A catalytic converter is an essential part of recent cars, as it purifies your vehicle’s exhaust fumes and thus suits modern pollution standards. Nevertheless, it is possible that it may become clogged or malfunction, in which case a change or cleaning is important. In this article we are going to check out how to clean a catalytic converter on BMW i3? To do this, first of all, we will explain the scenarios in which it may be interesting to clean the catalytic converter of your BMW i3, then, how to conduct this cleaning to retrieve the efficiency of the catalytic converter of your car.
Why would you want to clean up the catalytic converter of your BMW i3?
In this first part we will explain why it may be significant to clean the catalyst of your BMW i3 . In fact for some of you it might seem obvious but most of you do not know how it works and the outcomes dirty catalytic converter .
Role and functioning of the catalytic converter of a BMW i3
.
The catalytic converter of your BMW i3 has the task to get rid of harmful exhaust fumes related to the operation of your engine unit. In fact, it is one of the main components that fight against the pollution discharged by your BMW i3. It will convert these harmful gases into water or nonpolluting fumes. In order to convert these gases, the catalyst of your BMW i3 a mesh of precious metals which, when the gases pass at high temperature, will break them down by chemical reaction . A catalytic converter can only work from 400°, it is therefore necessary to avoid clogging the catalytic converter of your BMW i3. If you are thinking of making adequately 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 optimize the life of this part and maintain ideal engine unit performance.
Consequences of a dirty or faulty catalytic converter on BMW i3
We will now see what can be the outcomes of a dirty or failing catalytic converter on BMW i3 . This will enable you to detect the manifestations that should alert you to a failure of your catalytic converter, here is the list of signs of illness of a faulty catalytic converter:
- The catalytic converter of your BMW i3 is blocked: As we said above, if you make too short trips 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 BMW i3 may come on, do not hesitate to consult our content page to identify how to switch it off.
- A faulty 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 generally also have complications.
- A metallic noise caused by the exhaust: In the event that the catalyst is dead you should hear this noise which means that the ceramic is damaged.
Why you should clean the catalytic converter of your BMW i3
Before we end with the step you are almost certainly most interested in, how to clean the catalytic converter of a BMW i3? We will explain why it may be relevant for you to accomplish this cleaning. In fact, a catalytic converter is a very expensive part (about 500 euros with the installation, the price can vary depending to the engines). In addition to being no longer good for passing the technical control , you may 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 a lot of money.
How do you clean the catalytic converter from its BMW i3?
Finally here is the stage that you are almost certainly most keen on in this article, how to clean the catalytic converter of your BMW i3? Know that this process is very very easy, and that there are two ways to do it:
- Scrubbing the catalytic converter from your BMW i3 regularly: This approach is specifically useful for persons who principally do short trips . To do so, 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 find some in a motor vehicle center for about 20 euros. All you have to do is add it to your fuel directly 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 accomplish this procedure every 15 000km.
.
To find more tips on the BMW i3, take a look at the BMW i3 category.
