Premuffler Today -- Now No Start

[Nine17]

I had my long-time (excellent) mechanic swap my cat for a pre-muffler/cat bypass today. The car started and ran great several times. I just went out to dinner, and now no start/no spark. Battery seems charged, but just get a click when I turn the key to start and the car wouldn't push start. Shop's closed so I'm going to flatbed. Any ideas?

[grizzfan]

Geesh! Can't imagine that the addition of a pre-muffler had anything to do with this. But I've heard that the addition of SSI back-dated heat exchangers will affect some parameters. Maybe somewhere down the exhaust train there is something going on. Did you get home, hopefully?

Tom

[Nine17]

Ghosts in the machine!

I called for a tow from AAA and the driver suggested that we try a jump. Sure enough, the car started right up. I've been using this car as my daily driver on a 34-mile each way commute for the past couple of weeks and it's probably been getting a nice big charge. Today I happened to need to start the car half a dozen times after 2-mile trips. Probably time for a new battery and it just happened to let me know on the same day that we swapped-out the cat. The only thing that was unplugged was the O2 sensor (I watched), but I wondered if some fault-code wound up in the DME (ARE there fault codes in a pre-OBD-2 DME?).

Probably just a co-ink-ee-dink... Always reassuring to be able to post from my iPhone and know that a cooler head is always monitoring the Board!

[arbita1]

I can't tell you how many times I've done something and then something else unrelated fails. It's just bad timing. Installing a premuffler wouldn't cause a no-spark condition. Possibly your starter is going bad?

[scarceller]

If you just get a click and starter does not kick over then I suspect bad battery that can't deliver amperage. Or bad ground somewhere, I'd clean up the ground strap at the battery clean both ends. Then also cleanup the ground strap at front of transmission that grounds the trans to the body. You'll find this strap right at the front of trans at the back of the center tunnel right under the car where the shift rod from the trans enters the tunnel.

[KCTarga3.2]

Seems the call to AAA tends to fix cars - I guess it would be similar to a kid that's sick, but suddenly feels better when it's time to go to the doc. Happy to hear it doesn't sound like anything serious. To make you feel better, I once paid for a AAA tow from my house to the shop to find out that I was out of gas (my gas tank float was stuck at half a tank)

[Jagshund]

Originally Posted by KCTarga3.2

I once paid for a AAA tow from my house to the shop to find out that I was out of gas (my gas tank float was stuck at half a tank)

You must have been mighty pleased with your gas mileage for quite a while.

[Nine17]

The nose seal on my transmission case is failing and the area where the ground attaches is covered in gunk, but I suspect the battery. I plan to install a new one plus a rat-tail for some sort of battery-minder/conditioner for when the car sits. Thanks for all of the thoughtful replies -- the good news is that the pre-muffler and Steve Wong chip combo really transform the smoothness and revvability of my balanced 3.2!

David

[James Brown]

Nine17, how can you run without a cat in Cali? Won't the smog police catch you?

[Nine17]

It's a track day set-up. The cat will go back on for street. It's 9 bolts. The chip works with either set-up, as the O2 sensor and all other emissions equipment remain.

[chgoburbs]

How does your car run and sound with the cat bypass? Is there any niticable performance improvement? I am thinking of going with an MK bypass since I am exempt for smog testing here.