White smoke from back of the engine

If it glows, it still works…
My Mercedes had a cherry red cat once, and it’s still good years later. Search the forum for marelli meltdown, I don’t know if you have that ignition system but it could still be ignition related.

…and air. Won’t get red cats without both. Normally means a misfire. Running rich won’t do it.

I have the lucas ignition

Have you really not replaced spark plugs? That is the first thing to do regarding ignition. All it takes is one or two not firing to dump fuel into the cat, as well as run terrible.

You really need to take this car to stage zero ignition-wise. Replace all spark plugs and plug wires, distributor cap/rotor, GM module. Maybe even coil.

Then you can mess with fuel and air mixtures.

And in any event, don’t goose it to as high an RPM as you do in the video … IMHO … :grimacing:

The easiest way to lose the cats is for him to drive it here to Dallas and leave it parked in a rough part of town for a few days. :laughing: Sorry, but was just watching something on the local T.V. news here about how cat thefts are at an all-time high in our area. Amazing how a pair of well-coordinated cat thieves can get in and out under a car or truck with one in hand in less than 2 minutes. :open_mouth: In one of the surv. cam videos, the driver of another car is parked right next to the one getting “worked over”, oblivious to what is going on under the victim car the whole time. :sleeping:

My brother in Chicago had a cat stolen out of his Prius parked right on a busy street. There are companies making shields to protect cats from theft, but the thieves just laugh at them. When you have a sawzall in your hand, you don’t care about some cage around the cat.

Not only in Texas. Everywhere. Seems good cop work could find the fence an shut the market down???

A cordless recip saw or grinder… Tools of the trade…

Actually, TX JUST passed a new law, requiring anyone who purchases a used cat to first require that the seller show the source of that cat (i.e. that it is legit and not stolen). IIRC, it’s a felony offense both to the buyer and seller if that verification doesn’t take place. :police_car: The legislature is hoping this law will put a major dent in the cat theft biz.

What a complete waste of time. Nobody is reselling cats. Those suckers are scrapped for the platinum and other rare elements inside – probably not within the US.

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So i put a new cam cover gasket on the cover and i forget about the half moon seal. ( didn’t seal it on the block).
Is it bad to leave the gasket to dry on the cam cover for few days ?

Make sure to unstick it fully from one side when you remove it.

Can i just leave the gasket on the cam cover and seal it on the block in other time ?

It’s probably best to keep everything separated until it’s time to sandwich everything back together again. If it were my I’d be using some hylomar to insure the seal.

Okay, what did you mean leaving it to dry?

I assume you mean you put sealer on the cam cover, then put the gasket on the cam cover, then went “whoops I am not ready to bolt this on yet?” If that is the case I would not be OK with letting it dry. The sealer is not compressed and will likely have voids that will cause leaks. Maybe you can peel it loose and put an additional layer of sealer, that would probably work. If you can’t, and the gasket tears, then you have to start over. Given the effort it takes to get the cam covers off I would take the extra time and $ to make it right. Frustrating I know, but you won’t regret doing the job right.

Do they even still make that stuff? I see it mentioned in the Jag factory workshop literature (like a lot of substances) but it sure ain’t sold here in the U.S., if so. :slightly_frowning_face: Where do you get it at? :confused:

I was wondering that, too … :confused:

Hylomar is sold by Permatex here in the US. It’s a lovely shade of blue and it never dries, remains gooey forever. It’s used as a gasket dressing, helping to keep it in position during assembly and allowing the gasket to slide around a bit to get settled. It is NFG as a sealant because it never dries, it can eventually get pushed out of a joint and cause a leak.

That said, I knew zillions of racers back in the day that used it as a sealant in race cars. Put everything together, race a weekend, tear everything back apart and that old Hylomar can simply be wiped clean. Not really any worries of it causing a leak over a weekend, but not a good idea to use it on something you hope to be leak-free for years.

Interesting. I was curious as to what jobs Jag specifically recommends it for (I’ve forgotten) but I’m sure I’ll run across it in the factory workshop lit. again soon. :thinking: Thanks, Palmdude.