I've been working on my car and trying to get the cylinder heads off to at least clean them, if not replace them. Well, I got the drivers side one off today, and when I did, alot of coolant poured out and some got into the exhaust pipe/cats. Is that going to kill the cats or will I be allright?
should actually be alright. take the cats off and pour any excess out, then let it dry. hook em back up and run the car at idle for a while. should be as good as new
I honestly don't know if it'll hurt them, but since the cats are welded in, you can't just pop em off, so I'd say burn it out. Just go by a dealer or garage somewhere and ask if you don't get an answer here.
Just drive the car and the heat will dry the cats out. The cats already deal with water condensed from the engine exhaust, and glycol is pretty benign. I wouldn't worry about it! Just make sure you don't have coolant in a cylinder! Hydraulic lock is a bummer.
Some was on the top of the pistons, but unlike with the cats, I could get a rag in there and get nearly all of it out, and it has plenty of time to dry, seeing as I won't get the other head off until tuesday at the earliest, and then longer before I put 'em back on. I will ask about the cats at work tomorrow though just in case (I work at a dealership, conveniently enough... unfortunately, not a Ford dealer though).
