I spoke to the muffler shop today, he said if the cat is plugged, he won't just hollow it out because the stuff will kill you in there.. He will though put on another peice of strait pipe..Will this affect the truck?? 97 Ram 5.2 4x4. O2 sensor needs changin as well (upstream)

thanks

 

This should, from what I understand, have no adverse affects on the way that your truck runs. The upstream O2 sensor is the only one that can change your air fuel mixture. The downstream sensor only checks for catalytic converter functionality. If you replace the cat with a straight pipe, your truck will probably run better, but your check engine light may also come on because of that downstream O2 sensor recognizing that your cat (or lack there of) is not working right. Hope this helps.

 

To fool the o2 check this out.
http://www.thefastman.com/02Simms.asp

 

I gutted my cat several months ago. Best decision I ever made. No adverse effects what-so-ever.

5.9l 2wd

 

I attempted to gut mine a few days ago. It's amazing how hard that crap is in there!!! I spent a good hour with a long metal bar beating and beating a beating a beating until I had blisters on my hands!!!! Finally, I made it through. My reward? A 3/4" hole in the catalyst. That's it. I think a drill with a 1" paddle bit shoved in there ought to grind it up.

I patched the pipe back together with a pipe coupler and a couple of u-clamps so at least I can remove it again to finish the job.

 

That's what I run even though I have a cat. I didn't know if the high flow ones would throw a code or not and since I needed a 02 sensor at the same time I just bought one of those. Turns out it doesn't throw a code with a high flow cat but I still put that one anyway.

 

Yea I was just throwing it out there in case his did throw codes there is a fix.

 

yeah our 2nd gens , are prone to having clogged cats , you can either gut it , or go a safer route and get a magnaflow highflow cat for replaceing the stock one .

 

It depends what state his is in? Which one are you in???

 

Rather than spending the money on a sim , if it does throw a code you can first try the spark plug non- fouler trick.