Some Tips to Enhance Your Catalytic Converter

While the Catalytic Converter does a supreme job in keeping the car emissions clean, its performance can still be improved a lot---through your knowledge and help.

Among the noted liabilities of a catalytic converter is that it only works at a fairly high temperature. When the car starts cold, the catalytic converter will have a hard time in trying to reduce the pollution in the exhaust. A solution for this is to move the catalytic converter closer to the engine. This means that hotter exhaust gases will be able to reach the catalytic converter, making it heat up faster, although this may also reduce the life of the catalytic converter because it is being exposed to extremely high temperatures. You should know that most car makers have positioned their catalytic converters under the front passenger seat, making it far enough from the engine to keep the temperature down to levels that will not harm it.

Another bright idea for the enhancement of the catalytic converter is to preheat it. Preheating the catalytic converter is a convenient way to reduce emissions, and in this case, the use of electric resistance heaters is highly suggested. Unfortunately, the 12-volt electrical systems on most cars do not provide enough energy or power to heat the catalytic converter fast enough. Most people do not have the patience to wait several minutes for the catalytic converter to heat up before starting their car. Hybrid cars that have big, high-voltage battery packs can provide enough power to heat up the catalytic converter very quickly, which is probably why their catalytic converters are often in premium performance.

Hence, it is not enough for you to take good care of your catalytic converter, but it is vital that you know where it is located as well, and how fast does it work in which temperature.