What are the symptoms of a damaged catalytic converter?
1 Answers
The symptoms of a damaged catalytic converter are as follows: 1. The secondary oxygen sensor will fail to provide accurate data to the vehicle's computer, leading to either excessively lean or rich fuel mixture. A lean mixture can cause difficulty in ignition, weak driving performance, and engine backfiring, while a rich mixture increases fuel consumption, incomplete combustion, and severe carbon buildup in cylinders and spark plugs. 2. Shortly after starting the vehicle, there will be noticeable red-hot spots between the exhaust manifold and the catalytic converter. 3. A pungent, foul odor can be detected during idling or acceleration. Relevant information about the catalytic converter includes: 1. As the most critical component in the gasoline vehicle's exhaust purification system, the catalytic converter transforms exhaust emissions to meet environmental standards. The 'three-way' refers to carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides (NOx). 2. Working principle: When high-temperature exhaust gases pass through the catalytic converter, the catalyst enhances the activity of CO, HC, and NOx, promoting oxidation-reduction reactions. CO oxidizes into colorless, non-toxic CO2 at high temperatures; HC oxidizes into H₂O and CO2; NOx reduces into N2 and O2 at high temperatures.
