328: Slow down light flashing

Hi all, tonight when I was out driving the red "slow down" light flashed a couple of times. I've never seen it before. What is the cause for this?

 

You may have an electrical gremlin BUT...you may also have a cat issue. That light sometimes means that one bank of cylinders has shut down and unspent fuel is being dumped into the cat. Have you noticed any loss of power?

Others who know FAR more than I will certainly soon chime in ;-)

 

According to the 328 service manual - flashing means the temp in the cat has hit 1652F +/-36 degrees and you are supposed to slow down immediately and drive to the nearest service facility for repair.

If it comes on steady the temp has reached 1724F +/-36 degrees and you are supposed to stop the car immediately and have it taken to the shop by a "road service vehicle."

However, the problem is these systems are well known to fail and flash warnings unnecessarily BUT it MAY be flashing correctly. So you need to sort out if it's working correctly or not. If it is, there is a real danger of a fire if you continue driving with the light steadily illuminated.

If you can legally replace the cat with a straight pipe, this issue goes away completely since there is nothing to overheat.

 

It sounds like it could be a problem with the cat. I had the car the other day for the yearly inspection and I failed the emission test badly. This never happened before and it sounds as if it could be cat related. The car runs perfectly well.

 

get rid of the cat,,you will be better off,,,as i posted before,,my car is running considerably cooler,,,,when its time to smog my mech will swap out the test pipe and then re install it..just a thought,,,i wish i had done this 10 years ago...