Header is glowing red hot!!!!!

[MissShiftS13]

Does any1 know why my friends stock header on his ka single cam glows red hot after driving it? My advice to him is to junk it already, i mean sad but god damn there's something wrong with it every other week. Well anyways if you guys have any suggestions on why this would be happening help me help out a friend.

[racepar1]

That's normal. Headers get really hot when you drive the car HARD. Now if they glow everytime you drive it you may be running lean, which is not good.

[aznpoopy]

lean condition, or maybe a clogged cat / crushed piping?

[MissShiftS13]

Well the car does tend to sputter sometimes, could it be that his injectors might be out?

Originally Posted by racepar1

That's normal. Headers get really hot when you drive the car HARD. Now if they glow everytime you drive it you may be running lean, which is not good.

[Bigsyke]

If its glowing hot its either a restricted cat (s14) or it almost seems like its running rich.

The sputtering would too many things.

[racepar1]

Originally Posted by Bigsyke

If its glowing hot its either a restricted cat (s14) or it almost seems like its running rich.

The sputtering would too many things.

A rich condition will NOT cause excessive exhaust heat.

[g6civcx]

Ideally, you would stick an EGT probe in there and measure exhaust temp.

[bo2o]

richen it up. move the dist and see if you get a better idle.
but headers do turn red after a "hard" run.

[Bigsyke]

Originally Posted by racepar1

A rich condition will NOT cause excessive exhaust heat.

Are you sure? I said S14, which means the cat is IN the exhaust manifold, and excess fuel on the catalyst would melt/damage the unit causing the the manifold to over heat.

[MissShiftS13]

Well this is a daily driven car not really a car that gets run hard, it can be a short trip and the headers will get red hot.... so he might be leaning out the motor right? And if the injectors are bad wouldn't it cause it to sputter?

[aznpoopy]

Originally Posted by racepar1

A rich condition will NOT cause excessive exhaust heat.

not that i've experienced it, but i've heard of rich condition causing still burning mixture to escape into the header on domestics, causing it to glow red

[MissShiftS13]

well its an s13 fastback.... this care has had issues since the moment he bought it. He had the cat and exhaust checked out and theres no type of blockage or anything like that.

[LongGrain]

Originally Posted by bo2o

richen it up. move the dist and see if you get a better idle.
but headers do turn red after a "hard" run.

ive never seen a stock header on a 240 glow red from running too hard. something is definitely wrong.

[MissShiftS13]

my suggestion was dump the ka and get an sr or a ca but he wants to keep fixing it. Ive never even seen my sr glow red.

[smelly240]

Originally Posted by racepar1

A rich condition will NOT cause excessive exhaust heat.

^^mr knowitall again... greeeaaaat.

a rich condition CAN cause excessive heat.

the distributor could have moved - retarded timing makes that shit glow like that.

or the cat clogged/piping kinked off. i actually seen a muffler innerwall material melt down in front of the stream and cause it.

injector issue, etc.

I would start at the timing.


My SR glows red in the dark the mani and turbine sometimes do... I was tuning a gtir swapped sentra last week and that car had the o2 glowing bc the fellas crank pully rotated and the timing marks were off and he didnt know any better. came over and that shit was RED - i was like so yeah... we're gonna need a ruler, a screwdriver and a plug wrench - i set that bitch to TDC according to my screwdriver, measured the 20 marks distance to the stock tdc mark - marked from the pin over, and set that sucker to "Steve's 20 deg"

hooked up my knockometer, lm1, and ostriches, and did er up.
shit runs its balls off now.

[SlideWell]

sawwweeeeeet. take pics.

[Matej]

Originally Posted by SlideWell

sawwweeeeeet. take pics.

Yes.

And buy a clear hood.

[MissShiftS13]

You know what he's out of town right now but he should be back by tomorrow or no later than saturday, i should take pics and post im yet to even see it he just told me about it.

Originally Posted by Matej

Yes.

And buy a clear hood.

Originally Posted by SlideWell

sawwweeeeeet. take pics.

[S14DB]

Header/Manifold glowing is usually fuel burning in the manifold.

Check the Timing first. Usually the case is the ignition timing has retarded to the point were combustion is not completed and hot burning fuel is sprayed into the manifold. Then it finishes burning in the manifold cooking it.

Rich/Lean condition will cook other components before the manifold starts to get hot enough to glow after shut down. But he has said there is other problems.

1) Check the Base Timing.
2) Inspect the spark plugs. Read them for color and deposits.

[Addicted2Kouki]

Yeah, I used to have a bad tune and it ran rich and my manifold was glowing red.
Do what he said^^^

[240KA]

how does he know its actually glowing red? was the car on a dyno? was the car jacked up, set on stands and revved out? lol

a header doesnt glow red "after" a hard run. it glows red during a hard run.

[smelly240]

Originally Posted by S14DB

Header/Manifold glowing is usually fuel burning in the manifold.

Check the Timing first. Usually the case is the ignition timing has retarded to the point were combustion is not completed and hot burning fuel is sprayed into the manifold. Then it finishes burning in the manifold cooking it.

Rich/Lean condition will cook other components before the manifold starts to get hot enough to glow after shut down. But he has said there is other problems.

1) Check the Base Timing.
2) Inspect the spark plugs. Read them for color and deposits.

thx i already said all that -- lol

[clark]

put some heatshielding on yoru brake fluid reservior before you lose control of your brakes and go spiraling into an elf.

[smelly240]

Originally Posted by 240KA

how does he know its actually glowing red? was the car on a dyno? was the car jacked up, set on stands and revved out? lol

a header doesnt glow red "after" a hard run. it glows red during a hard run.

if you get out and look after a run - its still red.

[S14DB]

Originally Posted by 240KA

a header doesnt glow red "after" a hard run. it glows red during a hard run.

Under normal conditions yes. But, when you have gas burning in the manifold it is like having a blow torch on it for the run time and it glows for a long time.

It's also one of the 2 big reasons why some people can run the cheapest manifold on ebay and never crack it and another can run the most expensive one or a stock manifold and crack it in a month.

[Jonnie Fraz]

Ok do the simple shit first. Like others have said: spark plugs and timing.
Then if that does not work you might try getting your injectors rebuild. I had mine done for about $100.00 for all four. Make sure if you do that they use OEM seals! All the after market seal kits that I have found for the Nissan SOHC injectors are a hair too small and they leak.
I found that when I did mine the car rans so much better. Better mileage, ran way smoother, and almost passed smog. All four were leaking is what the tech said.

[MissShiftS13]

It was still glowing when he popped the hood after he got home, not sure but i would think he left the car running and popped the hood cus he noticed something was up.

Originally Posted by 240KA

how does he know its actually glowing red? was the car on a dyno? was the car jacked up, set on stands and revved out? lol

a header doesnt glow red "after" a hard run. it glows red during a hard run.

[Rapier46]

it's so cold it freezes, that's the red. grab it with your hand to warm it up.

[neverrain]

Originally Posted by Rapier46

it's so cold it freezes, that's the red. grab it with your hand to warm it up.

Being a moron won't get you respect here.

[Bigsyke]

a KS code can make your header glow red.