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[quote=”nava1067″ post=42530]I just had my car checked and they told me I had a bad convertor. Is this piece neccessary? Or can I just drive the car without replacing it? What effects does this have on the car?[/quote]
The catalytic converter is a mechanism used to decrease pollutants. It contains compounds that react with hydrocarbons in exhaust gases and chemically converts them to water and other less harmful compounds.
Please do not remove the catalytic converter and drive without it/them.
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Now, do you have a CEL? A bad catalytic converter also usually provides symptoms; such as a rattling noise, a bad smell, lack of power when pressing the gas pedal, and subsequently bad gas mileage.
[quote=”nava1067″ post=42530]Or can I just drive the car without replacing it? What effects does this have on the car?[/quote]
Most modern day cars have two 02 sensors, one before, and one after the cat. If you remove the cat and dont replace it, or in some rare cases if you replace it with a non-OEM one, you will not get your car to pass inspection. The CEL will be on constantly. Can your car run without it? In most cases… Yes. Should you run the car without it? No!
Everybody else is saying you have to replace the cat but honestly I’ve had a bad cat for 2 years and nothing affected the driving. If theirs no CEL then don’t worry about it, but if there is then I still wouldn’t worry about it, until you need to take it in for inspection because with that code the car will not pass emissions.
[quote=”nava1067″ post=42530]I just had my car checked and they told me I had a bad convertor. Is this piece neccessary? Or can I just drive the car without replacing it? What effects does this have on the car?[/quote]
whats the year,make and model and engine size of the car? how many miles?
Do you have a check engine light on? post code.what did the shop say was wrong
with it?on my car (’04 maxima), i have 3 catalytic converters. the first two at the exhaust manifold are monitored by o2 sensors, the one in the y-pipe (part of the exhaust) isn’t. if the catalytic materials crumbled, broken off, my exhaust would be pretty much clogged up, trapping exhaust gas in the exhaust. if you have a similar set up, you really should look into changing it.
[quote=”NissanMaxx” post=42563]Everybody else is saying you have to replace the cat but honestly I’ve had a bad cat for 2 years and nothing affected the driving. If theirs no CEL then don’t worry about it, but if there is then I still wouldn’t worry about it, until you need to take it in for inspection because with that code the car will not pass emissions.[/quote]
If there is no CEL and the vehicles drivability hasnt changed at all, I wouldnt really consider the cat to be “Bad”. Maybe someone told you it was bad to get money out of you, but how is it considered bad if its working the way it should?
Eric just made a video answering all of these questions and more, premium members got it today. I think it goes live on youtube tomorrow so assuming the world doesn’t end you will find out!
i live in a non emissions testing state (mostly) so when mine went bad (clogged do to engine oil burn on the truck and physically broken catalyst on the caprice) i cut the thing off and welded in a spacer pipe. my cars are old though and dont have after cat sensors, and both run alot better without them.
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