Laquer thinner to cure p0420

[gluckmysock]

Hi guys. just saw this video on using a gallon of laquer thinner to a half tank of gas to clean your cat converter! Anyone heard of or tried this??

 

[4BT]

not buying it

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

No thanks.

 

[Falcon67]

BS - AFAIK, you can't "clean" a converter.

 

[ddawg16]

Hey....it's on You Tube so it has to be true......................................NOT

I'm assuming your getting the above error code?

How old is your cat? If replaced recently....after market?

As I understand that error code, it means that both O2 sensors are reading pretty much the same reading which means the cat is no longer doing as good a job.

If the cat has been replaced with an aftermarket job....be aware that some of the aftermarket cats are a little 'light' on the platnum content.....they work well enough to get you past one or two smogs....then after that....no good.

 

[Tarheelgarage]

Snake oil in a can; Hail Mary in a can: Don't waste your time or money

 

[Freefall_Doug]

What car is it? If that code is popping up the odds are that the cat is just worn out.

If you car has a tuner following I would find a low mileage factory cat that some one swaped out for a high flow cat, or a test pipe.

I just did that on my Audi A4 because it was throwing that code, cat with 20K miles on it for 75 bucks. Dealer wanted 1k for a new cat, aftermarket cats were rummored to not be good enough to stop future codes.

 

[Cryptic1911]

It won't clean your cat, but it would up your octane rating.. thinner is usually toluene which is 114 octane. You can run it in your car, and in fact it's a basic armoatic hydrocarbon, so its in your gas already, but mixed with all kinds of other stuff. People make octane booster out of it too

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

It won't clean your cat, but it would up your octane rating.. thinner is usually toluene which is 114 octane. You can run it in your car, and in fact it's a basic armoatic hydrocarbon, so its in your gas already, but mixed with all kinds of other stuff. People make octane booster out of it too

I think that's the stuff the Turbo Buick guys run, but isn't it pretty rough on rubber hoses and seals?

 

[BigAl62]

I think that's the stuff the Turbo Buick guys run, but isn't it pretty rough on rubber hoses and seals?

Yes it is, I wouldn't try it, not worth causing more problems.

 

[Stick]

Not to mention that by increasing octane your NOx might go down, but HC's and CO almost certainly will go up as a result. So you'll probably still fail emissions, just for a different reason.

 

[stonewellmark]

ddawg16 is rite about the atermarket cats. but p0420 can also be tripped by a faulty O2 sensor, if its "stuck" or responding slow than it CAN cause this code......could also still be the converter. I just went through this on my wifes' P.O.S. Jetta.

 

[Cryptic1911]

I think that's the stuff the Turbo Buick guys run, but isn't it pretty rough on rubber hoses and seals?

yup, but ethanol aint much better to them though lol

 

[PJL500]

Hi guys. just saw this video on using a gallon of laquer thinner to a half tank of gas to clean your cat converter! Anyone heard of or tried this??

It might be better in this case if responders would give their experience rather than their "feelings"or "opinion"regarding this method. There are many testimonials online confirming the effectiveness of this method and I used it on a Toyota and have not seen the CEL since. It's also hard to find anyone with a complaint about using the method. This guy has about 14,000,000 hits to his online advice and it's probably because he is reliable. 'Not sure what can be said for the negative responders here.

 

[Zeke]

.... thinner is usually toluene which is 114 octane. You can run it in your car, and in fact it's a basic armoatic hydrocarbon, so its in your gas already, but mixed with all kinds of other stuff. People make octane booster out of it too

LT is a combination of several compounds, toluene being one and not necessarily the major component. But it's a good guess that there's quite a bit of it along with acetone and xylene.

Toluene does run the combustion temps up and that's the only reason I can think of why someone would use it in a tank of gas. If one were to do this, it would be best to do it on a long trip using all of the tank. Or half the amount in half a tank to make a shorter trip.

I don't completely discount the benefits of using toluene in your gasoline. However, if you decide to experiment, make sure you have time and miles to run straight gas to purge the system.

Edit:Oh, and research shows that toluene is a portion of your gasoline blend. So all you are doing is altering the prepackaged formula.

Back in the days when I was racing karts in SoCal, we had a guy named Tim Wutz come and speak at our regional meetings to explain the changes in gas formulas, especially the seasonal ones. It seems a more than a few were being DQ'd for fuel violations when all they had done was purchase gas at the corner station. Tim was a chemical engineer at Unocal.

 

[9GUY9]

Also know that all 96 and newer cars have a 8 year 80,000 mi emissions warranty that covers cats.

 

[Rodhotz]

Hell all we used to do was unhook a couple of plug wires and run it down the fwy for a few miles and it would heat the **** out of it and burn all the junk out of it, used to do it a lot when one would not pass smog.