A catalytic converter is an important part of recent cars, as it purifies your vehicle’s exhaust fumes and thus meets modern pollution requirements. However, it is possible that it may turned out to be clogged or malfunction, in which case a replace or cleaning is important. Today we are going to check out how to clean a catalytic converter on Toyota 4Runner? To get this done, to begin with, we will show you the scenarios in which it may be interesting to clean the catalytic converter of your Toyota 4Runner, then, how to accomplish 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 Toyota 4Runner?

In this first section we will explain why it may be beneficial to clean the catalyst of your Toyota 4Runner . In actual fact for some of you it might seem logical but most of you do not know how it works and the results dirty catalytic converter .

Purpose and functioning of the catalytic converter of a Toyota 4Runner

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The catalytic converter of your Toyota 4Runner has the goal to get rid of harmful exhaust fumes related to the procedure of your engine unit. In actual fact, it is one of the main components that fight against the pollution discharged by your Toyota 4Runner. It will convert these harmful gases into water or nonpolluting fumes. In order to convert these gases, the catalyst of your Toyota 4Runner 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 Toyota 4Runner. If you are thinking of making sufficiently long travels 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 keep best engine unit overall performance.

Consequences of a dirty or faulty catalytic converter on Toyota 4Runner

We will now see what can be the results of a dirty or failing catalytic converter on Toyota 4Runner . This will allow you to detect the signs of illness that should inform you to a malfunction of your catalytic converter, here is the list of symptoms of a faulty catalytic converter:

  • The catalytic converter of your Toyota 4Runner is clogged: As we said earlier, 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 fumes.
  • Switching on the engine light: : Following a clogged catalytic converter, engine light of your Toyota 4Runner may come on, do not hesitate to seek advice from our content to find out 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 analyze the air flowing inside it, if it is clogged the sensors will quite often also have problems.
  • A metallic noise originating from the exhaust: In case 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 Toyota 4Runner

Before we accomplish with the step you are almost certainly most curious about, how to clean the catalytic converter of a Toyota 4Runner? We will explain why it may be relevant for you to carry out this cleaning. In actual fact, a catalytic converter is a very expensive part (about 500 euros with the installation, the price can fluctuate 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 regularly will save you quite a lot of money.

How do you clean the catalytic converter from its Toyota 4Runner?

Finally here is the step that you are likely most interested in in this content page, how to clean the catalytic converter of your Toyota 4Runner? Know that this process is very basic, and that there are two approaches to accomplish:

  • Scrubbing the catalytic converter from your Toyota 4Runner on a regular basis: This approach is specifically useful for people who mainly do short trips . To do this, nothing could be easier, from time to time, make a long trip (about 30 minutes to improve 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 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 regularly at high rpm . If you can before and afterwards do an exhaust gas analysis to examine that you have recovered healthier exhaust fumes after the process. You can carry out this process every 15 000km.

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In the event that you have any additional questions about the Toyota 4Runner, do not hesitate to consult our Toyota 4Runner category.