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Catalytic converter
jimdeere
Member, Moderator Posts: 25,649 ******
What are the symptoms of a defective one. My daughters CRV has a check engine light. Auto Zone told her it was the catalytic converter. She says the car has no power at highway speed, but three times I?ve drove it, it seems fine.
Comments
A plugged cat will cause a loss of power.
Found out when I was looking over the jeep and could find nothing, got pissed and kicked the Converter. Heard it rattle.
Find out what the code is. PO420/PO430 codes will only tell you the cat is working below the level of efficiency. It doesn?t always mean the cat is bad...sometimes there?s carbon buildup that coats the brick of the cat and keeps it from lighting off. The no power being intermittent can be caused by a cracked up brick that over time can break off in chunks and under power can move causing a partial blockage. If the brick melts it can render the car inoperable. If it?s just carbon buildup you can have the motor vacuum (hard core clean up that helps. Biggest help is regular oil changes. But something causes the cats to go bad. There?s no moving parts and they should last the life of a vehicle with proper maintenance. Other things like worn out O2 sensors can cause cat problems too. My wife drives a 1998 Honda CRV with the original cat.
agree check the temperature is a good indicator and also just hook up a code reader while running
if it helps aftermarket " cats " are inexpensive compared to a factory replacement
I changed the one on a 2002 accord I bought my wife as a work car. and the 02 sensors same time . it was going into the "limp home mode" if driven as in run / but no pick up and lousy mileage
the cat converter insides were in pieces . after changing it all out runs like a new one now
by the way parts all came from rock auto
Whatever you do, do not buy a CanAmEx/Thunderbolt converter, absolute garbage.
Take the 'catalytic converter' off and toss it.
Install a 'test tube' (piece of exhaust pipe) in it's place and you are good to go.
[8D]
Maybe pre 1993. Anything from 1994 on you cannot do that because of the computer and you?ll never get the check engine light to go off and you? may not know if something else is going wrong with the car. Not to mention the $2500 minimum Federal fine for tampering with an emissions device if caught ( I had a customer who did get caught and ended up with $45K in fines by the time the government was done with him and some his customers were gone after for knowingly having him do it.) And there are States that check to see if you have a functioning cat when they do an emissions test/safety check.
quote:Originally posted by us55840
Take the 'catalytic converter' off and toss it.
Install a 'test tube' (piece of exhaust pipe) in it's place and you are good to go.
[8D]
Maybe pre 1993. Anything from 1994 on you cannot do that because of the computer and you?ll never get the check engine light to go off and you? may not know if something else is going wrong with the car. Not to mention the $2500 minimum Federal fine for tampering with an emissions device if caught ( I had a customer who did get caught and ended up with $45K in fines by the time the government was done with him and some his customers were gone after for knowingly having him do it.) And there are States that check to see if you have a functioning cat when they do an emissions test/safety check.
One of many reasons I left PA, thier emissions law in some ways is worse than CAs.
One of many reasons I chose Montana, what da heck is emissions comtrols?? Hell, what?s a vehicle inspection!
Disconnected the battery and cleared the CEL.
Drove it about 20 miles up and down hills, it ran great. I guess we?ll wait and see.
No emissions test in Virginia, we don?t have no global warming around here.
"Never do wrong to make a friend----or to keep one".....Robert E. Lee