A catalytic converter is an important part of recent cars, as it purifies your vehicle’s exhaust fumes and thus suits modern pollution specifications. Nevertheless, it is possible that it may turned out to be clogged or malfunction, in which case a replace or cleaning is necessary. In this article we are going to look at how to clean a catalytic converter on Volkswagen Golf 2? To do this, to begin with, we will show you the situations in which it might be interesting to clean the catalytic converter of your Volkswagen Golf 2, then, how to execute this cleaning to retrieve 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 Volkswagen Golf 2?

In this first part we will show you why it might be beneficial to clean the catalyst of your Volkswagen Golf 2 . In fact for some of you it may seem obvious but the majority of you do not know how it functions and the consequences dirty catalytic converter .

Function and functioning of the catalytic converter of a Volkswagen Golf 2

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The catalytic converter of your Volkswagen Golf 2 has the function to eliminate harmful exhaust fumes related to the operation of your engine unit. In fact, it is one of the main parts that fight against the pollution discharged by your Volkswagen Golf 2. It will convert these harmful gases into water or non-polluting fumes. In order to convert these gases, the catalyst of your Volkswagen Golf 2 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 important to avoid clogging the catalytic converter of your Volkswagen Golf 2. If you are thinking of making enough long travels to heat it up regularly (count more than 10 kilometres for the catalyst to reach the right temperature), this will enable you to optimise the life of this part and maintain best engine unit effectiveness.

Outcomes of a dirty or faulty catalytic converter on Volkswagen Golf 2

We will now discover what can be the consequences of a dirty or failing catalytic converter on Volkswagen Golf 2 . This will enable you to identify the signs of illness that should alert you to a malfunction of your catalytic converter, here is the list of symptoms of a faulty catalytic converter:

  • The catalytic converter of your Volkswagen Golf 2 is clogged: As we said earlier, 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 Volkswagen Golf 2 may come on, do not hesitate to consult our article to identify how to switch it off.
  • A faulty lambda sensor : The catalyst functions 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 problems.
  • A metallic noise coming from the exhaust: In the event 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 Volkswagen Golf 2

Before we accomplish with the step you are almost certainly most interested in, how to clean the catalytic converter of a Volkswagen Golf 2? We will show you why it might be relevant for you to execute 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). In addition to being no longer good for passing the technical control , you might be at risk of over-consumption of fuel . At last, the last interest 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 Volkswagen Golf 2?

Finally here is the step that you are likely most keen on in this guideline, how to clean the catalytic converter of your Volkswagen Golf 2? Know that this process is very basic, and that there are two methods to do it:

  • Scrubbing the catalytic converter from your Volkswagen Golf 2 regularly: This technique is specifically valuable for people who principally do short trips . To do this, nothing could be less difficult, 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 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 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 want more guides on the Volkswagen Golf 2, go to our Volkswagen Golf 2 category.