Interesting. Yes, keep us posted on the future results.

The CAT first started acting up at 103K. I'm curious when the spark plugs were changed on your vehicle. I've never bought into the 90K mile spark plug change interval.

 

Interesting. Yes, keep us posted on the future results.

The CAT first started acting up at 103K. I'm curious when the spark plugs were changed on your vehicle. I've never bought into the 90K mile spark plug change interval.

Just did those right before at 101k. I replaced with Nissan OEM.

 

Nice, definitely keep us updated I'll be following this thread. I'm still on the original cats at 192k, I removed the secondaries and installed an o2 spacer on the sensors around 140k and I think it's come back on maybe 4-5 times since then.

 

Reading over the CAT-related posts on here, I'm wondering if those 100K mile rated spark plugs allow more unburned fuel to flow downstream as they get up over a certain mileage. Overtime, the unburned fuel then makes it way down to the CATs and combusts/burns on them, shortening their lives. I guess a lazy/poorly functioning oxygen sensor can result in the same unburned fuel reaching the CATs situation. Makes me think about preemptive spark plug and upstream oxygen sensor replacement in an attempt to extend the life of the expensive CATs. I replaced my plugs at 60K with the hope of extending the CAT lives.

Anyway, maybe this Cataclean product somehow rejuvenates the CATs. Never heard of this product before. Interested to see the long term effects.

 

Sounds like a regen for gas engines. Wonder if it'll be hard on your sensors?

 

I have a video in the working about this product and my truck th as t I plan to finish filming and edit hopefully soon. Its a test for almost 2 months so I'll keep you guys posted

 

I have known a couple people that swear if you take your cats off, soak them in a vinegar solution for a couple days, then put them back on their good as new. Supposedly cleans the carbon but doesn't hurt the catalyst. Never tried it but I have been tempted.

Hope your cat clean works, but I am skeptical.

 

If our engines didn't have such a nasty reputation of catastrophic failure after rechewing their converter cud, I might consider a product such as this.

Yes, $30 for Cataclean is a bargain compared to $400 for a pair of catalytic converters (rockauto.)
However, $400 for a pair of cats is a bargain compared to the cost of an engine replacement ($1500+.)

Everyone's case is different, but I would be shopping for some cats soon.

 

If our engines didn't have such a nasty reputation of catastrophic failure after rechewing their converter cud, I might consider a product such as this.

Hasn't there only been 1 case of this happening tho?

 

it says" safe for ALL engines" on the bottle.. so whats the chances that if it did ruin your engine they would cover it?


..ZILCH!

 

This website has multiple topics related to engine failures involving failed catalytic converters and replies by those which have incurred a financial loss.

In addition, this same issue is known among those with Nissan Frontiers.

An example
Agrace410: I am having to replace my engine and 2 front catalytic converters on my 2005 frontier crew cab nismo. It has 118,000 miles on it and the front two converters have already been replaced once (by a previous owner). The truck has also been burning enough oil that I have had to put 2 quarts in it every week. When taking things apart to get the engine out and the truck ready for the new engine, I noticed a lot of black (what seemed to be oil) in the Mass Airflow. There was also a lot of grit (maybe carbon buildup) around the 1st and 5th spark plugs (both on passenger side) and there was a lot of oil around the 3rd spark plug (middle one on the passenger side). Right before I took my truck to Nissan the Check Engine Light was flashing randomly (before this, it was just on due to one bad catalytic converter). The PCV Valve has already been replaced. What could be the cause of my problem/problems?

My engine is the VQ40DE. It has 4 cats but we can't seem to figure out why they are going bad. We feel like my oil problem may be from the bad cats causing damage to the engine but what is the actual source of the problem?

 

Zero proof there, just one person asking a question, lmfao.

That's what I'm talking about - Xterra's have developed this relationship of cats failing and immediately trashing the engine, yet there's only been one proven case of this. Even then I'm skeptical, but I accept it. I've searched and Jsexton's case (I think that was the user) is the only one I can find that had direct (supposedly) correlation to a failed cat.

I think they call this fake news? lol...

 

I could show examples and it would be hearsay.
Forum posts become gossip.
Mechanics personal experiences are slander.

Basically, short of a first hand experience, I doubt you would find validity on this matter.

With this being said, I will leave you to your own opinions and with luck you wont suffer from others problems.

If so, there will probably be another which will declare its "Fake News."

VQ40DE Rebuild

Just picked up a 2006 XTerra for $1K with 160K miles Good shape, but not running. Advertised burning oil. After getting it home I got it up and running, replaced 2 coil packs and the PVC, runs very good, but smokes. I drove it 200 miles and has already burned 1 quart of oil. After talking...

www.thenewx.org

 

After years in the auto industry, I can tell you continuing to drive with a failed cat and destroying the engine is not that rare. I have seen it on Hondas, Toyotas, a few Chevys and a lot of Nissans. Xterras, pathfinders, murano, and maximas. It more of when not if. There is a period of valve overlap where the substrate makes it into the cylinders and scores them resulting in loss of compression and excessive oil burn

 

I've ran across several folks looking for a new engine after running with cat codes for an extended period, common trend with them is low compression on the rear cylinders. I dont think that's a coincidence.

 

Definitely not a coincidence, the rear cylinders are most affected by the intake from the exhaust cycle.

 

The new titans actually have the cat integrated into the exhaust manifold. The theory of it - I am told - is that it keeps it really hot hence they last longer. However if they do fail you get to replace the entire exhaust manifold. I looked it up for fun once and its actually lower cost than what they want for OEM xterra cats.

 

In 2005, I purchased a new Nissan Titan.
With just over 60,000 miles on this truck I needed to replace my right catalytic converter.
Within two weeks of this repair, my left catalytic converter failed.
This was of no surprise as a Nisan service advisor informed me this was likely to happen.
Thankfully, these repairs were covered under the emissions warranty as the parts alone (factory oem manifold/converter) was quoted to be over $1000 per side, not including labor.

In the end I was told this was not an odd occurrence as my truck wasn't the first swap that week.

Generally speaking, those I spoke with felt ethanol gas was to blame for the failures.

 

Any updates on this? light still off, engine running fine? I still have original factory CATs and original O2 sensors with 180k fairly hard miles on them and I have never had any issues, no CEL, no pending codes...nothing. Just wondering if this would be something I could use, like once a year, to try to extend the life of the CATs. At this point it's more of a personal challenge to make the X get to 200k miles without ever having had the need to do anything under the hood other than regular maintenance, chain guides at around 110k and spark plugs every 100k. Cheers.

 

Any updates on this? light still off, engine running fine?

Yep, still good a month later. No light. Engine runs just as good as ever. I've put on prob 1k miles since. Seems like it did the trick.

 

I just ran some through my engine last week. Within 50 miles my idle smoothed out and more power. I didn't have any codes, but I have heard of Cata-Clean before with good reviews so I thought I'd give it a shot.

 

Good to hear. I might give it a shot as well. with 180k miles I'm sure my Cats could use some cleaning.

 

RIP, was fun while it lasted

 

RIP, was fun while it lasted
...

Time for more Cataclean?

On the off chance, did you record fuel trims before and after the Cataclean treatment?

Thanks for the update, even if the news ain't great.

 

At this point I’m not sure it wouldn’t be worth just biting the bullet and replacing the cats. Whatever it costs will be cheaper than an engine or a monthly truck payment. Hoping I don’t have to start dealing with this as I just cross the 100k mark myself, but if it does I’ll take a deep breath and remind myself of the above.

 

Just get a aftermarket cat and call it good. I was dreading it initially but it really wasn't that hard - especially if your not running in salt.

Hint - but be carful. go drive your rig around for a while then come home and immediately pull the inner fender and remove the heat shield. I did that and all the bolts on the heat shield except one came out. Thats assuming you want to keep your heat shields. Where thick glove though, and once the bolts are loose just leave them in and wait for everything to cool a few hours - that manifold is like 1000F

 

@AlbatrossCafe

It would nice to know how and why the Cataclean managed to get rid of the DTC for over a month and over 1K miles before the code reappeared. That is a lot of miles covered before the code re-appears.

If I recall correctly, your DTC disappeared immediately after the Cataclean treatment. If that was indeed the case, I am not sure why the code would take so long to reappear if the underlying problem had not gone away.

 

@AlbatrossCafe

It would nice to know how and why the Cataclean managed to get rid of the DTC for over a month and over 1K miles before the code reappeared. That is a lot of miles covered before the code re-appears.

If I recall correctly, your DTC disappeared immediately after the Cataclean treatment. If that was indeed the case, I am not sure why the code would take so long to reappear if the underlying problem had not gone away.

Cat's fail when they get dirty / carboned up typically - not because they wear out.

That's why some last more than others, and why the OEM's put them close to the engine - to hopefully burn off the crud, and why when someone runs with a miss or other small malfunction they ruin their cats pretty quickly.

Anything that will clean the cat will likely help for a while if the cat's are at that marginal state. However since the crud is mostly burnt on carbon - its really hard to get the honeycomb clean. Think running a scalded skillet under the tap - it does only a little. A little might be enough for some time - but it will come back, and likely each time you use it the success will be shorter. Just guessing.

 

Just bought this stuff for my wife's 2011 GMC Acadia throwing an intermittent P0420. Should be good enough to pass smog then we'll see. Thanks for the update.

 

It is very strange like @westslope mentioned that it had an immediate impact when I first put it in, and then stayed away for longer than usual. So it is doing something. Maybe other Xterras could have different results.

 

I asked an employee at Canadian Tire about customer feedback on the Dura Lube Severe Catalytic & Exhaust Treatment product. He replied that many customers liked it. He was quite positive about the product.

My intuition/guess? Over two thirds of customers perceive some kind of benefit and relatively few have destroyed cats doing this. Translation: I have a spray can in the tool room I purchased about a month ago and I am hesitant to use it.

Ideally, I would prefer to do sufficient maintenance and any retrofitting as required to solve problems/improve performance upstream of the cats.

 

Around my 100k service I had some kind of problem on that side on the engine... but I can't remember what. I think I got a misfire code for the sparkplug on the passenger side closest to the rear (whatever number that is). If I remember correctly, it's because I didn't tighten down the coil correctly. I only drove with the problem for not even 1/4 mile before I was able to get tools and tighten it down. That wouldn't be enough to ruin it, would it?

 

No way that would cause a cat to fail.

 

Would love to see some information on how the fuel trims, especially the long-term fuel trims (LTFT) evolve with the state of the cats.

EDIT: see Idn88's post below.

 

Would love to see some information on how the fuel trims, especially the long-term fuel trims (LTFT) evolve with the state of the cats.

Zero affect.

Your engine in controlled by the primary 02 or A/F sensor - and it is pre-cat.

The secondary 02 sensor only tells you whether the cat is working and you are meeting emissions. It has no affect on engine control at all.

Plenty of people are running with no cats with no detrimental affect on fuel trims.