Hunting a Smoke Trail in the Viper Live DIY Update 1

"whatisthatsound" (whatisthatsound) 03/06/2015 at 14:45 • Filed to: viper, diy, exhaust, work, wrench, dodge, dodge viper, garage, tools, fire

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In the past I have posted about how I fixed* something in the Viper. I'm going to do something a little different today. I'm going to give real time updates to this DIY. Maybe this will be popular, or most likely I'll be talking to myself, anyway lets begin! If you have any questions or want any pictures let me know!

Problem : I have noticed visually and through smell a smoke trail from the left passenger footwell. It started at autox after a full days running. It doesn't happen at highway speeds only when I'm parking lot pimping.

Solution: I am going to take the side sill of the car off. Look at the passenger footwell and find traces of anything burnt. If I can't find the issue it will be off to the dealer.

Necessary Items: The full service manual for the vehicle. Another car to drive while this one is taken apart. Tools many of them. Jack stands and a jack. A garage and garage dog. Painters tape and a blanket to lay the painted parts on.

1 PM: I've jacked the Viper up, began dissembling and am currently taking the wheel off. The area that is circled is the splash guard in the wheel well. This is going to be a PIA.

1:30: I forgot when I installed the MCS coil overs the fender liner can't be removed easily without taking over the bolt on top of the assembly circled in yellow. I'm going to take the bolts off and see if I can wiggle it out once I loosen up the sill.

1:40: I've gotten the guard off, taking the sills bottom bolts off did the trick. Now it is time to get all the hidden screws holding the sill onto the subframe and front fender. Side note, the pic below is where the twin turbo setup goes. Right in the wheel well.

1:50: The side sill is pulled off. Now the hunt begins for the offending smell.

doodon2whls > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 14:28

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IIRC, the catalysts are right under/in front of the footwells where the exhaust is routed from the engine bay/headers to the rocker area where the mufflers are before the side exit.

If you have an OBD scan tool, you could look at Oxygen sensor readings and see if the passenger side bank is running fat (or misfiring and dumping raw fuel) causing the cat to run super hot. It might not be a bad investment in Torque Pro and a J1850 ELM327 Dongle to log some data.

The heat shielding collects tar and other debris which is then melted and burns off in the heat. Since the car is second hand, you might want to check the security of those heat shields - one could have come loose and/or out of position.

IIRC, you should be able to get under the car and look up through a large oval (round?) hole in the frame and see the catalysts.

doodon2whls > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 14:55

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These hot parts right here - those are the ones you need to look around... See my other response.

MoparMap > doodon2whls 03/06/2015 at 14:58

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That would only show you the front catalysts, there are actually two per side on these cars. The rear one is right at the front of the sill though, so you could maybe get a bit of a look at it.

I found some entertaining evidence in my car of poor aftermarket work as well that you might consider checking. Reworked the whole audio system when I pulled out all the aftermarket stuff that was there when I bought my 04 and they had run the amp input cables from the head unit down the passenger side sill. They were pretty toastly and brown right around where the cat would be. Luckily no major damage and they weren't power wires, so probably fairly low risk, but there could be something on the inside that's smoking as well.

whatisthatsound > doodon2whls 03/06/2015 at 14:58

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I just posted some new pics with the sills off, Have a look at them. The car has 15k on it, but the prior owner was an old guy and had no clue about anything.

doodon2whls > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 15:06

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OK then - it's probably the first time that the car was run hard in which case they all 'burn off' debris and material from the heat shields to some degree. Especially with a hard run and extended idle. Lots of open loop (WOT) acceleration and decel with afterrun heats the cats up significantly, and at an A/X there isn't much airflow. There are 15K miles of tar, rubber, and other small debris sitting in/on/near the heat shields that will smoke and stink.

Do a real good inspection of the heat shields and surrounding materials. You should be able to ID 'cooked stuff'.

Also, it looks like like I might have been mistaken about the Catalyst. Looks like there might only be one in the sills - not under the footwell as I thought... At one point we were testing cars with catalysts there, but the configuration has clearly changed over the years.

whatisthatsound > doodon2whls 03/06/2015 at 15:11

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The top heatshiels are immaculate, the bottom shield looks like this. I'm also pretty sure the 2006 had a black tipped exhaust, and this has a good amount of burble I don't think it is stock. The prior owner and it for 2 years and body off painting as well as various upgrades I've found throughout the car. I know they have a coating that burns off on new exhausts. I also don't see anywhere that would smoke. I'm going to run the car right now for a few minutes and see if I can find the smell.

doodon2whls > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 15:22

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You're looking in the right places...

The coating on the exhaust burns off in the Rolls Test @ CAAP. It's all of the other bits around the exhaust that cooks off once the car is given a proper whipping.

What exactly did it smell like ? Tar, oil, paint, electrical ? Can you describe it ?

whatisthatsound > doodon2whls 03/06/2015 at 15:25

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It smelled electrical/plastic/oil, not paint. The smoke was white and I only saw it once at the autox. I let the car sit and it didn't come back even after a hour plus drive home. I'm idling it right now for a few minutes.

doodon2whls > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 15:30

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You probably already burned off whatever it was... You needn't be concerned about a puff/whiff of smoke from them at an A/X - lots of stuff gets hot there including brakes, but if the smoke comes thick and constant, run to a fire extinguisher. You did buy a fire extinguisher for the passenger footwell, right ?

whatisthatsound > doodon2whls 03/06/2015 at 15:34

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Oh yes, I've learned from past peoples mistakes. I'm going to give the shield a wipe down the reinstall and see what happens.

MysticStick > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 15:42

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Good thread. I've looked over all the pics and don't see anything burned. But what is this?

whatisthatsound > MysticStick 03/06/2015 at 15:52

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It's had as a rock and didn't melt, move, smoke, or smell when I ran the engine for about ten minutes. The lady friend says she smells it coming from the engine bay. This is my first 10 cylinder engine in fact I've only owned 4cyl before this. I'm not sure if the smell is normal from the heat this sucker gives off or if something is cooking in there. It didn't throw any codes, and my fluid temps are normal.

whatisthatsound > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 15:55

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The lady friend smells it coming from the engine bay. This is my first 10 cylinder engine in fact I've only owned 4cyl before this. I'm not sure if the smell is normal from all the heat it gives off. The fluid temps are all normal and stable. I think I may have my tech take some deep sniffs under the hood and let me know what he thinks.

MysticStick > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 16:03

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Is this stuff found elsewhere, like a sealant or glue? I don't think running it a bit will simulate the temperatures you reached in autox. That is a special heat-soaked environment.

whatisthatsound > MysticStick 03/06/2015 at 16:05

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I couldn't find it anywhere else.

JGrabowMSt > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 16:05

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Im getting new exhaust on the wagon, but for a long time I got a burning smell because a previous owner must have parked it over a plastic bag, and it caked itself onto the flex pipe. Mostly gone by now, but being replaced because it bothers me.

I recommend also looking for any fluid trails.

While its apart, you should get onto those turbos. How hard could it be?

whatisthatsound > JGrabowMSt 03/06/2015 at 16:13

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It's called bolt-on for a reason and I have bolts and nuts. Should be a breeze.

MysticStick > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 16:28

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That is a bit strange. I suppose it could be sealant of some sort that gets molten and smoky when it gets super hot. It doesn't quite look right (like it accidentally leaked out from sealing on the inside of that seam).

Now that you have pics of it, you can always check it again and if it has melted more then you know that might be the smoke/smell. Otherwise it must just have leaked down on installation like that. I did a bunch of searching of the google and the SRT forums with no luck on finding a similar case. Lots of leaky turbo oil lines and bad custom alarm wiring but not this.

whatisthatsound > MysticStick 03/06/2015 at 16:33

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I wish the Viper DIY forums were as expansive as the Lotus forums. On the lotus forum you could build a damn spaceship. On the viper forums it's either trash talking or complaining about how long a builder has had their viper.

MysticStick > whatisthatsound 03/06/2015 at 16:50

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There did seem to be a high degree of snark on the Viper forums. Mustang forums tend to be the best on DIY (for me so far). Those folks love to wrench. Corvette can be hit and miss.

Oh one thing I did notice in my searches that kept coming up was a few people that had just installed new suspension bits like your coil-overs and the tires had rubbed and then left some rubber which smoked a lot. And about a dozen variations on that, some notice the rubbing when it happened, some didn't. I don't think that is your issue but just a heads-up.