NAC..'00 VW Passat 4Motion...$7200 in repairs!!!

[Tyson Varosyan]

Catalytic converters are a bunch of crap anyway! They do not work! Do what
many people I know do on all their cars. Take a hole saw with a long
extension, take out your cat, and drill the thing out. Or get a "Test pipe"
if there is one made for your car. Ether way, nuke the thing.

A number of newer cars now have multiple O2 sensors, one before the cat and
another after. Unfortunately, our USDM car computers require an O2 input to
run properly, so you cannot do away with the buggers altogether. However,
the O2 sensor that is located after the cat is usually only there to monitor
the cat and has nothing to do with fuel mixture. You can cut it out and buy
a $30 O2 emulator to keep the Computer, the EPA and your Check Engine lights
happy.

Every car that I have seen without it's cat's shows better numbers on the
emission tests than it did with them. Those things are bogus, much like O2
sensors, and only work under certain conditions for certain problems in a
lab. In the real world, when they malfunction, they will cause more harm to
your car and to the environment in a week than the benefits they supposedly
provided over a lifetime. Japan, the most environmentally conscious country
in the world, does not use cats or O2 sensors for just that reason.

Ohh and the partial reason that some cats cost so much is because the
leading tips of the honeycombs are now made of Platinum.

Tyson Varosyan
Technical Manager, Uptime Technical Solutions LLC.
tyson at up-times.com
www.up-times.com
206-715-TECH (8324)

UpTime/OnTime/AnyTime

-----Original Message-----
From: quattro-bounces at audifans.com
[mailto:quattro-bounces at audifans.com]On Behalf Of John Larson
Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 12:38 PM
To: kentmclean at mindspring.com; quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Re: NAC..'00 VW Passat 4Motion...$7200 in repairs!!!


You said:  Here's one on-line (for a 1.8T) for
$210:.............snip....................

Beware of these.  Many states, and probably federal law, virtually prohibit
aftermarket OBD2 cats.  I deal with 2 quality catalytic converter companies
that can't sell OBD 2 cats because they have to go through a testing and
quality control procedure much the same as the auto manufacturers.  MAJOR
dollars!  Marvin Miller, a well known manufacturer of aftermarket cats, has
just recently brought to market a couple of units for some late 90s BMWs,
but doesn't have anything for VAG products yet.  In addition, a generic O2
sensor is apt to fail to meet the needs of the ECU, and may not function
properly when installed in a sytem with 2 sensors.  I'm not saying it won't
work, but it MAY not work with the OBD2 ECU.  You get a code, you can't pass
an emissions test until it's repaired, cleared, and you complete a rather
complex drive cycle, which can take days.  In fact, if the aftermarket or
used converter you buy doesn't work 100% like the OE one, you're likely to
get codes for that, and the same thing applies.  John

_______________________________________________
quattro mailing list
quattro at audifans.com
http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/quattro