Well, just as the title says it... I bought my maxima used about half a year ago. I am extremely impressed with it and love it. But anyway, the point is that I am suspecting that the previous owner might have had some upgrades done. I got it from a dealer friend. The reason I am asking is because I noticed that when the car is warming up there are a lot of toxic fumes. Once it is warmed up everything is ok... the exhaust fumes are not bad anymore.

So basically, how do I check if I have one without raising the car up?

Thanks

 

So you may have a Y pipe b/c there is a lot of toxic fumes when you warm up the car?
i`m confused..

 

the best way is to obviously look at the pipe. the stock y has a fairly large flex section while the aftermarket ones i have seen tend to be shorter somewhere around 4-6 inches. a y pipe should not have any change on exhaust fumes, if anything the previous owner may have installed a test pipe or perhaps a free flow one that has broken apart.

 

Well, not only that. I posted previously about my car having A LOT of torque, and yet it is still stock (at least to my knowledge). So, basically I am thinking that there might be some upgrade. The reason I am surprised is because I've driven a Camry before my Max, and well... there is a HUGE difference in performace. I know there is no comarison between the two... but still.

 

judging whether it is modified by how it feels is terribly inaccurate. taking it to a dyno is another option but is much expensive than getting a set of ramps and rolling under the car to check for anything. most y pipes gain are felt and shown on the dyno in higher rpms.

 

You drove a camery before.

nuf said. Your car is stock.

Try a 5.5 gen

 

put it up on some ramps and LOOK....

 

check it out the next time you will be changing oil or just roll under the car. If you got an aftermarket y-pipe you'll see it right a way cause it looks different from all other exhaust components. If the previous owner modded the car he might have advanced timing as well.

 

So there is no other way to find out without raising the car on a ramp?

 

Why does it seem as if you're ignoring the best advice in this thread, and only replying to someone who is just as clueless as you are?

 

as I said before, if your car is not lowered there's enough room to get under it and check...

 

Oh ok, I didn't catch that. I will try to look under then. Thanks!

 

While the H02 sensors are warming your system is in "open loop" basically the pcm doesn't take any information from the 02 sensor and doesn't change your a/f ratio. Another thing with cold cars is that the computer runs a vehicle rich to warm the engine quicker until the ECT gets to a determined temperature for several reasons... Is it possible that you are just smelling a rich A/F ratio????

 

Christ people .... let's not make this more complex than it is ...

Looking under his car would probably be a better way to see if he has an aftermarket y-pipe..

 

I was just saying, the smell is probably normal is all.

 

.....Simplicity>*
>.....

 

.---sorry

 

you got me confused by this post...

 

Just look under the car ...

 

how can you think it has a y-pipe just because it has a lot of torque without driving a maxima that you know is stock? camrys dont have a lot of power, thats all.

 

Have your dealer friend look at it. Most likely you have a gasket going bad, Y-Pipe or not. The stock pipe had a heat shield over the "Pre Cat" up front right under the engine. If you have that heat shield then you are stock, and if not a cat there, then it is a y-pipe. Either that or, you most likely have a gasket leak. When starting up the car, look underneath for exhaust leak in the cold. You will see steam/exhaust gas coming from a flanged section that may be rusted or leaking. I had my Main cat gasket dissolve revcently from rust.

 

hmm, i never thought about this. I really should look into this since it is a used car and all... thanks