When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I recently hit the 30k mark on my 2010 DB9 and like clockwork, needed to replace coilpacks and sparkplugs.
Once that was done, the engine was back to running smooth. I recently watched a Bamford Rose video where primary cat ingestion is a risk due to misfires.
How many owners have addressed this? I assume you would remove the cat baffles and reprogram the ECU to ignore the sensors?
Good to know. The exhaust is entirely stock at this point. Would love to uncork that sound a little, though definitely not aiming to be super loud. I'll leave that to the civics
Or you could do exactly what you did with replacement of the coils and drive it. Easiest and most cost effective is remove the secondary cats, impressive sound and you still have the exhaust valve action that is easy to live with. Extended driving with misfiring will kill any catalist.
While the sound is a great goal, that’s not the reason for me asking. My concern, and the reason why I asked it here is if any other owners have simply removed the baffles out of the primary cats / removed the primary cats due to the risk of engine induction of broken baffles.
There's been a ton of discussion over on Pistonheads on this matter - you might want to read up on that.
I've debated removing the primary cats over the years to mitigate the risk you stated, along with the performance advantage. There are three reasons I haven't done so:
- I don't like the sound you end up with. This is strictly personal, I know, but I like the signature Aston V12 growl, and do not want the car to have a higher pitched howl, which seems to be the result with headers. Fully appreciate/acknowledge that it would be a plus for some people!
- I think the risk is overhyped (hopefully not cursing myself here). I have no personal experience with Bamford Rose, but over the years I have grown to respect them less and less, due to their video marketing approaches, and customer comments on Pistonheads.
- Diminishing returns with respect to price versus performance gain that you can realistically use on a daily basis.
You don't need to replace with headers and lose the original sound. You can simply chop it out of the stock manifold. And disable the cat monitor. Cost 10x cheaper. You cut just below the cat and fit a flange. This allows you to remove the manifold without removing the front subframe. Then on the bench you can cut open and remove the element and weld it back. You will need a "mini cat" of some kind to avoid a warning light if you don't program it out. Or you can upgrade the downstream cats to support 12 cylinders and then fit the O2 sensors downstream. That way you will even pass a tail pipe emissions test.
I recently hit the 30k mark on my 2010 DB9 and like clockwork, needed to replace coilpacks and sparkplugs.
Once that was done, the engine was back to running smooth. I recently watched a Bamford Rose video where primary cat ingestion is a risk due to misfires.
How many owners have addressed this? I assume you would remove the cat baffles and reprogram the ECU to ignore the sensors?
Why not install catch cans, and replace PCV every so often to prevent cats damage.
Last edited by VM997C4S; Feb 12, 2022 at 11:24 AM.
Thought I would share this recently released video explaining the issue in depth and very clearly. I learned a few things along the way and thought it was a really excellent production. Worth a watch for any V12 owner.
