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TowDawg

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I installed the Mopar race exhaust about 1,000 miles ago. I did not unplug the O2 sensors, but just zip-tied them to the frame. It seemed to be working great because I wasn't getting a check engine light, but I'm having issues now. The car has seemed to be losing power lately and now it is backfiring more and more. Sometimes at low RPM it will spit and sputter and will NOT accelerate. Eventually after having it on the floor for a little while, it will wake back up and run OK in the higher RPM's, but still feels to be getting weaker. Could the O2's reading the ambient air be causing the car to run rich?
The car has 24,000 miles on it and I will try the plugs and wires too, but I'm taking a weekend trip this weekend and won't be able to get new wires from Adam (much less put them on) in time. I can change the plugs if I have to. I'm hoping it will fix itself when I unplug the O2 sensors.
Looks like I will be ordering a tune soon as well. I was hoping to wait because I like the popping, but it's doing it too much and costing me power now.
Anyone with ideas or experience with this, please chime in.
 

snakem04

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Im in the same boat i just zip tied them up. And when my brother follows me on cruises he says my exhaust smell gives him headaches. Like its running way to rich. I just installed my mopar race exhaust about a month ago. Im sure the best thing to do would be to get a tune and have the 02s turned off. But i dont have the funds for that now.
 

trymyz

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I don't mean to sound ignorant, but you did not specify front 02's or rears. You can unplug the rears with no ill effect but the light. The fronts have to be in the exhaust or it will read very lean thus adding additional fuel. Sorry if I misunderstood.
 
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TowDawg

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I don't mean to sound ignorant, but you did not specify front 02's or rears. You can unplug the rears with no ill effect but the light. The fronts have to be in the exhaust or it will read very lean thus adding additional fuel. Sorry if I misunderstood.

It's the rears (the ones you have to remove when you remove the cats). I have never thrown the CEL. I assume this is because the sensors are still actually plugged into the wiring. That's why I'm curious if it could be running rich because they are reading ambient air. As far as I know, if it's rich, it pops and sputters, etc. What would it do if it was running lean?
 

uvbnbit

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Could be time to replace the front O2's. Try that if you haven't (or I missed it) yet. Rear O2's only tell PCM if cats are working. They don't affect tune.

You coming to events this weekend?:D
 
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TowDawg

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Could be time to replace the front O2's. Try that if you haven't (or I missed it) yet. Rear O2's only tell PCM if cats are working. They don't affect tune.

You coming to events this weekend?:D

I'm going to go ahead and change the spark plugs and unplug the rear O2 sensors from the harness tonight and see how that works. Hopefully that will take care of it. Ordering new wires from Adam in the next couple of days (just trying to decide which color).

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make this weekend. I have a bachelor party/G-Day game weekend in Athens. Is the Dragon run still on or has it been moved due to road condtions? I have a wedding in Birmingham on the date it was originally mentioned.
 

QUICKSRT10/SRT8

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Im in the same boat i just zip tied them up. And when my brother follows me on cruises he says my exhaust smell gives him headaches. Like its running way to rich. I just installed my mopar race exhaust about a month ago. Im sure the best thing to do would be to get a tune and have the 02s turned off. But i dont have the funds for that now.

It's always going to smell rich because there are no cats. My viper truck has the mopar header and exhaust with no cats and I put race fuel into it and it smell great.
 

uvbnbit

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Unfortunately, I won't be able to make this weekend. I have a bachelor party/G-Day game weekend in Athens. Is the Dragon run still on or has it been moved due to road condtions? I have a wedding in Birmingham on the date it was originally mentioned.

Dragon weekend is still on. We're working on alternate routes.
 

ILLSMOQ

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If you unplug the secondary 02's and run the car, you will definatly set off the check engine light.

I'm going to go ahead and change the spark plugs and unplug the rear O2 sensors from the harness tonight and see how that works. Hopefully that will take care of it. Ordering new wires from Adam in the next couple of days (just trying to decide which color).

Unfortunately, I won't be able to make this weekend. I have a bachelor party/G-Day game weekend in Athens. Is the Dragon run still on or has it been moved due to road condtions? I have a wedding in Birmingham on the date it was originally mentioned.
 

lilgookiemonsta

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Dead revival bump. I only do this because I'm curious to hear what it was as I'm looking to purchase this same exhaust next month.
 
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TowDawg

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It ended up having nothing to do with the exhaust or tune. I had a spun rod bearing that was getting worse and causing the issues. After the rebuild, everything is great.
 

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