Kneale Brownson

Thought you were talking about replacing the cats, not running straight pipes from cats on back. That is sure to get the attention of the db police, but is not a violation of the federal law regarding emissions.

In the days of yore, they used to warn about burning valves without a proper exhaust in place, as well as altering the amount of air the engine would take in because the exhaust backpressure is not there to hold it back a bit. Today's engines have ECUs getting air volume input and adjusting fueling to compensate, so I don't know that exhaustlessness would be such a problem.

a-talk

My ground strap broke that runs from the back of the valve cover to the firewall/raintray stud ('90 200TQ MC2). I got a new strap to replace it, but is this the only ground to the engine? Haven't put the new strap in yet, but I'll be putting it in this weekend, so it'll be interesting to see if the car runs any different.

Calbha

its not just the ground im getting confused with I understand that as I've done car audio. the o2 sensor came with 4 wires no connector and only about 4 inches of wire, i got to the o2 sensor connector by the engine and its like immovable to even get to wires to clip. i dont have my old o2 sensor to splice onto and just plug it in and ground the extra wire.

SteveAngry

No there is also a ground that connects to the drivers side engine mount. Also there is the ECU ground that connects to the intake manifold.

I'm surprised your car would even run with the ground wire on the valve cover to coil being broke. I've seen cars with this issue before.

Steve

a-talk

Hmm, wouldn't the other grounds be enough? Still haven't put it in, been to darned hot and I'm still working on renovations on my rental side. I'll post up what differences I see once the strap is in.

Kneale Brownson

OK, so you threw away the old O2 sensor with all its wires all the way to the connector, right? Now you have no way of wiring up the new O2 sensor with its short set of wires and no connector, right?

Time to call on one of the used parts sellers, like Chris Semple at Force5automotive dot com.

SteveAngry

Don't know. My BTDT was that the car would not start when this ground was not attached. YMMV.

Steve

a-talk

I put the ground strap on Sunday morning and have driven her several times since then. The power in the lower range is improved, it seemed a little weak in the lower ranges before. But otherwise it runs the same, which is to say nice and smooth .

SteveAngry

Good deal. My 5ktq wouldn't even start until I hooked it up after a engine rebuild. Hooked up that ground and bam, started right up.

Steve