Good Lord not another catalytic converter thread!

[Dogwood]

I'll keep it short:

05 LTD V8 110,000 miles. 87 octane. Heavy sulfur upon hard excelleration over the past 5000 miles.

So it's past the warranty. Does this mean that the converters demise is imminent and necessitate replacement? Man that could get real expensive! Live with it and not worry about it? I've done ALL scheduled maintenance and it has been otherwise problem free.

BTW I bought used dealer cert. with 63000 miles 2 years ago.

Have read many other similar threads and am confused as to what action to take regardless.

Thanks for your time and valued input!

 

[nyc4runnin]

I'll keep it short:

05 LTD V8 110,000 miles. 87 octane. Heavy sulfur upon hard excelleration over the past 5000 miles.

So it's past the warranty. Does this mean that the converters demise is imminent and necessitate replacement? Man that could get real expensive! Live with it and not worry about it? I've done ALL scheduled maintenance and it has been otherwise problem free.

BTW I bought used dealer cert. with 63000 miles 2 years ago.

Have read many other similar threads and am confused as to what action to take regardless.

Thanks for your time and valued input!

if the cat was dead, you'll get check engine lights. if u think ur under warranty, just call and ask lol.

an aftermarket cat is like $200

 

[DC runner]

The issue isn't the smell, as the smell of sulphor is one of the side effects of correct cat convertor operation. The chemical reaction that breaks down the harmful chemicals in exhaust.

The TSB was for HOW much of the smell was present. It was the result of converters that chemical makeup was a wee bit off. The Converter's were still doing their "job" of breaking down the harmful pollutants with a chemical reaction inside of the CAT.

So, in my opinion, NO your cat is not fried and YES it sounds like you have one mentioned in the TSB.

The smell doesn't mean they are not working, if that had been the case, they would have been legally required to issue a recall, as Federal law requires the presence of effective catalytic Converters on all modern cars.

The TSB is because they produce more of an unpleasant sulpher smell than we like, but it is not an operational issue for the car.


Edit: Gas type can cause this to fluctuate. Run a couple tanks of higher grade gas and see if it goes away.

 

[Dogwood]

Interesting. I'll try some 92 octane. Would the TSB qualify me for a replacement cat even at 110000 miles?

 

[DC runner]

I believe you are out of range on the TSB. It was mileage and age limited, I don't remember to what.

I wouldn't worry. Unless you really can't stand it, at least you know the Cat is working correctly.

There are several factors to the smell, a biggie being the sulphur content of the gas. You will never get rid of the smell all the way, as if you did, your cat isn't working and with the back window down, you create a nice vacuum pulling it in.


Anyway. I hope that helps. Tl;DR, it is working fine. If the smell does bother you, you can replace it, but I wouldn't worry about it, if it is out of warranty.

 

[ur7x]

if the cat was dead, you'll get check engine lights. if u think ur under warranty, just call and ask lol.

an aftermarket cat is like $200

Really? On the V8 4Runner the Cats are built into the exhaust manifolds. As far as I have been able to find, there are NO aftermarket options... there are also no header (for off road use only) options (Cat delete).