Lacking power again.. now with bits coming from exhaust!

[Corranga]

So...
My exhaust was blowing a fair bit as the V clamp that joins the Piper 4-2-1 to the flexi section had rusted through

After about an hour browsing eBay, a clamp for a Peugeot was purchased, and I fitted it tonight. With the usual combination of some firegum, I now have a pretty decent seal but the car is still really lacking in power, and sounds too loud when under load.

So, when I got back home I thought I'd see if it was leaking again, but it was ok. I then noticed tiny flecks of something coming out of the exahust, then this come out...

It looks sort of honey comb like, but is aboutt he side of a finger nail. Is this my cat disintegrating...? Would this cause a lack of power underload (blocking exhaust flow perhaps?)

[Dave]

I think your right, it looks like the cat is/has disintegrated and yes this would cause a lack of power if it's started to choke the cat up.

[woody]

Its the cat falling to bits. When it happened to my with similar poor running, the coil to dizzy HT lead had chaffed on a coolant pipe bracket and was shorting. This in turn caused the cat to disintegrate

[SteveJB]

Might be worth taking the cat out & replace with a De cat pipe then buy a cat for the next mot. Taking the cat out made a big difference on my S1

[Stephen]

If it is blocked the engine can't get rid of the heat and that can lead to other problems such as HGF so don't ignore it. I had this with an AX GT where budget had fitted an exhaust for a 1.1. Rather than a 1.4 It caused the head to blow.

[Dominic]

Might be worth taking the cat out & replace with a De cat pipe then buy a cat for the next mot. Taking the cat out made a big difference on my S1

Indeed,

De-cat pipe, and I'm sure there are some Cats to borrow that do the rounds come MOT time.

[Corranga]

Ouch, I can do without that! I guess the falling bracket on the manifold allowed it to blow some pressure out so hopefully that won't happen.

I've been thinking about a sport cat as they don't seem to cost much more than a normal one from Elise parts. Not sure I can be bothered fitting a cat for mot every year..

[Corranga]

Ok...

So I've just taken the cat off to find what is effectively 2 balls of the stuff floating around inside the cat.

I've since knocked them out and now have a completely empty cat casing. Can I stick that on the car and use it safely until I get a replacement?

[woody]

Yes.

[Stephen]

If its an s1 I have a spare you can borrow.

[Corranga]

Thanks for the offer, but I've put it back together with the empty cat and it's running much better now

Getting the cat off want to bad, considering it's been on the car since before I bought it, so 7 years anyway so I think a de cat and borrowing for mot is the way forward.it was mot'd last month so I don't need to do it for a while anyway

[duggiesmith]

Looks like it's spitting out pound coins. I wish mine would do that

[Corranga]

Looks like it's spitting out pound coins. I wish mine would do that

Na, it's like a flow diagram - put in, and get out..!

[offshorematt]

I've got an S1 decat pipe in the garage that's not doing anything but taking up space. Yours for free if you can get it from Aberdeen to Dundee

[StiflerMR2]

If Chris doesn't want that I might!