1. very poor gas mileage
2. lots of condensation in muffler and white smoke from exhaust
3. maintenance required light?

I had a carsound cat put on at the same time to replace a testpipe that gave me cel's on my 99 ls. I don't get the thick carbon (?) coating on the inside of my muffler tip but i've noticed lots of condensation, and as stated white smoke. I'm currently getting around 240 miles per tank (400 kms) which is f'in ridiculous. I'm completely frustrated, any help would be great. one more thing, i've got 34000 miles on my car, and i have yet to get my valves adjusted, will this help anything?

 

White smoke usually means you are burning coolant, which usually means the headgasket is blown. check the coolant and see if it has oil in it. check oil and see if it looks milky/ hazed brown.

 

okay, I know my oil is fine, but i have not checked my coolant. As far as the head gasket, I got a new one with the edelbrock pro-flo header. But as you said, chances are there's something up with the coolant........

 

sorry for quick posts, but would the coolant/oil problem result in condensation in the muffler?????

 

i think its gottabe sumthin with the cat . .if your not burning oil, it could be coolant, but i dont see that happening with that few miles on the car. see if you can borrow someones cat and see if it helps any of your problems. . and as far as the maintenece req. light, i dont know if you know how you can turn that off. under neath the steering wheel and everyhting abover your pedals there is a little blue button. i belive you turn your key all the way before it starts and hold it until the light goes off.

jon

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jamessh1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As far as the head gasket, I got a new one with the edelbrock pro-flo header. But as you said, chances are there's something up with the coolant........</TD></TR></TABLE>

I think your confused. The gasket that came with your header is the exhaust manifold gasket. The head gasket is what sits between the head and the block. You would have to pull the whole head off to inpect that.

Do a compression or leakdown test.

I personally think that the smoke and condensation is from the new cat doing its job. Condensation is what the cat creates. It turns the emissions into water.

But if you still think your car got a problem, check under your oil cap. Do you see any milky residue building up? Any over heating issues? Compression ok?

 

thanks for the responses, the cat creating the condensation seems very reasonable. The one thing that lets me know something is very wrong is the gas mileage tho, not even 400 kms per tank is telling me I've got problems that i never had before finishing my mods. My cai gave me no grief. my test-pipe back exhasut gave me cels and crappy gas mileage. now wit hthe header and carsound cat, no cel and still even worse gas mileage.

 

Also, my coolant was low (before any mods) and i think my dad may have topped it off using straight coolant, but i was recently reading it should be diluted in water. would this cause any problems???

 

if he just topped it off it's not going to be a problem. anywhere from 50/50 to 70/30 is fine imo. I would be concerned that it was low though... coolant shouldnt have to be filled up for a very long time.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jamessh1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Also, my coolant was low (before any mods) and i think my dad may have topped it off using straight coolant, but i was recently reading it should be diluted in water. would this cause any problems???</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

ok. the only thing the header will affect is the 02 sensor. I completely forgot about that. I bet that is your problem.