SilverBulletAMG

I was driving to work today and 10 minutes into my 20 minute drive I pull up to a stop light and all the sudden my car gets way loud. It sounded like I was running with no muffler or something and just sounded horrible. Shortly there after I could smell exhaust in the cabin, even with the window open. It also sounded like the exhaust was exiting right under the passengers side seat.
I get to work and quickly pop the hook looking for anything out of the ordinary and couldn't visibly see anything, but I was in a hurry.
The car seemed to drive normal other than just being extremely loud. When I went to lunch it sounded almost normal. It was still a little loud, but nowhere near as bad as it was. In park, when revved, you could hear air being sucked in and a back pressure sound when letting off after revving it. And I don't mean the sound from the intake. Lunch was a short drive and it was fine the whole time.
I drove home from work today and again, a few minutes into the drive as I was slowing down for a stoplight it gets extremely loud again and sounded like a tractor or wannabe cammed V8.
Get home and pop the hood and it is deafening at this point its so loud. Look at the passenger side down by the header (where the sound was coming from) and the top of the cat is glowing red hot! The headers looked fine on both sides as did the cat on the drivers side. The O2 sensor appeared to be fine, which was a surprise because I was expecting it to be all melted to nothing. There were no visible holes, but there is no doubt there is a gap either between the header and front cat or the cat itself has a hole in the head of it somewhere. It's hard to tell exactly and it was way to hot to stick my face any closer to get a better look.
So, cold the car sounds ok. Hot it is god awful. Question is, do you suspect it is the VRP headers, Cat or both not connected properly? There was no error message, which I would have expected if there was something up with the cat or O2 sensor. I just had these headers installed a couple weeks ago.
My guess is the cat and header weren't properly sealed.

Jons95c36amg

It must be your aftermarket poor quality headers.

SilverBulletAMG

Anyone else in the VRP header group buy have issues then? I don't disagree that these aren't the best quality headers out there. I like Vadim, but these were not what was advertised.
If it does end up being because of the headers, they will be coming off and sent back to Vadim for a refund. That is unacceptable.

loungn14

yikes.....

not good. Hoping its just a bad connection between the headers and downs, but doesnt sound like it.

Lets just say your not the first one to have some issues with those....

Zeppelin

I would find it hard to believe a leaky gasket or cracked header could cause the cat to run red hot. I would think that only a plugged cat could cause this. Question is whether a plugged cat could cause the header to crack or the gasket to fail.

SilverBulletAMG

What would cause a plugged cat? For what it's worth, these are year old 100 cell cats.

TruTaing

I havent had any issues w/ my vrp headers.... I'll keep an eye on it though!

JonMBZ

I would guess you will be at least needing a new cat. Also your check engine was probably not triggered due to the ECU modding.

1qikctr

Sounded like a header cracked? dount flange burned out ? check for cracks or lose bolts on 2pc headers where the exhaust meets the button half of the header. Check back with us after the inspection.

spr

I've had this problem with jba shorties in the past. Your welds on the header likely at the collector have failed and you have an exhaust leak. They're likely defective.

saer1one

but how would that explain the red hot glowing header..?

SilverBulletAMG

The head of the cat was what was glowing red hot. The headers looked normal. I am hoping to get into the shop tomorrow for a closer inspection up on the lift. I will definitely let everyone know the outcome. Thanks for the feedback guys.

CLKCLK

Can you also check the spark plug wires to see if they are connected correctly? Did you install the headers or a shop? A "good" tech may mess your wire around causing the miss fires and burn the cat. I have seen this while ago on a car when the cat burned red and came to find out it was the spark plug wires connecting in a wrong order.

Let us know the result.

spr

With my issue, the weld at the collector failed and allowed exhaust gas to escape at that point. Because of this there was more heat in that area and it glowed red hot. This may be the same for you.

SilverBulletAMG

Car is at the shop now and I should have it back later this afternoon. MB Tech took a closer look and said there was a visible gap and that it was very common for new headers to come loose after the initial install. He is going to go back through all the header bolts and throw some high temp loctite on there.
He was a bit concerned about the cat glowing red hot and figured it was because I was running too rich and dumping extra fuel in there. It makes sense because Jerry figured I was still running a bit rich as well after the initial tune. I tried to get some usable numbers a couple weeks back on the dyno but the machine was acting up and I couldn't get an AF readout.
So it seems as though there is a combination of things going on between the header coming loose and running too rich. For now it seems as though the headers aren't to blame. I told the tech to make sure he takes a look at all the welds and flanges as he's going back through tightening everything down as well. He's also going to hook it up to the machine and see if there are any hidden codes.
Jerry has already said he would tweak my ECU once I get him some usable data. This is nice because if I'm running as rich as it appears, I should be able to get a pretty decent gain after getting the ECU fine tuned.
Stay tuned....

SilverBulletAMG

Cars back and runs good as new. There were two bolts that were nearly falling out and could be hand tightened. All bolts were hit with loctite and re-torqued.
Plugged into the Star machine, it gave a ton of error codes. Several over/under volt readings which I assume is due to the 185 kit over running everything. The other showed the right side (passenger) running way lean. The computer over compensated by dumping fuel on that side (waay too rich) which caused the cat to run so hot with all the extra fuel being burned off. Makes sense since there was the huge gap on that side causing a lean reading. I'm still running a little rich across the board however, but not as bad as I initially suspected.
All welds, flanges, etc. looked good....a relative term. The welds were crap to begin with but, they haven't gotten any worse at least. So, I don't blame Vadim at all for this or his headers. I am still very skeptical of these and will be watching them closely from here on out. Vadim is a good guy and I trust that should any issues arise, he will make things right.

Vadim @ FD

SilverBulletAMG:

I am glad you got it taken care of.

Each collector is hand made and I know it is not pretty, but it works and the only way to make 1.75'' tubes fit into 2.5'' flange.

FrankW

sorry to bring back old thread.

silverB, can you describe the noise it makes under throttle? was it a howl/whistle like noise or something more like a rumble?

SilverBulletAMG

It sounded like an exhaust leak. It was very distinct and not a whistle or SC whine type of sound. I don't really remember much more other than it was loud and didn't sound good at all. I rely on my first post as it was fresh in my mind at that time.
Are you having issues?

FrankW

it sounds normal when idle and when going at a normal pace, but gets a very loud whistle like howl when I go WOT. it's coming from under the car. I just can't pin point where.

SilverBulletAMG

Sounds more like an intake/supercharger type issue. Does it do it in park while reving the engine or just under load with the SC engaged?

FrankW

it does do it while in park, but just not as loud. doesn't sound like the supercharger whine either. that's why i'm right now. lol

SilverBulletAMG

Pop the hood and have someone rev it up in park. Check your intake. My first stop would be the PITA clip at the rear/base of the SC where the clips always break.

jturkel

i have a whistle when i go under load. its b/c my sl55 splitter is not completely on all the way right now. i have had trouble fitting it entirely on and havent gotten around to adjusting it. it sounds like i have a turbo'd car right now with the whistle/air sound.

SilverBulletAMG

Prolly want to get that sealed sooner than later. Your AF mixture is most likely all over the place. Not to mention god only knows what kind of stuff you're sucking through the SC bypassing the filters.