Ok, so my friends wanted to go 4 wheeling, so i grabbed the atv and went with them (nice 3am 4 wheeling) well all day has sucked, my friend got a flat tire from a pot hole, and we couldnt get his spare out because of his system which we had to dissasemble everything, my friend with a big toyota just put all his front end 4 wheel drive stuff back in and broke his front diff cover again ,well last time he broke it and tore his front driveshafts out....but ANYWAYS, i didnt take my truck in there, we went back to my house got my truck and was going out to a friends, but they wanted to stop at another mud hole, which wasnt really mud, just a few small puddles, then it got hairy so i stopped and backed back out...

This is the main part of the story....

Well i smelled like rubber burning, i figured it was from one of them, so we get on the road and go to my friends house and it smells like fresh MOPAR nationals...and im like WTF, my tires arnt rubbing, nothings on my exhaust....so my friend and i head up to meijers and were checking it out again and i notice my HEADERS ARE GLOWING...so im like How the hell are the glowing, JUST the drivers side.....the block is glowing also....Temp gauge is in the middle, i have antifreeze in there....i have NO clue why its doing it...it runs perfect, doesnt miss or anything for gas to be burning in the manifold......so i drop him off and come home pissed and look at it after a 30 min drive....and no glowing, no smell....so wtf do you think it was???

Sorry it was so long, i had to get the whole story out...

Rocky

 

never heard of that one before... that would have made for some interesting pictures.

 

I've seen engines that were too far advanced with glowing headers, but that would be both sides . Possibly an O2 sensor malf ? With the engine running lean to the max on that side ? How deep was The hole : did your exhaust go under ? Idk . Just points to ponder .

 

You should have gotten a pan and some eggs for added effect and taken pictures!!

 

Now that doesn't sound good. If your block was glowing, I'm sure you did a lot of internal damage...ie: cylinder walls, piston rings....

Just crazy......for sure, pic would have been priceless.

 

could the cat on that exhaust be plugged? or maybe it failed?

 

I've seen plenty of clogged cats cause excessive heat buildup around the cat itself. Usually it is more than the heat shield can handle and the whole car ends up going up in smoke. But to have the whole header and the block glowing, that is impressive. Like Rolldog said, I can't fathom that not causing some kind of internal damage. Nothing is designed to get that hot.

 

glowing headers = BAD usually an indicator of running WAY too lean.

 

Wonder Twin Powers Activate!!!!

 

Maybe your bama tuner is running too lean? can you check your Air/fuel ratio on the fly with that thing?

Rand

 

IVe never seen it do it before, everything wasnt glowing, on the headers, just the bottom portion where the downpipe is was glowing, and like a 2inch spot was glowing on the block..truck was running perfect, temp was perfect, and like i said the water / mud wasnt anything.......just small puddles, not anything to even worry about i dont go through lakes or anything....but like i said i drove home and it was a good 30 - 40 min drive and when i got home, no glowing, no rubber smell....

Rocky

 

You were prolly seeing the glow from the header off of the freeze plug in the block... Possible causes: MAF problem, air filter, programmer, fuel rail clogged, fuel filter, cat may be stopped up or on its way to being stopped up, banana in the tailpipe(haha)

 

Well what should i do then? Should i stop by ford and pay them 19409194$$$$$ to check it out? its not throwing a code, so i dont think they will be able to do much, it hasnt glown since that night....but i did smell that rubber smell once today...i pulled it in the garage and checked it out and i couldnt see anything rubber wise that would be burning or melting....it just makes me worry because my fuel lines are right next to the glow!! It hasnt done it since, should i wait it out and see if it does it again?

Rocky

 

Yea I guess... I had an old 88 Bronco that did it when we took it out on the beach. I did a MAF upgrade on it, took care of the problem and ran soooo much better.