Catalytic Converter

[gshanmg]

Sifus,My 530i starts Catalytic Converter indicator has been on since yesterday. Haven;t brought to the mech yet but could this be really serious? Can the air filter cause the problem or may be the O2 sensor kaput?This could be costly otherwise.Please advise.Thanks.

 

[IsaacVky]

Its dirty & stucked and require for service but its bloody expensive as it contains many rare elements so mostly people just change aftermarket one but I heard it will cause engine check light to come on.

 

[feisaldzul]

try searching for used ones...go to exhaust shops like Ah Heng (sunway/usj) and ask him to source for u....should be abt 500 to 800

 

[cadmus]

i had my cats on my e39 523i replaced at Jaffar Exhaust Sunway for RM2K. Jaffar managed to source for a brand new cat for me. Did some minor modifications before fitting it to the car.

 

[chase]

Go try out this place across from Tmn Megah at the traffic lights. Can't remember the name of the shop but the guy is Lai and he does modification below RM2k. Don't go for 'used' cat coverters as the fibre/parts inside will have corroded.

 

[cadmus]

Go try out this place across from Tmn Megah at the traffic lights. Can't remember the name of the shop but the guy is Lai and he does modification below RM2k. Don't go for 'used' cat coverters as the fibre/parts inside will have corroded.

yes, can't agree more with chase. my previous cat was a used one, lasted for a good 9 months only!

 

[gshanmg]

Guys,

I don;t know what happened but yesterday as I was driving back thought of cleaning the air filter to see any difference. Got back home and wondered of ramming the engine a few times to see if there is any difference in the emission smoke. Non spotted just normal. The I realized the light was off. Ignited the engine again and there was no more light. This morning driving to work was OK without the light.
WOnder if any carbon scale contributed to poor reading of the gas emmission that when I rammed the engine several times got cleared and back OK.
Hope all OK from now on.

Cheers anyway for all the suggestions and recommendations.

 

[totoro]

dear gshanmg

dun worry bro. u dun even need the CAT. i removed mine since last year. no problem at all also????

in fact car feels lighter. better acceleration some more. mine 318i e46

 

[gshanmg]

Bro,

Is therer any change in exhaust emission (blacky or smoky) or fuel consumption?

dear gshanmg

dun worry bro. u dun even need the CAT. i removed mine since last year. no problem at all also????

in fact car feels lighter. better acceleration some more. mine 318i e46

 

[totoro]

no bro. no black or white smoke. these signs got more to do with the condition of your engine, not entirely on the exhaust. the smoke is not cause by exhaust but from the burning of petrol from the engine. fuel consumption just a bit improved but rest assured will not go bad.

nothing really happens to my car w/o the CAT. The CAT is actually the hottest part of the exhaust, may cause fire when park on the grass esp dry season. this warning is stated in the car manual, almost all cars i believe.

 

[totoro]

no bro. no black or white smoke. these signs got more to do with the condition of your engine, not entirely on the exhaust. the smoke is not cause by exhaust but from the burning of petrol from the engine. fuel consumption just a bit improved but rest assured will not go bad.

nothing really happens to my car w/o the CAT. The CAT is actually the hottest part of the exhaust, may cause fire when park on the grass esp dry season. this warning is stated in the car manual, almost all cars i believe.:rock:

 

[totoro]

BTW ask any good exhaust shop, they will say no need CAT.

 

[turbology]

If your car is pre-95: (OBD I)
1. CAT can be removed without trigger the engine light on
2. With CAT removed, exhaust can get louder and noisier.

For post-95 : (OBD II)
1. Replace with a new CAT. Used one won't last
2. Removing CAT will make the engine light upset. DownStream O2 won't happy

 

[gshanmg]

Thanks totoro & turbology bros,

Mine is a 2001 model so I reckon removing the CAT may upset the light & O2 sensor.
It's an education session for me on this chapter.
Now that the CAT light is back normal I will leave it as it is. These few days it has been behaving I should say and hope stay that way. Anyway this weekend I might want to check & clean the air filter.

Cheers bros.

 

[turbology]

no problem.
As long as your engine light stay happy, that's good.
Maybe is time for a bottle of Fuel System Cleaner.

 

[ALBundy]

For our Malaysian market, the catalytic converter can be removed irrespective of whether its OBD1 or OBD2. Not the same for the States as the software on the DME is different due to the strict emission control regulations over there.

I had my catalytic converter removed on my OBD2 without any EML light appearing. However, I restored the cat after a couple of days. Removing the cat may make the car feel lighter, but not necessarily faster. The engine will gain HP in exchange of torque. For cars with automatic transmission, removing the cat is not a good idea. In most BMWs, the intake and exhaust system are very well sorted out for an optimum balance of performance and fuel consumption efficiency.

For cars with manual transmission, a sport cat will be optimum

Cheers

 

[astroboy]

But I thought there's a pre-cat and post-cat sensors in our BMW? The pre-cat obviously check the combustion lean/rich mix while the post-cat is to examine the exhaust emission to ensure the cat in in good working order.