Best ways to test the catalytic converter?

The converter unbolts front and cannot remember on rear maybe flanged or weld in . Easy change in field . Then take it in shop to seam weld it in or clamp it. Testing the car has a regimen that proofs the cat every so often apparently . That's why so many issues.other toyoda ice no have this.

 

The OEM converter is retained by spring loaded bolts with "ball" flanges and donut gaskets. An OEM replacement will included a new exhaust preheater like the one shown in the diagram





An aftermarket converter will only consist of the front and rear catalytic converter before the exhaust preheater, I will need to be welded to the exhaust preheater after the old converter is cut off. I will look something like this.

 

The car itself tests the catalytic converter regularly, and keeps track of its "oxygen storage capacity", and you can ask the car any time what the OSC was in the most recent test.



More oxygen storage capacity is better. In the car shown above, the tested storage capacity was 0.251. The minimum to pass the test is 0.249, and when the tested OSC drops below that, a P0420 code will be set and it will be time to replace the cat.

0.251 might seem to be pretty low, close to the minimum passing, but it does not seem to drop very fast; that was my test result from 2½ years ago and I don't think it was any worse the last time I checked.

I have not seen what the typical OSC is for a brand shiny new one.

 

Yeah, mine is 0.22xx, close to minimum but it sits in that range for last 3 years since I monitor it.

 

Never saw it don't know what mine is but with that picture of the two converters together with the bung for the sensor in between shoot I could take two two 5,000 lb max converters and a weld them as shown that's only like $140 worth of converters just to see what would happen but it looks like you're stuck buying whatever it is for the converter when it takes a dump if you live in places where that's a thing thank God we've skipped all that here.

 

They can last "forever" on an automotive timescale, as long as you aren't pushing burnt oil & coolant through it on a regular basis.

 

Gen3 don't seem to be as problematic.from my views here.

 

In Texas can you get away with no catalytic converter straight pipe removed whatever? I don't know the inspection process down there over there. If you have to pass inspection and have to have the light off and that code gone you want to work on that first That's the one that's going to be the most difficult to kill off and if you can't kill it off the car is going to the junkyard or coming off the road unless you can get a rider for it. So I wouldn't work on the other problems if I had the pass inspection before I dealt with that that'll determine what happens with the car almost

 

Yeah they look like two high quality 3,000 lb cats or maybe 5,000 I don't know just a guess but they're of a higher quality than maybe run of the mill. Certainly not worth any $1,800 but I get it.

 

I would get an aftermarket pair of cats as shown above. You could look at salvage yards for bolt in complete assemblies but they are usually around $1,000. Burning oil is probably your issue so I would not invest that much until you get a rebuilt engine.

Depends what county you are in. Counties around Houston, Austin, El Paso and Dallas have emissions testing, the rest of us can be one mile further and have no check of emissions.

For those outside the emissions counties, even a check engine light is ok - they simply look at lights, wipers and horn. Starting in 2025 there will be no inspection at all except in the emissions counties.

Emissions Testing

• Houston-Galveston-Brazoria Program Area: Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, and Montgomery Counties
• Dallas-Fort Worth Program Area: Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, and Tarrant Counties
• Austin Area: Travis and Williamson Counties
• El Paso Area: El Paso County

 

On August 1, my "OSC" was reported as 0.252845, compared to 0.249795. I'm not sure what units apply, or why they show so many significant figures. It's not burning much oil.

 

Just depends on the scan tool you're using. It gets the numbers in binary from the ECU, and converts them to decimal using the math that is specified for that PID, and in the case of your scan tool it's doing that the way your middle school science teacher wanted you to stop doing on your calculator.

 

Right so then in my case here in North Carolina I just had my cars registered and counties that had no emissions they were right adjacent to me All I did was drive over there and give him a friend's address No problem actually I was just like changing your address on your license and then that means I could pull into a stall for inspection and honk the horns flash the lights and pull out Why wouldn't you do this? So that's what I did then when my county drop the emissions testing. I just changed the address on my registration back to Borland road where I live and still have no emissions testing.

 

I'm sorry that I'm buying such an old thread, but I also have a problem with EGR which I'm trying to solve. What Android or iOS program was used to make this screenshot from the EGR test reading?

 

Car Scanner.

 

Sharing your problem will get better options rather than trying to work all possible issues.

Techstream and a few others with bidirectional controls allow manual control of the egr valve while monitoring manifold pressure. The test verifies you have flow when the valve is open, determines when a stall will happen with the valve opened at idle (maintenance/inspection mode) and verifies the valve can close. You can also have a vacuum leak in the egr piping.

Many scanners can read egr and cat codes created as the car self checks almost every drive cycle.

If the egr cooler is clogged you will get a code for insufficient flow. If it is stuck open it will code.

This is a recent result from Car Scanner
which does not have bidirectional controls. Both the cat and egr monitor are in a decent range on my v.