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Hi there!
No more than a year ago I bought a magnaflow catalytic converter for my car. When eric did the video of testing the cat with the thermometer I gave it a try and foud out that mine is bad because inlet is hotter than outlet). I always think in the possibility that cats have an IN/OUT side, and the guy in the shop welded it backwards or something like that because its a fairly new cat to be broken.
Any idea on this?Thank you.
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Highly doubt there is an orientation issue here. Exhaust gas flows over a catalytic surface and it doesn’t matter which direction air flow is. Someone correct me if I am wrong.
Even with a new cat, it can be positioned easily. common catalyst poisons include fuel sulfur, manganese (originating primarily from the gasoline additive MMT), and silicone, which can enter the exhaust stream if the engine has a leak that allows coolant into the combustion chamber.
catalytic converter flow direction doesnt matter. its not like a muffler that has a bunch of different chambers, its just a metal housing with a honeycomb type catalyst inside of it.
if there are any problems with your engine, it wont take long to ruin a new catalytic converter. i put an aftermarket cat in my truck and the engine was burning oil pretty bad, it was ruined in a little over a month.
you can also test it by using a pressure guage to check the pressure before the cat. it should be less than about 3 psi
I have to disagree with direction not being an issue.
If the design was made for one side that says inlet to
go in the inlet side.it must be for a reason. now is that
what is causing the failure? Don’t know. but nobody will want
to warranty it.Thank you all.
BTW: The car has no noticeable problem or performance issue, I just did the experiment and found what I found.
I have some auto part web site to you to find the right parts and price for your car. I use these web site, because I know they deliver on time. But if you search on Google you will found more. You can find tools on http://www.amazon.com
http://www.dealerdirectparts.com/
http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/
How to diagnose a catalyst converter problem
SOME catalytic converters need to be installed a certain way. If that’s the case you will see an arrow dictating flow stamped into the outside of the case. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter.
Aftermarket cats are sometimes a problem and don’t always work out. However, if you had an engine performance issue that cause the cat to go bad in the first place and that issue was not addressed then it’s likely the new cat will fail in short order. Misfires and mixture problems can cause a cat to fail BTW.
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