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I have 2001 Civic LX and it is salvaged title car. I've had this car for more than 4 years but recently it came up with a weired problem which has become a pain in the ears. When I drive the car for may be around half an hour, manifold turns red and check engine light turns on and then car does not pick up race at all and feels so heavy. I have changed the manifold and catalytic converter and both sensors but it didn't help at all. I also changed plugs and oil but no help whatsoever. My civic LX model is the one that has catalytic converter and manifold in one piece. I purchased a 2002 model engine which has only 40000 miles. If anyone knows anything please help me out.

 
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ok...im guessing exhaust manifold. the actual color tunrs red?

 
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Yes it's exhaust manifold that turns red.

 
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Since you've already change the mani and cat, check the rest of your exhaust system. Sounds like its clogged. You're getting too much back pressure which is causing all those exhaust gases to stay trapped in the system, which is why why you're manifold is heating up.

 
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Nothing is clogged in the exhaust system. The Mechanic who changed the cat and mani said nothing is clogged in the exhaust. I believe it should be some kind of sensors but not sure which one.

 
Rep Power: 390

A bad sensor could throw your check engine light, but it wont make your manifold turn red.

Heres what you do... drive your car around, when it gets hot- park it. Get out some kind of temp sensor (themometer) and check the exhaust pipes from the header back. I'd say do this by touch, but you'd burn the skin off your hand. You might notice a point where its cool... thats a point after the clog. you can use this to zero in on where the clog is. Getting under your car you might notice that the exhaust pipe is bent or something- which will def cause this. You can park your car, get it up on jacks, or drive it up something where you can get under it- unhook the back section of the exhaust (from the cat back- the cat being in the header of course) and try checking it out to see if you can notice anything clogged in there.

Any crazy ex's throw a potato up your exhaust?

What you can also do is head to napa or your equilivant store and rent a code scanner, plug it in and it should give you a better idea of whats setting the check engine light.

 
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they sell those thermal scanners that can read the temp off objects without touching it.. just point and shoot and it tells you how hot it is

 
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if a mani is getting red hot, its most likely cause your running to rich.

 
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being an lx and having the cat in the manifold im going to agree with blou. the cat is the hottest part of the exhaust system anyway. it is designed to trap and collect heat. since it is so close to the exhaust side of the head, if youre putting out too many hydrocarbons, it would cause it to get even hotter. something is causing more fuel to get in the combustion chamber than the car can burn. if there is a shop near by that has a gas analyzer, they can stick the probe in your exhaust and read your CO and hydrocarbon levels and that will tell you if its too rich. it could be a leaky injector, bad fuel pressure regulator, bad charcoal canister, or a number of other emissions related problems. i would backprobe all injectors and check their on-time, unplug the charcoal canister and see if its full of fuel, hook a fuel pressure guage to your car and unplug the vacuum line on the fuel pressure regulater and make sure the fuel pressure climbs 10-15 pounds, or take it to a good shop with good diagnostic tools.