A catalytic converter is an essential component of modern cars, as it purifies your vehicle’s exhaust fumes and thus meets modern pollution specifications. However, it is possible that it may turned out to be clogged or breakdown, in which case a change or cleaning is necessary. Today we are going to look at how to clean a catalytic converter on Alfa Romeo 156? To do this, first of all, we will show you the scenarios in which it might be interesting to clean the catalytic converter of your Alfa Romeo 156, then, how to execute this cleaning to recover the effectiveness of the catalytic converter of your car.

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Why would you want to clean up the catalytic converter of your Alfa Romeo 156?

In this first part we will explain why it might be important to clean the catalyst of your Alfa Romeo 156 . Indeed for some of you it may seem logical but the majority of you do not understand how it works and the outcomes dirty catalytic converter .

Function and functioning of the catalytic converter of a Alfa Romeo 156

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The catalytic converter of your Alfa Romeo 156 has the task to get rid of harmful exhaust fumes associated with the operation of your engine unit. Indeed, it is one of the main components that fight against the pollution discharged by your Alfa Romeo 156. It will transform these harmful gases into water or nonpolluting fumes. In order to transform these gases, the catalyst of your Alfa Romeo 156 a mesh of precious metals which, when the gases pass at high temperature, will break them down by chemical reaction . A catalytic converter can just work from 400°, it is consequently necessary to avoid clogging the catalytic converter of your Alfa Romeo 156. If you are considering making sufficiently long journeys to heat it up repeatedly (count more than 10 kilometres for the catalyst to reach the right temperature), this will enable you to optimise the life of this element and keep ideal engine unit efficiency.

Consequences of a dirty or defective catalytic converter on Alfa Romeo 156

We will now see what can be the outcomes of a dirty or failing catalytic converter on Alfa Romeo 156 . This will enable you to distinguish the signs of illness that should inform you to a malfunction of your catalytic converter, here is the list of symptoms of a defective catalytic converter:

  • The catalytic converter of your Alfa Romeo 156 is blocked: As we said earlier, if you make too short journeys like 50% of people, it will not have the time to start working and the catalytic converter will clog up with exhaust fumes.
  • Switching on the engine light: : Following a clogged catalytic converter, engine light of your Alfa Romeo 156 may come on, do not think twice to consult our content page to identify how to switch it off.
  • A defective lambda sensor : The catalyst works in close connection with the lambda sensors downstream and upstream of it, they will review the air flowing inside it, if it is clogged the sensors will more often than not as well have problems.
  • A metallic noise caused by the exhaust: In case the catalyst is dead you should notice this noise which results in that the ceramic is damaged.

Why you should clean the catalytic converter of your Alfa Romeo 156

Before we accomplish with the step you are probably most enthusiastic about, how to clean the catalytic converter of a Alfa Romeo 156? We will explain why it might be relevant for you to execute this cleaning. Indeed, a catalytic converter is a very expensive component (about 500 euros with the installation, the price can differ according to the engines). Furthermore to being no longer good for passing the technical control , you might be at risk of over-consumption of fuel . At last, the last benefit is that cleaning a catalytic converter is not that expensive and doing it repeatedly will save you quite a lot of money.

How do you clean the catalytic converter from its Alfa Romeo 156?

Finally here is the stage that you are most certainly most interested in in this content page, how to clean the catalytic converter of your Alfa Romeo 156? Know that this procedure is very simple, and that there are two methods to accomplish:

  • Scrubbing the catalytic converter from your Alfa Romeo 156 regularly: This technique is specifically beneficial for people who mainly do short trips . To do this, nothing could be less complicated, from time to time, make a long trip (about 30 minutes to enhance the efficiency of the process), thinking of making your engine go up in revs so that the temperature in the catalyst increases and it can be cleaned.
  • To use a catalyst cleaner: You can discover some in a car center for about 20 euros. All you have to do is add it to your fuel straight in your tank with about half a full tank. Afterwards you will have to drive on a long distance for at least 1 hour at mid-range by trying to go repeatedly at high rpm . If you can before and later on do an exhaust gas analysis to examine that you have recovered healthier exhaust fumes after the procedure. You can execute this procedure every 15 000km.

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If you need more tutorials on the Alfa Romeo 156, go to our Alfa Romeo 156 category.