O2 sensor placement on headers (caught on fire)

[Zabotkaaa]

Hey everyone, after installing catless long tube headers, I’ve been having a ton of issues with my o2 sensors.. driver side fell off, and was ripped in half. Passenger side just caught on fire, and almost took my car with it. People suggested heat wrap or a o2 spacer to pus further away from my headers. Any suggestions? Damn near almost saw everything I worked so hard for engulf in flames. Please help!!

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[Cobra Jet]

Does it have anything to do with your other thread…. and who’s doing all the installs on this S550….
https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/forums/mustang-s550-general-forums.56/

O2 sensors or their wiring won’t just burst into flames…. In 30+ years of owning various performance and modded Mustangs and swapping exhausts - stock to shorties or stock to LT’s - or H/X pipes, I’ve NEVER had mine or anyone else’s O2’s or O2 wiring harnesses burst into flames…

You have or had a short somewhere and the issue isn’t your O2s…

Rodents eating wires will cause shorts…

Breaking or stretching harnesses while doing ABC-installs will break/damage wires causing shorts.

Leaving harnesses on top of or too close to the LT’s or exhaust in general will melt the outer conduit and eventually melt the wire casings off, again causing shorts. If the plastic conduit or wire casing is up near other flammable material under the car, yes it will burn…. Oxygen feeds spark, spark turns into flame…. The flameout wasn’t coming directly from the O2 OR where the O2 is mounted on the Lt’s, it’s happening downstream of the O2 and it’s wiring or other wiring in the vicinity.

I’d check ALL of the wiring under the car for any breaks, shorts etc. also make sure that new LT setup you did isn’t touching anything where it can melt the material…

 

[Skye]

Header installations can involve tight clearances. Something of a common problem is mis-routing of O2 sensor and other wiring near or around the new exhaust. As mentioned above, a little heat and touching wires will generate a short and set things off.

As to the sensor falling out, the exhaust smells and now this, I'd remove myself and the car from whomever has been doing the work. Cut your losses and move on. Do not go back. Secure the vehicle and seek out someone in the community that does quality installations. It can be expensive, but as you've shown us, poor work can be even more so.

There's nothing unique in the project installation. While some might have preferences as to how things are done, the end result for any of them is a setup which works just as well as the factory system.

Good Luck.

 

[junits15]

Yeah O2 sensor wire is usually teflon and shouldn't be able to easily ignite like that. Something is very wrong, that looks like you had a dead short for a long time and something eventually caught fire. It seems like the extension wires you had are what went up in flames, you may have had a short.

I agree, if a shop is doing this install they need to be fired.

 

[Zabotkaaa]

Header installations can involve tight clearances. Something of a common problem is mis-routing of O2 sensor and other wiring near or around the new exhaust. As mentioned above, a little heat and touching wires will generate a short and set things off.

As to the sensor falling out, the exhaust smells and now this, I'd remove myself and the car from whomever has been doing the work. Cut your losses and move on. Do not go back. Secure the vehicle and seek out someone in the community that does quality installations. It can be expensive, but as you've shown us, poor work can be even more so.

There's nothing unique in the project installation. While some might have preferences as to how things are done, the end result for any of them is a setup which works just as well as the factory system.

Good Luck.

Yeah, might have to go somewhere else. I just got off the phone with a performance shop nearby, they said they dont typically work with catless cars but they will call me back and let meknow.

 

[ORRadtech]

Yeah, might have to go somewhere else. I just got off the phone with a performance shop nearby, they said they dont typically work with catless cars but they will call me back and let meknow.

That's a smart shop if they turn you down. Screwing around and deleting emissions equipment is a dangerous game for a shop. It's a federal crime and carries enough penalties to put a shop out of business. The fact that they didn't remove the cats is a grey area and probably wouldn't matter to the feds. Is it likely that the government would get involved? Probably not but there are a lot of circumstances where it could and, if it were my livelihood, I wouldn't want to chance it.

 

[Cobra Jet]

That's a smart shop if they turn you down. Screwing around and deleting emissions equipment is a dangerous game for a shop. It's a federal crime and carries enough penalties to put a shop out of business. The fact that they didn't remove the cats is a grey area and probably wouldn't matter to the feds. Is it likely that the government would get involved? Probably not but there are a lot of circumstances where it could and, if it were my livelihood, I wouldn't want to chance it.

Exactly - and that’s what I relayed in his initial thread as well RE: removing cats and being in NJ where emissions is required and shops won’t put a car on their lift without cats….

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