RCFC89

Last night me and a co-worker installed a Corksport header and race-pipe both stainless to go with my apexi n1 dual cat-back to complete the exhaust. We also installed the Hks intake filter elemment. After everything was done I started the car and it ran like **** and the check engine light came on. We immediately realized we forgot to plug the harness back into the AFM where the new filter attached. Started it back up and it ran and idled perfect along with the check engine light no longer being on. Drove the car home and everything was fine, ran smooth with plenty of power no issues what so ever. Today I pulled the car out of the garage and let it do its warm-up and popped the hood after it ran for about 5 minutes and holy **** the header right out of the motor is glowing red. After doing some research on this board I've found several possiblities (Bad AFM, running too rich, bad o2, bad plugs, bad timing.) I did a tune-up about a month ago new plugs (factory ngk's) along with ngk factory spec wires. We had to re-wire the o2 sensor wire for the new header because it needed to be longer to fit the o2 location on the header. If timing was an issue wouldn't it run bad or idle would be off? And if o2 wasn't working properly wouldnt the check engine light come on? Same thing goes for the AFM, if it was bad wouldn't it run like it did when it wasn't plugged in which was really shitty idle. I'm also wondering how long this has been going on because I wouldn't be able to see anything with the stock exhaust manifold with heat shield covering it. Once again the car runs, idles, starts, accelerates perfectly. Any ideas on what it could be and where I should start? Thanks

PvillKnight7

iTrader: (16)

your too lean. or cat is cloged. /thred

RCFC89

any idea on what would cause me to run lean? And there is no cat, its a straight through race pipe all new. Also from what I've read wouldn't it be too rich not lean?

WingsofWar

lean conditions causes piping to heat up to glow. To much super heated gases are being forced in that small area, and without the right mixture of petrol it only gets hotter.

A few checks, iv personally never seen CS header myself, but many aftermarket vendors that make headers for other cars use a thin piping that heats to glow quicker than some other higher quality units. I don't know if this is the case (cs parts are usually good) but its worth taking a look at it.

So doing a cold start warm up, 5 minutes in at idle your new header starts to glow red. Do you have thermowax still installed which held your car at cold start idle for X amount of time?
I have seen shitty o2 and shitty AFMs do some interesting things to fuel mixture and could potentially make your car run a bit lean.

Also I am not sure, but correct me, don't N/A 13b normally run a bit leaner than safe in general?

DC 91 fc3s

iTrader: (11)

hmmm sounds interesting....

jjwalker

No, they run pig rich stock.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

You should start at the beginning which means go back and check all of your work and whatever you removed and or disturbed.

By the way they are correct in stating you are running lean so look for a vacuum hose off also.

I would presume that you removed the Air pump and ACV and put a block off plate on also. Check for leaks around the ACV.
Make sure also that the connections for the hose that runs from the AFM to the T/ body are tight also.

RCFC89

I will contact corksport to see if they have seen this before but like your I doubt thats the issue their products are top notch. The thermowax and cold start process is still all present and going through the process normally. Concerning the o2 we removed it from the stock manifold then modified the wire to reach the new o2 location on the Cs header. Everything looked up to par on the 02 sensor itself. I also just recently passed emissions with that o2 sensor on the stock manifold but that couldn't mean that it didn't go bad during the new install but i doubt it. On the AFM it could possibly be bad, but all we did is remove it from the the stock airbox and install the new adapter for the hks filter. If it was bad would the car run differently or would the idle be off?
The car is down at my shop currently so I'll look at it tomorrow and back track the process to make sure we didn't forget to attach any hoses. The only thing that was modified was a plug for the air pump because of the cat being replaced with the race-pipe. I dont remember a hose attaching to AFM other then attaching the metal bracket to hold it in place that came with the intake kit and of course the wire plug that plugs it in electronically. I'm not 100% what the ACV is but we didn't do anything to it. The only thing we modified was blocking the airpump with a plug at its base which was included with the corksport race-pipe http://support.corksport.com/instruc...-6-114-WEB.pdf see pg.4
I will check for any leaks also. Thank you guys for all the help its much appreciated.

RCFC89

This picture is for the s4 but its very similar. The only hose we modified is the one I put a red arrow pointing to. We put a baby air filter on the end of this hose which was included in the hks kit. Could this be the problem?
Also I mentioned that we blocked the air pump right at its base with the included plug and clamp that was included with the race-pipe from CS. Their instructions show blocking it off at the end of the metal air pump hose but the plug they included dwarfed the diameter of the hose but fit perfectly on the base of the airpump itself. Could the airpump being plugged while still operating cause an issue.

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

The S5's VDI system gets pressure supplied by the Air pump so unlike the S4 you leave the air pump in place. The cap they gave you is for the Air injection tube. I am not familiar with the VDI system so I cannot answer if the way you have the Air pump blocked off will have an effect on the operation of the Engine or not.

RCFC89

We basically removed the air injection tube from the bottom of the pump and capped it off there instead of the end of the tube by the cat. Plus with no cat in place the injection tube just swings around loose so removing it seemed necessary.

RCFC89

Has anyone else had this issue? No one else has plugged the air pump and had this issue? Has anyone had corksport headers and had them glow because they were too thin?

RCFC89

ttt

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Please wait 24 hours before bumping up a thread please. Remember this is the weekend and there may not be those around that can truly answer your question.

RCFC89

Ok got down to the shop this morning and found something interesting. I haven't gone through the double checking making sure everything was re-attached correctly from the install but upon intial start-up both header tubes were glowing cherry red almost immediately. Within 3 minutes they wen't back to normal color. Let vehicle continue to run and as soon as the car wen't to regular idle speed 700-800 rpm they began to glow again. I had a friend rev the motor to 1k and hold it there and they wen't back to normal. So basically whether i'm running lean or rich it only occurs under 1k rpm's. Any ideas or suggestions on whats going on here?

datz

ive heard they like it a little on the rich side (gready bastards).

RCFC89

Wen't over install and everything is in place and has a good connection. Going to get the exhaust tested next week to see just how lean or rich it is at idle which seems to be where the issue is. If I had bad injectors or a bad o2/AFM you would think Id have other issues which i do not. Its running really good with no other problems.

RCFC89

ttt

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

you do realize that by disconnecting the air pump, the 5th and 6th ports will not actuate properly and you are actually harming the performance of your engine?

have you pulled the plugs to check running condition. black plugs means you are running rich..white plugs, indicate a lean condition. brown or slightly black indicates normal operating condition. do you only notice the header glowing at night? the exhaust leaves the engine in upwards of 1500 degrees. that kind of heat can make a header glow. my concern for a seriously lean condition would be a glowing converter (of which you said that you do not have) or a glowing mid pipe.

RCFC89

Found out today that this is normal at idle speeds 750-850 rpm's. Like I said earlier they go back to normal color once flow is increased to over 1k rpm's. And its only the first part of both tubes on the header that glows red. The air pump wasn't disconnected, just the line that ran air out to the cat was plugged. I'm sure Corksport wouldn't have you do this if it was going to rob any power. And since the install there is definately an increase in power. Checked all plugs and they were of normal color (tan color).

Brodie121

iTrader: (8)

try adjusting the idle mixture screw to richen the idle mixture.

WingsofWar

everytime i look at this thread i think of this.

jjwalker

WingsofWar, I am glad I don't have epilepsy, but that pic gives me a headache.

I say pick up a wideband, weld on a bung, and install it. Glowing headers during idle conditions is not good, not to mention the fire hazard involved.

RCFC89

I was told by a very reputable rotary builder that this is normal. Is this the idle mixture screw.....

Brodie121

iTrader: (8)

nope, thats the idle speed adjustment.
this is the idle mixture adjustment