A catalytic converter is an essential part of modern cars, as it purifies your vehicle’s exhaust gases and thus suits modern pollution requirements. Nevertheless, it is possible that it may become clogged or breakdown, in which case a change or cleaning is essential. Today we are going to look at how to clean a catalytic converter on Kia Optima? To achieve this, first of all, we will show you the scenarios in which it might be interesting to clean the catalytic converter of your Kia Optima, then, how to conduct this cleaning to recover the performance of the catalytic converter of your car.
Why would you want to clean up the catalytic converter of your Kia Optima?
In this first part we will describe why it might be necessary to clean the catalyst of your Kia Optima . In actual fact for some of you it may seem logical but most of you do not understand how it works and the consequences dirty catalytic converter .
Role and functioning of the catalytic converter of a Kia Optima
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The catalytic converter of your Kia Optima has the goal to get rid of harmful exhaust gases related to the operation of your engine. In actual fact, it is one of the main parts that fight against the pollution discharged by your Kia Optima. It will transform these harmful gases into water or non-polluting gases. In order to transform these gases, the catalyst of your Kia Optima 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 consequently necessary to avoid clogging the catalytic converter of your Kia Optima. If you are considering making adequately long journeys to heat it up repeatedly (count more than 10 kilometres for the catalyst to reach the right temperature), this will allow you to optimise the life of this part and preserve ideal engine overall performance.
Results of a dirty or defective catalytic converter on Kia Optima
We will now see what can be the consequences of a dirty or failing catalytic converter on Kia Optima . This will allow you to distinguish the symptoms that should inform you to a malfunction of your catalytic converter, here is the list of signs of illness of a defective catalytic converter:
- The catalytic converter of your Kia Optima is clogged: As we said above, if you make too short trips like 50% of people, it will not have the time to start functioning and the catalytic converter will clog up with exhaust gases.
- Switching on the engine light: : Following a clogged catalytic converter, engine light of your Kia Optima may come on, do not hesitate to consult our article 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 often as well have problems.
- A metallic noise coming from the exhaust: In the event that the catalyst is dead you should hear this noise which results in that the ceramic is damaged.
Why you should clean the catalytic converter of your Kia Optima
Before we end with the step you are most likely most enthusiastic about, how to clean the catalytic converter of a Kia Optima? We will describe why it might be relevant for you to perform this cleaning. In actual fact, a catalytic converter is a very expensive part (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 . Finally, 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 Kia Optima?
Finally here is the stage that you are most certainly most interested in in this article content, how to clean the catalytic converter of your Kia Optima? Know that this process is very basic, and that there are two ways to accomplish:
- Scrubbing the catalytic converter from your Kia Optima on a regular basis: This strategy is specifically valuable for persons 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 optimize 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 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 afterwards do an exhaust gas analysis to check that you have recovered healthier exhaust fumes after the process. You can perform this process every 15 000km.
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If you have any additional questions about the Kia Optima, do not hesitate to consult our Kia Optima category.
