is this safe?

[Chris]

Hey Eric,

I wanted your opinion on this

Is it safe to pour lacquer thinner in the tank like that? Thanks

Chris

Topic

[David]

There are actually a series of videos on different solvents/methods to try and clean catalytic converters – here one that Eric did on lacquer thinner

here’s one he did on soap and water

and another one on sodium hydroxide

I would guess that the efficacy of any cleaning method is going to depend on what the problem is – if the catalyst is fouled (with gunk like oil, dirt, etc.) then cleaning should be able to help (if you use an appropriate solution to do so) – however, if it’s damaged or has been partially removed, then all the cleaning in the world isn’t going to bring it back.

I would be hesitant to use lacquer thinner in my tank – the reason being as we get driven to use more “green” solutions, the make-up of lacquer thinner is changing – from a mix of methanol/toluene/acetone (which will burn just fine) to other things, that might not. (I’d be more inclined to buy the solvents and mix/add them myself than to use an unknown (if you can’t see the ingredients/composition on the label) – last thing you want to do is try to clean your cat, and in the process damage something else!

[Chris]

[quote=”DrD” post=184896]There are actually a series of videos on different solvents/methods to try and clean catalytic converters – here one that Eric did on lacquer thinner

here’s one he did on soap and water

and another one on sodium hydroxide

I would guess that the efficacy of any cleaning method is going to depend on what the problem is – if the catalyst is fouled (with gunk like oil, dirt, etc.) then cleaning should be able to help (if you use an appropriate solution to do so) – however, if it’s damaged or has been partially removed, then all the cleaning in the world isn’t going to bring it back.

I would be hesitant to use lacquer thinner in my tank – the reason being as we get driven to use more “green” solutions, the make-up of lacquer thinner is changing – from a mix of methanol/toluene/acetone (which will burn just fine) to other things, that might not. (I’d be more inclined to buy the solvents and mix/add them myself than to use an unknown (if you can’t see the ingredients/composition on the label) – last thing you want to do is try to clean your cat, and in the process damage something else![/quote]
I guess I need to go back at some old videos. I have been getting referenced to them recently and I’m like what he did that? lol But thank you for your response. I saw that it did not work for him and even gave him an error code so I wont be trying it. I will look at the others and see what works for me. I think I have a vacuum leak so I will fix it first. Then I believe that one of the O2 sensors is out so I need to replace that. I noticed it was fluctuating voltage when the car was off after I just finished driving it for 25 miles. This is the downstream sensor so I believe there might be residual gas it may be burning off but I do not think it should be affecting it after the car was turned off for about a minute or two right?

[Author]

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