Melted emissions parts... WTF?
Hey guys,
So last weekend I got suckered into helping my brother move all of his junk to a new apartment. I towed a 20' flatbed from Atlanta to Raleigh with my wagon for his move. Once we loaded up in Raleigh we had to go about 50 miles and my trailer weight was probably close to 2500 lbs. During that leg of the trip, the engine slowly got louder as though it developed an exhaust leak. It was dark at the time and the car was still running fine, so I didn't sweat it and continued the 5 hour trip back home with the empty trailer and with no problems.
The next morning I opened the hood and found the culprit. On the passenger side of the engine, right next to the valve cover is a plastic 1 inch diameter 'T' fitting for the air pump lines. It was totally melted, like molten plastic spattered all over the vicinity. The open line seemed to explain the increase in engine noise. I made it to the boneyard after work and replaced the part that evening, but the engine still has a bit of a growl that wasn't there before. It isn't major but certainly noticeable. It almost sounds like I changed mufflers. It's definitely not an exhaust leak sound, just a deeper growl.
That got me to thinking... what was the root cause of the air pump fitting failure? I realize the engine was under heavy load with the trailer, but is there something more to it? With the new growl to the engine it makes me think something is not flowing properly with the exhaust or cats and my engine is working a little harder. If my cats are not flowing properly now, would that have caused the air to not circulate properly in the air-pump lines causing my melted parts?
What are your thoughts.. this ever happened to anyone? Should I think about new cats in my future? Was it just a fluke?
Thanks in advance!
So last weekend I got suckered into helping my brother move all of his junk to a new apartment. I towed a 20' flatbed from Atlanta to Raleigh with my wagon for his move. Once we loaded up in Raleigh we had to go about 50 miles and my trailer weight was probably close to 2500 lbs. During that leg of the trip, the engine slowly got louder as though it developed an exhaust leak. It was dark at the time and the car was still running fine, so I didn't sweat it and continued the 5 hour trip back home with the empty trailer and with no problems.
The next morning I opened the hood and found the culprit. On the passenger side of the engine, right next to the valve cover is a plastic 1 inch diameter 'T' fitting for the air pump lines. It was totally melted, like molten plastic spattered all over the vicinity. The open line seemed to explain the increase in engine noise. I made it to the boneyard after work and replaced the part that evening, but the engine still has a bit of a growl that wasn't there before. It isn't major but certainly noticeable. It almost sounds like I changed mufflers. It's definitely not an exhaust leak sound, just a deeper growl.
That got me to thinking... what was the root cause of the air pump fitting failure? I realize the engine was under heavy load with the trailer, but is there something more to it? With the new growl to the engine it makes me think something is not flowing properly with the exhaust or cats and my engine is working a little harder. If my cats are not flowing properly now, would that have caused the air to not circulate properly in the air-pump lines causing my melted parts?
What are your thoughts.. this ever happened to anyone? Should I think about new cats in my future? Was it just a fluke?
Thanks in advance!
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