The "heat" dash light has come on.

[Greenracer5]

Hi all

Whilst driving the little car into town on Saturday, the heat light came on. For those of you who don't have a heat light, it's in the dash light cluster and looks like a little barbeque with wavy lines coming off it.
I know that this is normally attached to the catalytic converter and indicates that it is running at too high a temperature. However, my car doesn't have a 'cat'..it errrrm, got broken your honour , and i couldn't afford a replacement so the nice man at the muffler shop offered to cut it out and replace it with another muffler unit.

There appears to be no difference in the running of the car...it starts and stops just like normal. Anyone got any idea what's causing the light to come on? Where's the best place to look? I intend to have a look under the car at the empty place where the cat used to be, but would appreciate any advice or hinderence you can offer .

thanks

GR5

[MatBat]

How long ago did you have the cat replaced? has it happened straight after being changed?
Sometimes when people replace the cat with a muffler they weld the temp sensor into (or sometimes onto) the muffler, it could be that this has damaged the sensor. Follow the wire and see where it goes and try unplugging it as you don't really need it as far I know (or does it somehow connect to the ECU)?

[Greenracer5]

The cat was removed quite a long time ago. Someone has suggested that the wire to the sensor may have rubbed through and is causing a short. This shouldn't cause any problems apparently (apart from the annoying red light). I'll get under the car at the weekend and follow it along and check to see if the sensor is damaged like you suggest.

Like I said, it seems to be running ok, but I'm being very careful (and light footed) and watching the gauges for movement.