ezone

If the cat is "on the borderline" and you have never had an issue with misfiring, then I'm pretty sure your cat substrate (the guts) will be intact and look normal.

You could just remove the upper O2 sensor and look down inside the hole too?



If the car will still pass your local emissions test even though the CEL is on, then I probably wouldn't spend the money on a cat until it is absolutely necessary.


Any chance you will be bringing the car back into the US before it passes the 8 years/80,000 mile cat converter warranty? If you will, then I'd say to wait and replace it that way (free).

civic10ex

yeah..never had misfires on record....hadn't thought about looking through the sensor hole...thank you!

yeah it passes and nobody checks the light..i just hate driving around with the light on..and no no chance of taking it back to the states

ezone

A year ago you only had 10k on it, and it needs a cat.
Are you going to buy a new cat every 10k just to keep the light off?

If you have "the torque app for android" (I assume it can read codes and such), I'd be inclined to ignore the CEL and instead just check for new codes every so often.

Is something like this a possibility for you? https://www.civicforums.com/forums/2...on-w-pics.html

Note: I have no idea if this would work on that car or not, due to the method used to monitor the cat.

civic10ex

hmm yea not willing to try the non fouler trick..sounds iffy....

btw got a look through the top 02 sensor hole....honeycombs looked normal...i was surprised by how tiny each hole was.

next on my list is soaking the cat in laundry detergent for a few hours ala scott kilmer on youtube....not thinking it will work but hey if it does there's little to lose

ezone

But it's dang cheap LOL

I think it would have been pretty apparent if the substrate has had a meltdown.

DO report back on this one if you dare try it!

Actually, google 'wash a catalytic converter' or 'clean a catalytic converter' and read for a few hours LOL

I have seen this video several times.....I'd like to know what their formula is
[autostream]http://autostream.com/ibcivicforums/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=1437& transactionid=1379194620-98214246123&posted_by=_www.civicforums.com&youtube _video_id=AaOLrBtFgYg[/autostream]


Diluted Citric Acid? News to me. http://www.nature.com/news/2005/0504...050425-10.html

No matter what, be aware that it is commonly accepted among industry professionals that an inefficient cat cannot be "cleaned".

NEVER EVER try to wash a cat that has all its claws! DANGER!! DAAAAAAAANGER!!

civic10ex

yea did some more reading and washing seems to be a dead end...i'll just try some hard driving instead.

btw i noticed one thing...when the car first came into the country it had to pass the local vehicle inspection which included emissions testing. it had 0.1% co and 19 hc ppm back then.

now two years later..it had the same 0.1% co but 77 hc ppm...and i read somewhere that surging hc readings are linked to cat deterioration...so that seems to be the last nail on the coffin for this case eh?

ezone

HC = HydroCarbons = Combustible fuel.

The cat is (basically) there to finish burning any unburned combustibles in the exhaust after exiting the combustion chamber and cylinder.

Elevated HC reading could be due to the (now less efficient) cat, it's losing its ability to finish burning the unburned gas from the exhaust.......
(Might not be the only possible cause.....A cold cat could give elevated readings too.)



Many state emissions test programs that use a tailpipe sniffer have looser cutoff points than a factory PCM is programmed with, and at the same time, a PCM does not judge the cat nor exhaust emissions in the same manner that most state emissions tests would.
The PCM can only judge the cats' ability to store and release O2, it cannot measure actual HC, CO, CO2, or NOx.

...Meaning even though the CEL might be on (because the PCM says P0420-the cat has failed), the car may still easily pass a "sniffer" test.




We don't have emissions testing in my area YET.

civic10ex

yeah hard driving did nothing...my bet now is that the high mmt levels in the local gasoline supply throughout 2011-12 were at fault and the cat has been deteriorating progressively since then. do i really need to replace the cat and egr valve gaskets if i change the cat?

ezone

It's up to you..
I normally get new gaskets though......because my work has to be warrantable.

The flat gaskets are all steel, and the conical "donut" on the bottom of the cat could be reused IF it comes off cleanly and without damage.

You probably won't have rust to deal with where you are at either.

civic10ex

yea the bolts look squeaky clean...the shell is good...egr valve is all shiny...only the cat looks really rusted.

i did some research and from 2011 to 2012 the dealerships here got fed up with bad cats in new cars...they tested the gas and the mmt levels were off the charts...they put pressure on the oil importers to get their act together.....there is even a famous story of a 2010 land rover not being able to run because of dead cats....my car came here late 2011 so that ended tipping the scales in favor of just getting it replaced.....that and the difference in hc ppm readings after two years here

civic10ex

ok..so after so long in denial today was the day..the cat was replaced...i got to check out the old cat...turns out that if you shook it a little bit you'd get small metal chips coming out...sort of like part of the cat's insides

got the new cat on..second sensor readings are really different now...very flatish...and the car feels much more lighter now...i'd noticed before that sometimes the car felt heavy when accelerating at low gears...totally different story now...quick acceleration all the time.

thank you ezone for your interest and comments! you were very helpful along the way.