Dear Scotty,
I have a 2009 Scion TC and the Cadillac converter has gone out. I am dumping fuel into my engine and my gas mileage has gone down. The two options I was given was to replace the Catalytic converter or delete the Catalytic converter, (In the state of alabama, it is not required for you to all have a Catalytic converter on your car).
To replace it, I would just have to buy the part. But to delete it, I would need to either retune or reprogram my cars computer, so it wouldn't give me a check.Engine light for the Catalytic converter.
A. What would be the best way to a cheaply reprogram or retuned my car?
Or
B. Should I just replace a Catalytic converter?
Sincerely,
Caidan Gross
In the state of alabama, it is not required for you to all have a catalytic converter on your car
It's against federal law to not have a catalytic converter, not state law. Alabama simply doesn't have emissions testing.
If your catalytic converter is inefficient, something is causing it to become inefficient, and it's not always the catalytic converter itself. The catalytic converter works based on oxygen sensors. There's one upstream of the catalytic converter and one downstream. The difference between the two determines the converter's efficiency. Something as dumb has a vacuum leak can throw off the oxygen sensors. You could also have an exhaust leak, etc. Unless your engine is an oil burner, one of the above is most likely your problem.
Before taking drastic action why not check to see if the problem is something other than the catalytic converter?
