Catalytic Converter is Glowing!! What to do next??
 

Hello all,

Our family has owned a '79 rx7 for 27 years now, and she's certainly served us well.

Recently we have been having problems with the catalytic converter, however. My dad noticed that after driving it home one night the converter was so hot that it was literally glowing red.

In a panic, he took it in and had the entire muffler system replaced. Now it sounds like a dream, but sure enough tonight he checked and the catalytic converter is STILL glowing hot!

I've done quite a bit of reading online, and discovered that common causes of this problem (aside from the converter itself) can include: faulty oxygen sensor, an incorrect fuel mixture, worn spark plugs or plug wires, a faulty check valve, incorrect ignition timing, sticking float, faulty injectors or other ignition malfunctions.

I'm just wondering if any of you have experienced a similar problem, either with your rx7s or with other vehicles. And if so, how did you resolve it?

In fact, right about now I'm willing to hear any of your theories. What do you think we should do about this problem? What would your next steps be?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. You can reach me readily through email - ghoekstra@gmail.com, or otherwise I will be checking back in with this thread in the coming days.

Thanks everyone!

-gh

Im pretty sure if you are running lean it will cause it to run red. I drove mine pretty hard and it only got read once.

On my FD when I was running lean (13:1-15:1 afr) the cat would glow red. The cat also glows red at idle when the air pump is injecting the most air into the cat.

Although this is an FD and doesn't really relate...just thought I would let you know my cat glows all the time.

I was just composing this long reply about the '79 having a thermal reactor and no cat and I came across this site
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...3d8017d605.jsp
It has a nice explanation of the '79 & '80 exhaust. Of course, if you've gotten rid of the thermal reactor then this won't help at all.

Sometimes I miss my '79, it was fun telling people that I had a thermal reactor in my car. They always thought it was radioactive or something . . . .

My REPU around emissions time glows bright red. One night I popped the hood to look for something and thought to myself how nice under hood lights were. Then I realized this was the REPU and it doesnt have a light. Thats just how it is with the Weber DCO48 and the air pump running straight to the cat.