Gutted Pre-cats...now car smells like exhaust in cabin
 

basically what the titles says. I had me pre-cats gutted yesterday and now the smell of exhaust keeps coming inside the cabin. I dont know if anyone has any suggestions, but this seems to be a dangerous problem. What can I do to get rid of this smell.

maybe fix the precats?

I would fix them but im probably looking at around $1000 to do so, which quite honestly I dont have. Other people on the forum have done the same, but Im yet to hear of anyone reporting this....its pretty bad, I cant drive the car how it is right now

JDM exhaust leak I'd sa, and for 1G you could get headers.

its not an exhaust leak I checked. The smell is coming in from my trunk and then into the cabin. I dont even know what to do at this point. If someone could maybe point me in the direction of reasonably priced pre-cats or something? I cant even sell the car as is because tampering with the emissions system is illegal and I could potentially have to pay a fine.

So you're saying that there are NO leaks, the smell comes out of your tailpipes and nowhere else, and then seeps into your trunk? I can only imagine what it smells like around the rest of the rear of the car if that's the case.

Ya know, a replacement precat (aftermarket) is under $200. Just food for thought...

Are you decated as well? As in no main cat? You could throw a highflow main cat in and solve your problem. Precats only really make a difference on cold start up.

Ive done this with no smell at all but I still have my main cat and a megan catback.

When you gutted the precat did you replace the gasket? or use the old ones? also did you use the old studs or new bolts?

shouldnt the exhaust smell like gas now because of straight through piping??? just asking for my own education

Thanks for all the replys they are greatly appreciated. My main cat is infact gutted which would probably explain the smell. I did it a long time ago so I didn't even think of it as the culprit. If someone could help me find an inexpensive main cat I would greatly appreciate it. I have looked but haven't really found much. Just for clarification I did use new gaskets all the smell comes directly from the muffler then travels into the trunk, to the cabin.

I've never heard of that happening lol.

I had a straight through exhaust for a long time and never once smelled anything. Hell, standing behind the car I couldn't smell anything. Is your car running right? Just sayin

The car runs like a champ in all honestly. Maybe its starting to run too rich for some reason? It never smelt this way before the pre-cats were gone. Now whenever I drive it I get a headache from the smell...its that bad. Im guessing that a big reason as to why the smell is entering the cabin so easily is because my car was in a rear end collision a while back. The trunk use to leak water slightly, but I recently got that fixed, but im assuming that the odor has no problem finding an imperfection somewhere and coming right in.

Even so, before I did the cats, I never had this problem at all. I found this cat on google, is this the right one for the main cat? http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/sk...%26+Drivetrain It doesnt say what it is lol

Btw, is it possible that since the O2s sense no cat its giving the computer in inaccurate reading causing it to make the system run extremely rich?

basically yeah. it almost smells like a full blown racing car or something, or even a really old car. its pretty bad.

AM cat by the B-pipe???

Do the 02s have the same exhuast setup as my 05? 2 precats right off the manifold then one in the y-pipe? My pre-cats failed and I went with headers and a single cat in the Y-pipe, at start up you can smell the exhaust being different but it never gets into the cabin. I don't understand how it's getting into the cabin if you are driving, at least you should be leaving any exhaust fumes behind you as you drive away.

How did you gut the pre-cats? Did you take them off the car and do it or drill them out while they were mounted?

they both probebly have cats in the manifold but they are different

I took them off the car. drilling it would just cause an exhaust leak.

Can anyone verify that the linkn above is for the main cat? Im on vacation now, but this issue must be fixed once I return as it is unbearable to drive my car.

the link above is definately not the main cat. looks like a precat to me. cattman had mentioned that he was selling oem repalcement pre cats.

I gutted my precats.. There wasn't a smell inside. Maybe you have an exhaust leak.

There is no exhaust leak. ive checked it all out already. my suspected reasons for the smells is that there is no main cat or pre cat, and that my car was in an accident in the rear and air may be leaking in.