T.

I just had some work done on my 97 taurus (vulcan 3.0). My original
Catalytic Convertors (there are 2 on this car) were failing, rattling around
etc. The OEM Y pipe with the cats was quite expensive, so I cut them off the
Y pipe and fitted in a pair of high flow univeral Cats.

After about an hour driving, the SES light came on. There are no noticeable
driveability problems with the car, and I made sure to reattach the O2
sensor pigtails etc.

I'll go and get the codes read over the weekend, but I was curious if it
could be due to the less restrictive exhaust system, or would it most likely
be unrelated?

lugnut

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 20:27:06 -0400, "T." <used2it@gmail.com>
wrote:

>I just had some work done on my 97 taurus (vulcan 3.0). My original
>Catalytic Convertors (there are 2 on this car) were failing, rattling around
>etc. The OEM Y pipe with the cats was quite expensive, so I cut them off the
>Y pipe and fitted in a pair of high flow univeral Cats.
>
>After about an hour driving, the SES light came on. There are no noticeable
>driveability problems with the car, and I made sure to reattach the O2
>sensor pigtails etc.
>
>I'll go and get the codes read over the weekend, but I was curious if it
>could be due to the less restrictive exhaust system, or would it most likely
>be unrelated?
>


You may now have an EGR system fault code(s). The low
restriction cats sometimes result in insufficient EGR flow.
Sometimes, resetting the ECM is all that is necessary. If
you have a sensor near it's adaptive limit, you may have to
replace it. The system is dependant upon a certain amount
of back pressure to function properly. Your ECM may have
simply noticed a major change in operating conditions. Now,
did you check the heat shields on the cats? Many times the
rattles are the heat shields that need a spot of weld to
reattach them. Any good muffler shop can do this in 5
minutes or less but, it makes a lot less money. Many
converters have been wrongly replaced for this reason.

Good luck
Lugnut

T.

"lugnut" <lugnut@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:in2vd1hr4k63gn3fbk9cg2i8hq2hus5o05@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 20:27:06 -0400, "T." <used2it@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>I just had some work done on my 97 taurus (vulcan 3.0). My original
>>Catalytic Convertors (there are 2 on this car) were failing, rattling
>>around
>>etc. The OEM Y pipe with the cats was quite expensive, so I cut them off
>>the
>>Y pipe and fitted in a pair of high flow univeral Cats.
>>
>>After about an hour driving, the SES light came on. There are no
>>noticeable
>>driveability problems with the car, and I made sure to reattach the O2
>>sensor pigtails etc.
>>
>>I'll go and get the codes read over the weekend, but I was curious if it
>>could be due to the less restrictive exhaust system, or would it most
>>likely
>>be unrelated?
>>
>
>
> You may now have an EGR system fault code(s). The low
> restriction cats sometimes result in insufficient EGR flow.
> Sometimes, resetting the ECM is all that is necessary. If
> you have a sensor near it's adaptive limit, you may have to
> replace it. The system is dependant upon a certain amount
> of back pressure to function properly. Your ECM may have
> simply noticed a major change in operating conditions. Now,
> did you check the heat shields on the cats? Many times the
> rattles are the heat shields that need a spot of weld to
> reattach them. Any good muffler shop can do this in 5
> minutes or less but, it makes a lot less money. Many
> converters have been wrongly replaced for this reason.
>
> Good luck
> Lugnut

Thanks for the tips. The "rear" cat (to the rear 3 plugs) was toast though,
if you gave it a shake it sounded like someone had tossed about 5 lbs of
rocks in there, just everything was breaking apart. I think what may have
happend was because of the previous owners neglet. When I bought the car
(for a song) about a year and a half ago, the front (easy) plugs had been
changed out, but the rears were either original or at the very least
exceptionally old, and the car had a miss and SES light. Changing the plugs
and wires got rid of the miss nicely (and the SES) however god knows how
long unburnt hydrocarbons were being shot into the rear cat.