can putting lacquer thinner in your gas tank.to clean catalytic converter harm your car.
Hey dripper! Have any of your many questions ever been answered to your satisfaction ? And why the hell would want to put lacquer thinner in your fuel tank in the first place ?
Can it actually clean the catalytic converter after burning? I’m skeptical to say the least.
On a few occasions when diagnosing driveability problem I have removed converters and seen inside them. Those that were restricted didn’t appear stopped up like an air filter but instead the catalyst had melted and and then cooled into a mass. Of course there may be a problem with carbon restricting the catalyst but I have never seen it. Maybe some of the professionals here have seen converters that might be cleaned out. I am curious you guys.
If there was a cleaner for cats, I think we would have seen one here by now. Put it on the doubtful, find a guppy to try it and see what their results are.
Do not waste your time trying to clean a catalytic converter. A solvent will NOT ‘clean’ a dead cat and make it operational. You cannot put a magic pill or solvent in the gas tank, you cannot remove the cat and run a solvent through it. Once a cat is no longer working, the platinum/palladium has to be melted and re formed and conditioned to make it active again. There are only a handful of factories in the world that can do this. One way for a cat to be ruined is for it to be run rich and overheated to the point of melting, like Rod Knox describes. The other is normal aging; the active surface just wears out. After many miles with the normal CO and unburned hydrocarbons running through it, the active surface just plain wears out. Nothing you or I can do will re activate it. Get a new one.
To directly answer your question, can lacquer thinner harm your car? I do not know, but I sure would not put it in my gas tank. I would make a gentlemen’s bet that it would harm some of the o rings and other plastic/rubber parts in the fuel system (like E85). Do not put anything in your gas tank that is not designed to be put in your fuel system.
Here’s a good discussion about both washing a cat with lacquer thinner and adding lacquer thinner to the tank.
http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/2276914/lacquer-thinner-and-catalytic-converter/p1
Lacquer thinner is basically acetone…We went through that one a couple of years ago…
I’ve flagged Dripper as a troll twice.
He never…ever comes back to add to the discussion that he started, and most of the questions are suspiciously simplistic.
I have no problem with someone with no knowledge coming here and posting a question. No question is a dumb ones…unless you ask that same question over and over.
I think Dripper just likes to see himself posted.
His profile shows 78 discussions and 8 comments
I searched…not a one of the 8 comments were about any of his posts. So as I said he never comes back to add to the discussion.
Yosemite
Yosemite – Troll might be a little harsh but at least he is not abusive, just annoying. I just think he needs to get out of his mothers basement and get a life.
From one MSDS for lacquer thinner:
- Methanol {Methyl alcohol; Carbinol; Wood alcohol} 10.0 -30.0 %
- Toluene {Benzene, Methyl-; Toluol} 5.0 -60.0 %
- Acetone 7.0 -13.0 %
- Methyl ethyl ketone {MEK; 2-Butanone} 1.0 -15.0 %
- Ethanol, 2-Butoxy- {Ethylene glycol n-butyl ether, (a glycol ether)} 1.0 -5.0 %
- Acetic acid, Ethyl ester {Ethyl acetate} 0.5 -15.0 %
- Hexane, Light aliphatic naptha {Light aliphatic solvent naphtha (petroleum)} 1.0 -39.0 %
You forgot:
BS content: 100%
Texases, if it were sold as catalytic converter cleaner I’d agree, but it isn’t. It’s sold as lacquer thinner, and it does exactly what its name implies. It makes no claims of cleaning cat converters.
Can’t blame the manufacturer if it’s misused, anymore than I can blame Nesquick because it doesn’t turn my water into wine. It only claims to add a chocolaty flavor to my milk, and it does exactly that… and very well. I’m drinking it as I write this… {
I’m still getting used to texases’ sense of humor…
;-]
@insightfulFrom one MSDS for lacquer thinner:
- Methanol {Methyl alcohol; Carbinol; Wood alcohol} 10.0 -30.0 %
- Toluene {Benzene, Methyl-; Toluol} 5.0 -60.0 %
- Acetone 7.0 -13.0 %
- Methyl ethyl ketone {MEK; 2-Butanone} 1.0 -15.0 %
- Ethanol, 2-Butoxy- {Ethylene glycol n-butyl ether, (a glycol ether)} 1.0 -5.0 %
- Acetic acid, Ethyl ester {Ethyl acetate} 0.5 -15.0 %
- Hexane, Light aliphatic naptha {Light aliphatic solvent naphtha (petroleum)} 1.0 -39.0 %
A lot of that stuff is in pump gasoline also.
Scotty Kilmer says… 
yeah, I don t think he s a troll, just a scottie kilmer fan…
now back to hydrogen generators…
Yes, we had considerable discussion on this. Scotty Kilmer has a Car Talk Type radio show in Houston, and he had a youtube video on using lacquer thinner to clean cats.
At that time, I did a considerable amount of Internet searching. What I found was, everyone who never tried it said it wouldn’t work, and would probably wreck your motor. Except for one group, everyone who tried it said it worked.
The one group that tried it and said it did damage were those with older Hondas.
Okay, so I’m goofy but when all those who say it won’t work are the ones who admit to having never tried it, and all who tried it said it worked, that gives me a real clue on what is happening. And, it does seem to involve hot exhaust fumes, heh, heh.
In my case, which is what prompted the major discussion, I found out there is a programming problem in 2002 Sienna’s which cause the dreaded 0420 failure when it really isn’t bad. Mine failed again yesterday on my monthly trip into Tehuacan through rough terrain, but paved roads.
Scotty also said taking the cat off and tossing it in soapy water also tended to fix it.
I note someone here pointed out that much of the chemistry of lacquer thinner is present in gasoline. This also agrees with those who “theorize” it will either not work or will harm the car, being incorrect.