A catalytic converter is an important part of modern cars, as it purifies your vehicle’s exhaust gases and thus meets modern pollution specifications. Nevertheless, it is possible that it may turned out to be clogged or breakdown, in which case a change or cleaning is important. In this article we are going to look at how to clean a catalytic converter on Nissan Xterra? To do this, to begin with, we will explain the circumstances in which it may be interesting to clean the catalytic converter of your Nissan Xterra, then, how to carry out 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 Nissan Xterra?

In this first part we will explain why it may be important to clean the catalyst of your Nissan Xterra . In fact for some of you it may seem obvious but the majority of you do not understand how it works and the results dirty catalytic converter .

Purpose and functioning of the catalytic converter of a Nissan Xterra

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The catalytic converter of your Nissan Xterra has the objective to get rid of harmful exhaust gases associated with the procedure of your engine. In fact, it is one of the main components that fight against the pollution discharged by your Nissan Xterra. It will transform these harmful gases into water or non-polluting gases. In order to transform these gases, the catalyst of your Nissan Xterra 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 Nissan Xterra. If you are thinking of making sufficiently long trips to heat it up regularly (count more than 10 kilometres for the catalyst to reach the right temperature), this will allow you to optimise the life of this component and maintain ideal engine effectiveness.

Outcomes of a dirty or defective catalytic converter on Nissan Xterra

We will now find out what can be the results of a dirty or failing catalytic converter on Nissan Xterra . This will allow you to identify the symptoms that should alarm you to a breakdown of your catalytic converter, here is the list of symptoms of a defective catalytic converter:

  • The catalytic converter of your Nissan Xterra is blocked: As we explained above, if you make too short travels like 50% of people, it will not have the time to start working and the catalytic converter will clog up with exhaust gases.
  • Switching on the engine light: : Following a clogged catalytic converter, engine light of your Nissan Xterra may come on, do not think twice to seek advice from 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 analyze the air flowing inside it, if it is clogged the sensors will often times as well have complications.
  • A metallic noise caused by the exhaust: In the event that 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 Nissan Xterra

Before we accomplish with the step you are most likely most enthusiastic about, how to clean the catalytic converter of a Nissan Xterra? We will explain why it may be relevant for you to perform this cleaning. In fact, a catalytic converter is a very expensive part (about 500 euros with the set up, the price can differ depending to the engines). Furthermore to being no longer good for passing the technical control , you may 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 regularly will save you quite a lot of money.

How do you clean the catalytic converter from its Nissan Xterra?

Finally here is the step that you are almost certainly most keen on in this guideline, how to clean the catalytic converter of your Nissan Xterra? Know that this procedure is very very easy, and that there are two ways to do it:

  • Scrubbing the catalytic converter from your Nissan Xterra regularly: This approach is especially valuable for people who principally do short trips . To do this, nothing could be easier, 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 locate 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 regularly at high rpm . If you can before and later on do an exhaust gas analysis to verify that you have recovered healthier exhaust fumes after the process. You can perform this process every 15 000km.

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If you need more guides on the Nissan Xterra, go to our Nissan Xterra category.