ok guys. i put hooker headers(shorties),msd wires, bosh plugs and did away with the cat. i also did away with the a.i.r. system. the first time i drove the car it drove like crap. i did not think i would make it home. well, i noticed that my dumb butt did not tighten two plugs all the way and i burnt a plug wire. so, i fix those problems. well, it does not seem to have the power it once did. what gives? i have not put a cold air kit on yet(on its way),but i have done the so called free mods. it seems to run a little rich and idles a tad bit worse than it did. have i damaged something while driving it before i fixed my stupidity or am i missing something? all help would be appreciated.

 

You need to check for header leaks before the O2 sensors, O2 sensors that were damaged or contaminated during the install, or misfires. All of those can cause it to run rich.

 

Look for leaks, make sure they gaskets sealed. If you reused your old O2 sensors you will probably want or need new ones. It also might be those bosch plugs. I had those before i had the NGK TR55's i have now and it ran like crap.

 

well, i did replace both o2 sensors at the same time i did the other(sorry). that is the second time i have heard bad things about the bosch plugs. is it an lt1 thing or do they suck in general? also i will go back and check for any leaks in the exhaust.

 

Well when i went to autozone they said that Bosch was the best there is. Well about a month later i went in and told them about the problems ive been haveing and then they told me that it was probably the plugs. So i made them give me a refund and i went to NAPA and got some NGK TR55IX Iridium spark plugs and that solved my problems. Also when you do a header install the first time you fire it up might foul the O2 sensors because of stuff burning off the headers. Thats what happened to mine so a few weeks later i installed the new sensors and it ran fine.

 

i never thought about junk coming off the header. i hate to replace them(o2) again. kind of pricey. oh well. story of my life. the guys at auto zone will be seeing me soon. good thing they are my friends,huh? thanks. i still hope i am not leaking exhaust. i do not hear a leak. how small will make a diff?

 

make sure your plug wires are routed properly and snapped all the way on on your opti, when i did mine the same thing happened, turned out 2 plug wires were not on all the way on the opti, still ran but ran like crap, i started it when it was cold and started feeling header primarys and found two that did not heat up. chased those wires back and they werent connected all the way. just something else to double check, if you start the car when it is totally cold (in the morning) you have like 30 seconds to start touching the primarys, they will start to heat up really fast, if a cylinder is not firing, it will stay considerably colder than the others for about a minute.

 

i am open to all suggestions. i dont know if i went back and checked the connection to the opti. see what happens when you get in a hurry to drive faster. thanks guys. one brain is never enough

 

Another thumbs down for Bosch plugs. When my car was near stock I installed a set of Bosch plugs; car ran like crap. I swapped them out the next day and the car ran great; didn't find any loose connections when I swapped then either.

 

Double check your wires, 02's, make sure plugs are tight, make sure you have no burnt wires, make sure boot of the wires are snug on the plug, check for exhaust leaks.

You have the wires in the correct firing order don't you?