Question for the car experts..

[TheSHAD0W]

Catalytic converters will fail if you drive a vehicle for very long with the engine running rich. Bad sensors can cause the engine to run rich, or the baseline for the engine is set for too rich when the computer is running in limp-along mode. The baseline really isn't adjustable in most modern engines, so there really isn't much to do except replace the bad sensors and not drive it much if the check engine light comes on again (always a good idea in any case).

[Eric the Grey]

Catalytic converters will fail if you drive a vehicle for very long with the engine running rich.

Sorry to side-track the thread, but what about running too lean? That's the problem with my truck atm, and while it passed emissions, I'm still working on getting the money together to actually have it fixed and don't want to add another problem to it...



Eric the Grey

[TheSHAD0W]

Shouldn't hurt the catalytic converter, though it can cause other problems with your engine. With a rich condition, the unoxidized hydrocarbons will react and burn inside the catalytic converter, causing it to heat up and its innards to melt.

[Chromatix]

Okay, let's go over the history as I understand it:

Some time ago, the car stopped entirely. The tow driver recommended $shady_place, which replaced the transmission, the ECU and the catalytic converter (and charged $craploads for it). Or at least that's what they *said* they did.

Now the car refuses to drive fast, and the same $shady_place is saying that "sensors have melted" and "the catalytic converter has melted".

The oil hasn't been changed in quite a long time.

I would definitely take it for a second opinion. Go to the place you were using before the tow driver recommended $shady_place. Ask them to change the oil *anyway*, but also mention the history with $shady_place and, if possible, show them the paperwork from that episode. It'll be very interesting to see what they say about it.

[wolfie]

Shady places have a tendency to say they've replaced something (and bill for it) when they haven't.

My first car was about a year old when the van behind me tried to run a red light (came VERY close to being totalled). Due to a miscommunication (car was physically located at the shop the tow truck was based out of, I thought insurance company decided to get the work done there, insurance company thought I decided to get the work done there), it was "repaired" at a place other than where my insurance company normally sends cars.

One reason the shop gave for why it took so long to do the repair was that they had to order a new $interior_trim_panel. After I got the car back, I went to glue down Velcro attachments for the strap to hold my funnel on top of the "lump" on $interior_trim_panel from the left rear tire, and the velcro I had put there previously was still there. Needless to say, I told my insurance company about this evidence that a part the shop told me had been replaced was actually the original one.