Of course, getting that front O2 sensor off has been proving very difficult so I just hit it the best I could with some PB blaster and I'm going to let it soak overnight. What I notice is the rest of my exhaust system is ice cold but that cat is still holding a lot of heat. Is that a sign that it's maybe clogged or is that just due to the material inside ?

 

I expect that cat will stay warmer than the rest of the exhaust for a while, but, how much? That's a good question.... I would think if it were starting to clog up, it would set a code.... or not..... If you have the 'snake camera', shove it in thru the O2 sensor hole, and have a look. If its melting/damaged, it'll be obvious. (and will give you all manner of interesting performance problems....)

 

that’s an excellent idea. I do have a board scope. I’m having a hard time getting that O2 sensor out. I have a thermal induction as opposed to using a torch due to the placement of it. I’ve got the federal system so it only has two sensors and unfortunately, you can’t get a straight grab on that with a wrench. Luckily, I’ve got a 22 mm with a flex head on it, but I really can’t get any leverage, it’s raining and snowing here now I’m gonna gear up in a little bit run the extension cords out and see what I can make happen. Definitely gonna run the camera ! truck has flowmadtet muffler put on before I bought it but it’s the stock cat. There’s a lot of rust on there and I really didn’t wanna replace the cat without replacing the exhaust manifolds, but I highly doubt those bolts are gonna come out without snapping and needing to be drilled and tapped. It’s really just , 1000 pounds of **** stuffed in a 10 pound bag it’s the condition of the hardware that creates the biggest amount of adversity for me. I can do the work, but it’s having bolts that snap and places that I can’t easily access and the last thing I wanna do is have to pull my motor out because I snapped a bolt on a part that wasn’t broken during disassembly I can avoid it

 

Welcome to the rust belt. I used a pipe wrench on an O2 sensor in the past, kinda thrashes the hex on the sensor, but, it did indeed come out. Heat and chemicals are your friend here.

 

I have the tools to take it off. The problem is it's the angle. It's on top of the pipe on a slight offset and you can't put anything longer than 5 in on it. That's straight. I don't have a 5-in long 22 mm wrench or a pipe wrench. That's short enough to fit in there, but I'm going to have to figure something out someway. Of course it couldn't be on the side or on the bottom where I can access it easily but I'm wondering even though it feels significantly better, I still feel it lightly at light throttle and I'm just wondering if that's a sign that it's more than just that O2 sensor before I invest the whole day and trying to get it out. I mean I have to. Anyway, I'm going to look up the process to test all the coils and I'm going to stop pulling coils after I get that done. See what If any of them are out of spec . I just haven't gotten a single code related to the ignition system or a misfire

 

Will your scanner show you misfire counters? That would tell you which cylinders are the most suspect.

 

you know I paid $200 for this scanner and I’ve yet to come across the misfire counter on it not in the live data and it gives me live data, but I haven’t seen a single option or any type of indicator that points to anything that relates to misfire I can see ignition dwell time multiple sensors gives me a whole lot but doesn’t give me a misfire counter

 

I have the 4.7 with the PCV valve in the oil fill and the motor doesn't have an EGR valve . I pulled the PCV for cleaning. While back and it moved freely and since I did not receive any codes for it just. Thought 🤔

 

Yeah, not all scanners are created equal.... And the OBDII "standard" isn't all that standard. Every manufacturer has their own proprietary software to talk to their electronics..... Would be nice if they would just standardize it across the board, but, I don't see that happening.... Ever. HP Tuners software would likely show what you want.... (and, it's windows based....) but, it ain't precisely cheap.

 

any thoughts about what I mentioned relating to the PCV valve ? Or lack of an EGR?
Also I had the O2 sensor glowing hot and still couldn't find t couldn't get to eit to budge it's in the worst possible position imaginable so I hit it with more blaster and walked away for a bit I don't know what else to throw at it