Exhaust diagram or part identification help

[alamogeorge]

Looking for a complete exhaust diagram for a 2002 3.0L Flex Fuel.

On the driver's side coming off of the exhaust manifold there is a piece that looks like a miniature catalytic converter. Is it? If not, what is it?

 

[satan]

The little fat-part there right after the o2 bung on the left side? Yeah, it's a cat -- sometimes called a pre-cat, but yeah...

 

[Stxrangerbumper]

http://www.partstrain.com ,,I love this site for find part

 

[alamogeorge]

Do I "need" that one?

My truck barely has any power and that one glows. Since the O2 sensor is before it, it shouldn't hurt to gut it, right? Looks like I have the other two cats anyway so the planet is safe.

 

[alamogeorge]

"barely" was misleading....It has zero power. limped it home last night.

 

[stmitch]

Do you know why the cat would be clogged in the first place? You could remove it, but if there's an issue with the engine (dumping excess fuel into the exhaust maybe) then it wouldn't be long before the next cat down the line gets clogged too.

 

[alamogeorge]

Yes. When the symptoms first surfaced I noticed the PCV connector hose was blown. This happened because a long time ago I was changing the PCV and I tore the hose because it was stuck. I wrapped it with hose tape and forgot about it. Well, the tape eventually gave way. I fixed that but I guess the damage was done.