stocks them.

 

So if you dumped the cats and pre cats in favor of hollowed out pipes/test pipes(hyperflows), would you still need the ecu's to be working/hooked up?