Is there a cleaner for catalytic converter?

[johncedarhill]

Since i basically do not trust the repair chain and since I spent 500 dollars on the electronic controls I am reluctant to just replace the catalytic converter which was not a problem before the electronic fixes. The service engine lite came back on a week after the electronic replacements just after I filled up with gas, The repair guys have trouble resetting the oil change lite correctly so I do not buy the story of the misfiring for no more than 30 minutes killing the converter and that the electronics could not reset themselves properly etc. I would just as soon try a cleaner rather than another bill from the repair chain. When the weather warms a little I may consider a replacement before the state inspection for plates. BTW the car is a Saturn 2002 l200. I am also thinking that running a tank or two or premium instead of regular may help. I did see a couple of commercial product when I googled catalytic converters.

[EdNunya]

To clean out the injector system..

Might help with your CEL...  I put it through the vacume line for the brake booster, or betetr yet the PCV vacume line if you can get to it....

Also, you might try changing the Gas tank cap..It might not be sealing as well as it should be any more...  That will also set off your CEL....

Auto Zone will read your code for you for free..And Harbor Freight has  their OBDII readers (which will reset the CEL)...  Not a ton of money for them, and they work well...

My wife has a 1997 SC2, with 290K on it, we changed out the converter last yr....Plan on driving it until the wheels fall off!


73

Semper Fi

Ed

[johncedarhill]

Thanks--As the weather warms to just below normal next week I can see if some of this is partially cold temperature related. Where is global warming when you need it? But the weather channel said the severe cold is part of global warming. I like the idea of the Harbor Freight Code reader so I will check my local one if it is available here.

[SDale]

I've never cleaned a Cat before.. Just replaced them. BUT, if you have a bad O2 sensor, then an overly rich mixture could cause a cat to go bad.

What year/make/model & engine size car? If it's a Chevy, you can reset the oil change light yourself.

For MIL Status lights, do like mentioned above and get a Harbor Freight CAN/OBDII reader and you'll be able to tell what problem you have or if the motor is misfiring. They run 50-100 bucks. You may have a faulty down stream O2 sensor. They don't do anything except tell the ECU if the cat is working properly (ie comming up to temp.)

As far an an induction system cleaning, go to Walmart and get 2 cans of Sea Foam from the automotive section. Pour 1 can into your half empty gas tank before you leave the parking lot.  

For the actual cleaning, Pour half the can of Sea Foam into a jar or something similar, With the engine COLD, start it up and pull the brake booster vacuume line and let it suck small amounts of sea foam in while having someone hold the motor at 2500 RPM. Once you start seeing huge billowing clouds of white smoke comming from the exhaust pipe, shut the car off and let it sit for a half hour. Then repeat with the rest of the can. Then drive it till the smoke goes away. You probably wanna do this in an industrial area on a weekend. It makes TONS of white smoke. I mean a metric BUTT LOAD of smoke. But it works!!!

[johncedarhill]

The car is a Saturn 2002 L200 with a 4 cylinder engine.  The car ran fine until the big rain we had just before Christmas and after sitting for 4 days all of the problems started. It was serious rough running and I took it in to the closest place.  I don't want to rag on "-----stone" car repair.  Charging a diagnostic fee to not get it right is just plain wrong.  On the Harbor Freight OBDII, I see there are two versions one for codes and one for text when I looked online.  I am not sure what the difference is between the two models.

[billharmon2]

The difference in the code readers is one model will give you the code then you look it up in a book that comes with it. The one with text will tell you what the code means on the screen. If you don't mind looking it up in the book the simple code reader is ok and usually cheaper. both types will erase a code. I am chasing a code on my 2003 impala My cel light is on and I get a code for insufficient EGR flow. I have changed everything and still get the code. I have only put Seafoam in my tank it worked well. I am a little leary of running it through an engine with 130000 miles on it but people claim it works. I have seen youtube videos of it and the smoke is spectacular. I know from seeing some of his posts that SDale does car work so he might have some good input to this.

[preez]

I've used it both in fuel and through air intake. My high mileage ford explorer definately got a second wind after the treatment. The smoke was not as terrible as some people on the net describe, I guess it depends on carbon deposits. But if you have a code, go to a GOOD shop and get it squared away or chase it yourself. Most Autozone stores and other big chain auto parts retailers will read them for free. You just have to interpret them with a manual. Going back to sea foam I am also a big fan of their "Deep creep" aerosol, which IMHO  beats WD-40 or Liquid wrench.

Good luck,

Chris

[howie1a]

When I worked in a gas station in the 1950's we used to trickle a glass of plain old water into the carburartor while someone held the gas peddle down just enought to keep the car from stalling it cleaned all the carbon out and the car ran a lot better. Howie

[SDale]

Uh oooooh...Worst case scenario... Looks like you maaaaay have the dreaded Cam Chain failure. I used to work for a GMC Stealership and we got Saturns in once in a while. Most of them with the same problem. The plastic cam chain guides wear out then the chain starts wearing into the cylinder wall. It's down low enough that you won't loose compression, but it will get coolant into the motor. It causes the same EXACT problems that you describe.

Pull the dipstick and see if the oil is milky, also pull #1 spark plug and see if it's got fluffy red or brown deposits on it. Either one of these will show if you have an internal coolant leak. You could also pull the oil cap when the car is warmed up and smell inside the valve cover. If it smells sweet, then theres probably a coolant leak.

Other things it could be.... Possibly a bad Crank Position Sensor. Sometimes they just go out or get fouled from steel dust comming off of the flywheel's ring gear and the starter. You could pull it out, clean and check the resistance on it then reinstall and see if that clears your problem up. It's right next to the starter with a 2 wire connector on it. Resistance reading should be 650-1200 Ohms.  

Could also be the ignition module...but you said it runs, but rough. So you've got spark there.

Have you had the fuel pump or fuel filter changed?



Howie... I used to do the same thing with water. It works GREAT for getting rid of carbon deposits, but it doesn't work too well on the oil vapor and sludge deposits in the intake manifold from the crank case rebreathers and EGR. Sea Foam washes that stuff out pretty good!.

[johncedarhill]

The coil and the other engine electronic module were replaced.With the original symptoms i thought the problem would be in the coil.  The car ran fine with good acceleration etc.   After that repair, the catalytic code came up. I really cannot understand why the cat was a problem after the fact instead of showing up in the first place.  I did purchase the HF code reader and checked the code myself yesterday. (I did want the one which would monitor the O2 while running but they did not stock that model in the store) The "minimum" catalytic  something or other came back with no other messages or codes.  I also got two cans of sea foam and put one into the tank which was about 3/4 full (12 gals or so) and will run that through and possibly put the second one right in.  heat wave today up to mid to upper 20's and more seasonable this week so I can fool with it some more.  After one use for the code reader I sure wish I had bought one long ago.  I think having one is a good idea especially to read any pending codes and at least get a heads up on a possible problem.

[SDale]

OK, sounds like you're getting "Cataltyic Converter Minimum Temperature"  fault.  The cat isn't getting up to temp. Try swapping the 2 oxygen sensors and see if it still comes up with the same code.  If it does, then the cat IS shot.

[johncedarhill]

The high temps have been around 10 F for a week. Yesterday I came home and it was 11 and getting dark. With a little bit of luck it will be better when the temperature gets into the 30's Weds and later in the week.