Great video im sure you can find a way to fit the catalytic pice a little better and then make some videos of clogged catalytic vs cat cleaners im really interested to see how good they work but you definitely did great on this video.
@@dudewtf1776 Can't say exactly as we just build em, so I don't always know the application. But usually, it's a few things, more platinum on the substrate means a better reaction and a better burn. But also means more money. Or the addition of another substrate so you have twice or more the burning power. That's what adds cost, more of a costly metal. Or more of the substrate brick itself. (Move to Michigan, we don't even have inspections here lol)
not much to see honestly unless something is wrong. They won't "glow" unless there is way too much fuel in the exhaust. Since what is happening is just a chemical reaction that just generates heat. automotive 3-way converters generally run at between 1200 and 1600 degrees F when they are operating properly, but can work as low as 800 degrees. below that, they don't operate correctly, and above 1800f you start to damage the retainer/holding material honeycomb.
@@chubbysumo2230 You're right. In newer cars with leaner engines can spit out exhaust gases at around 900-1000 degrees C, most likely turbocharged cars, but even a NA engine could do that. The temperatures are only there at max. Load, but constantly driving 100-130kp/h also get's the converter toasty. ^^ The Video showed why the coldstart phase is so important: The converter warms up fast and sooner starts to break down the exhaust gases.
You see flame because the catalyst can't keep up and there isn't enough oxygen stored in the catalyst to do it's job. An EFI system is constantly switching slightly lean/rich to allow the catalyst to store oxygen to allow it to burn HC when present. When exhaust in this video which is super rich (orange flame is indicative) reaches atmosphere it combusts with a flame. You see some flame at the back of the catalyst here because there is some reverse flow every stroke. Excellent video.
In the 70s they had cats and used carburetors with no computer. They did inject air with a pump to help burn the hydrocarbons. 76 Monte Carlo and 80 Citation v6 were examples.
Catalytic converter does not store oxygen. They reduce the activation energy for a redox reaction - reduction / oxidation and that doesn’t mean oxygen. It’s a matter of electron donation and acceptance.
@@michaelchownyk5255 Storing O2 is a function of cats. The primary operating mode is as you say. When the engine goes rich during heavy load, some stored (somehow) O2 is available. Under sustained heavy load, the cat can't keep up no matter what, and you see black exhaust. I'm no chemist, but even some of the ECU manuals explain it this way and any reference to cats I've seen. It's not the precious metals that store the O2. It's the rest of the catalytic converter as designed for use on an engine.
The catalyst starts working long before it starts glowing. The outlet is usually hotter (+50°K) than the inlet on a controlled 3 way catalyst. The maximum temperature we measured was 950°C at a VW Golf 2 GTI (US model). Full throttle at 190 km/h uphill. The normal operating temperature is between 250°C and some 500°C Greetings from the founder of a German catalytic converter factory.
How can one tell the difference between a clogged cat and one that lost active material? Is there such a thing as cleaning the cat (whatever method - fuel additives, washing after removal etc.) or is it snake oil? Thanks.
@@cristianstoica4544 A catalyst does not clogg if it's installed at the right place. This means: No fiber filled silencers before the catalyst. If it cloggs nevertheless it means that the substrate is molten (which happens at above 1200°C) and the catalyst is irreparably destroyed. If there should be fibres on the inlet (for whatever reason), just use compressed air to blow it out gently, but avoid inhaling anything (wear a good mask - FFP2 or better and protect your eyes). If the active coating has left the game, the catalyst cannot get reactivated without an new washcoat and new noble metals (Platin, Rhodium, Palladium). All the "catalyst cleaners" are snake oils and may cause more damage than they would help. Water does not help anything but might cause damage to the converter: If it sucks into the support mat, blowing it into pieces once it gets hot again.
From a welder fabricator that does everything from building my own computers, to doing all the work on my own car it's nothing short of epic and exhilarating seeing the freedom being able to make all your own parts gives you. Seeing your videos motivates me to follow my dream, building custom parts/3-D printing/fabrication. Thanks for sharing your videos they are always epic. Especially enjoy the slowmos.
What I found most interesting was the difference that was quickly apparent between the inlet and outlet sides of the glass! The inner surface of the inlet side very quickly became dark and cloudy, while the outlet side after the honeycomb stayed clear and transparent - a perfect visual confirmation that it does what it is intended to! Great video, thank you!
Sort of, anything blocking/restricting flow of exhaust will get sooty.. I done enough custom exhaust work on my own cars to tell you that.. see y pipes with door build up after the cat.
It does something but it's just breaking down the ash and gasses into another form NOT removing them! Burns cleaner but the particles are just smaller now. You can stand next to a running car and not smell anything but still start coughing. We're still being affected the same way.
@@pilotavery Sure but no one wants to address the 500 lb gorilla in the room which is the fact that upper respiratory diseases are ten times more prevalent than they were 30 years ago. Everything has a down side.
@@tylerwhite3248 Really, cool to know thank you. Yes i love my GP, & my 3.8s (had a bonneville before, its' 3.8 is why i stuck with the line..). I might research it more now that u mentioned it. Purrs like a kitten and the 02s and mufflers are brand new, but I'm not doing the cat just for the heck of it, I've analyzed it over and over with my OBD and it's fine. I have begun to notice that others with GPs tend to I have mufflery sounding problems too, I assumed it's something with the dual exhaust but I'll look into 3.8 emissions issues
@@iditarod4081 The muffler issue is probably the resonator. They always rot out. I just cut them out and replace with a glass pack. Runs just as quiet. Not sure of emissions, as we don't have to deal with that here
Take a scrap piece of leftover catalytic material and hit it with a propane torch until it is red hot. Cut off the flame and then quickly expose the red-hot area to a gas stream and you will see it glow red hot again with NO open flame. Cody’s lab did a video on catalytic material some time ago. Worth the watch. Thank you for the very cool video and please keep up the great work.
Funny you say that, I had a shot that I was supposed to use in this episode but I ran behind schedule. I take a piece of catalytic light It up get it warm and I not only hit it with propane gas, I hit it with a scary amount of propane gas...lol. it look like the damn sun !!!
Seriously as a mechanical student you are teaching better than the University. I never understand the work of the cataliseur better like this wonderful video.
You can also just heat the honeycomb with a torch to get it warm and then put the torch out. Then just blow the gas from the unlit torch through it and it will burn without a flame and get the cat material orange hot. I always found it fascinating to watch something burn with no flame because it's just so counter-intuitive.
When I was a younger I LOVED blown up diagrams, cross sections, etc and had a bunch of picture books explaining/showing how things worked or what they looked like. Your see-through series takes me back to that same curiosity and wonder.
I have been studying jet propulsion, engineering, rocket propulsion and Aerospace since I was 7, I used to have exploded diagrams all over my walls in my room. I know exactly what you're talkin about!!
I always thought the lean mixture will heat it up and burn the carbon off cleaning it but didnt think rich mixture would actually burn the cat by overheating. I was so sure rich mixture would foul it like a plug :D
Cat converters are large honeycombs of platinum, palladium and rhodium, when the toxic unburnt gasses like carbon monoxide pass over them, they get pulled onto the surface of the metal, the high concentration of the gasses on the surface forces them to react and turn into non toxic gasses like co2 and oxygen Also the reason leaded fules for banned, is the lead atoms would permanently bond to the metals in the converter, getting rid of their ability to catylyse these reactions, destroying the converter
So that's why in Blues Brothers Elwood says about the Bluesmobile, "It's a model made before catalytic converters so it runs good on regular gas." Meaning, regular leaded gas. Nice!
Actually, exhaust catalysts are large honeycombs of ceramic material with traces of platinum, palladium and rhodium. The reaction is intended to produce CO2, water and N2; oxygen is used up in that process. Lead poisons the catalyst, and makes it so it doesn't work properly. Lead also poisons people. Banning tetra-ethyl-lead use in fuel was a huge benefit to people, not just catalysts.
@@willmcgo8288 Sure but it made the cars run worse without the leaded fuel because the TEL also acted as a lubricant for some engine parts. So older cars either need lubricants added to the no-ethanol high octane fuels they were designed to run, or you need a modern (post unleaded era) engine in your old car.
This is absolutely the most under-rated channel on TH-cam. The work put in and production quality is extremely great, and why this is not on the discovery channel eludes me.
@@bernatzel17 yep. My old 66 Plymouth was sitting in a field for a cpl of years fired it up backfired because the gas was old and plugged one of the jets.. As it back fired shot flames out. Lit under the car on fire. Drove it to a where e dirt was. Grabbed a hose to put the field out. Luckily it was not a really dry field.
This was fun to watch. My father was the lead tech in R&D at Briggs and Stratton 22 years ago and that was back when they were testing putting catalytic converters on for california. He also did high speed photography for them and I got to watch the films of some of their tests trying to develop the converter. Fun stuff so thanks for this one :)
This is a "burning up a catalyst" demonstration - not a catalytic converter demonstration. Essentially this demonstration combusted fuel resulting in temperatures that destroyed the catalyst. Typically a catalytic converter will degrade at temperatures above 1200F -.
Yeah, rapid cooling is real nasty to most types of glass. Even Pyrex is not exempt. I recently exploded a much-less-than-hot glass mug just with insanely cold ground water, during the 2021 deep freeze. (That one was definitely not Pyrex.)
The flames at 5:52 happen because that tiny piece of catalyst was overwhelmed (can be seen because the whole piece got red hot), leading to flammable gases exiting the exhaust.
Thank you. I invented this in 1961. My grandfather owned a muffler manufacturing company. At 16, I was put to work as a machinist apprentice in the experimental shop. We had a big Chevy engine on rails, driving a generator for load. I was amazed to see the glowing pipes on the exhaust manifold.I knew enough chemistry that I thought hydrogen peroxide would convert carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. So, how do you make hydrogen peroxide? High heat, water, and a platinum catalyst. We had all of that, except the platinum. My father was Sales Vice-President, and he dismissed my “invention” as kid’s fantasy. I think the first cats came out in 1974. BTW: today, I think it is worth investigating the enzymes the bombardier beetle uses to produce hydrogen peroxide at ambient temperature..
That's pretty cool, you invented the catalytic converter? That's interesting I'm not familiar with the enzyme from that beetle, but I will do some research. in my opinion there has to be some way to recover all of that wasted energy going out of the tailpipe. It just seems like such a waste.
@@him_899 okay fool, the next time im held at knifepoint and told to explain operations of a catalytic converter, ill blame you for me getting stabbed. people like you are why that first dude was comfortable going around threatening people and why i got stabbed. "its just useless info." tell that to the scars on my kidney and abdomen.
The high speed actually did reveal something neat on the small converter test. As the piston was going through its stages, you can see the flames/smoke would get pulled back into the exhaust very slightly. Than get blown away again. Very cool!
I made of one of the first Cats for GM when I was younger, it was sent to Arvin Bosal in I think Belgium for testing. We then made all the lightweight stainles manifold and heat shields for a few years at prototype stage. Great experiment to see how they work. I also noticed that the internals have changed removing the rolled fine wire mesh and the asbestos paper and replacing it with something which looks much safer. At the time many cars adopted the heat shields with two pieces of aluminised steel with a layer of asbestos paper between.
In your first attempt converter started to glow much faster even having higher mass and being attachet to big conductive piece of metal because the seals at front part of your construction ruined, letting air in. In your second attempt with the glass tube you can see that ceramics of converter glows better on the backside because exhaust pipe after converter is short and lets the air go inside. Actually converter doesn't "like" (starts to glow better with) the richer air-fuel mixture because there's no oxigen to burn hydrocarbons. In your experiment oxigen was coming from the ambient, that's the reason of glowing better. If you run rich with long pipes and good seals, you'll see that temperature drops down in comparison with stoichiometric ratio. But if you run so rich, that there will be missfires or switch the ignition off still adding fuel you can even melt the ceramics. So my proposition for a new see-through converter video is to make longer exhaust pipe, better seals and install a valve before converter for controllable adding of air into exhaust. Then run rich and add air. If it will not melt down, then make revs as high as possible, and switch ignition off. All the fuel and air will reach converter and mostly burn in there. And also it would be better to load the engine.
Diesel converters use a slightly different process to trap and break down NO2 gases. The SCR system uses a base metal catalyst to save money, and a reagent containing ammonia (DEF) to facilitate the reaction.
@@WarpedYT don't recommend doing it in your shed. My partner said her car was running different soot at the back of her car told her to give it a bit of a rev, it shot white smoke out, it felt like my lungs where being scrubbed with a wire brush. After I got my breath back and wiped the tears from my eyes I said to her "it's okay it's just the the stupid pdf burning off"
@@remyche8768 I would disagree. carbon build up is probably from burning oil and that would explain the white smoke. Also you dont get any visible vapor while in regen. also only diesels have DPF. And if a DPF was dumping alot of smoke in to the air it's not doing its job. something is wrong with it.
This demo of yours is the most straight forward NOT LOADED with Egomaniacal BS!!! The setup with the motor's exhaust, the two different cats, were both as clear as day. This demo should be shown in automotive theory classes everywhere.
@@3lp4u my exact thoughts when my friend was listing his cats as second hand and selling for huge bucks. I'm like how does it look? Fluffy? Short haired? Turns out he wants to swap his performance catalytic converter to stock for his honda.
I love how you can see the exhaust pulses move the flame around in the slow-mo shots. You can clearly see what I believe are moments of valve overlap during the intake stroke, where it's pulling the burning air/fuel mixture back into the exhaust as the two valves are open at the same time, and what appears to be a short outward flowing pulse during what I believe is the compression stroke. Most Briggs/Tecumseh/other similar small engines that I've encountered have a small bump on the back of the exhaust lobe on the camshaft to relieve some compression to make them easier for the consumer to recoil start. A common (and basically free) modification for these small engines is to grind that compression relief bump off the back of the exhaust lobe so you get full compression instead of pushing some of the mixture out the exhaust. Makes it a bit harder to start but it's a "racer" trick from older go-karting days.
WHAAT ? is that why ? I remember last year had to clean up valves on a generator. I was very confused why the semi open positions... Really had my head messed up.... These new cheap gens have the cam vent SO close to the intake it often pulls oil in. Which in turn oils the air filter , and if the customer never checks the filter,, totally fks everything. Have you really cut that part off the cam as you say and ran it for a bit ? I imagine there are other engineering compromises manufactures might lax on when they can afford lower compression
@@mrsc1914 I can't speak for your engine specifically, but on an old Techumseh 8HP(from a snowblower) I had that was modified for racing use the small "relief lobe" on the exhaust side of the cam that was used to make it easier to start was ground off to allow for increased compression. it also got stronger valve springs to handle higher RPM and a bunch of other race oriented mods. The last newer generation single cylinder engine I had apart used a plastic camshaft... Pretty sure it was a briggs OHV engine from a generator that got run without oil. I couldn't believe the cam was plastic, gear and all, injection molded. insane. They don't make them like they used to.
@@mrsc1914 The crankcase vent is meant to get sucked into the intake. Burning off blowby is way better at reducing smog than just venting it. And no, no generator I've ever had has plugged the air filter before debris does. It makes the filter wet if there's lots of blowby, but there's still plenty of airflow. It also keeps crap out of the engine internals. Don't lop things off thinking you know more than the manufacturer- because you don't.
This is awesome! Very cool, seeing the difference in the exhaust before vs after the catalytic converter is pretty damn impressive. Also the honeycomb structure is great to watch when it glows. Thank you!
I found that very interesting as well, you can clearly see that there's no flame on one side of the catalytic oh, that really explains visually how much more fuel is being burned in the catalytic that was not burned by the engine
8:10 you don't need to worry about that because that video is just perfect! of course it is not a GM or Ford factory, it's a "garage", but the very idea of it, of showing how this thing works is just sensational! I loved it, for me, this video was perfect.. very teaching, very useful, thanks a lot for making it! you're the guy!
Hey Matt, a couple of future projects that I think would be really killer would be see-through drivetrain components, like automatic transmissions, torque converters, and maybe even a see-through rear end. Great video as always!
Tip: Catalytic converters "clean" themselves at high temperatures, gives you a reason to rev your car every once in a while ;) extends the lifespan of the converter and it's fun too, especially if you do a lot of "slow" city driving let her rip every now and then on the highway to clean out that hard working platinum in there
@@mitchellmitchell6938 Well, funnily enough, if your car is more than about 15 years old your catalytic converter is likely not working anymore anyway: Massive stresses of very high heat and vibration will eventually take their toll on it. So in that sense you might as well not even have one on your vehicle! In my state they got rid of emissions testing years and years ago so no one would even notice if I took mine off.
Its a wonderful scientific lab educating the masses of the world without spending millions of dollars. Salute Sir! Haile Okbe, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I'm very mechanically minded have been a mechanic. Built an high performance rx-3 station wagon way back in the day (80ish) so I was familiar with the sunrise catalytic converter. Still was VERY impressed with the experiment. It just was so interesting to actually see it working so well.
CO + NO2 + CH3 --Pt-> CO2 + N2 + H20. The "--Pt->" in this case means that the chemical reaction is being carried out using a catalyst, in this case Platinum.
Quick tip next time you do a see through anything that involves hot like this I recommend you use Quartz glass since it’s designed to be used with heat
At first I thought the video was going to be lame but your camera at high frames made it worth watching . I have had 2 cars out of the many I have had that I gutted out the catalytic converter . Awesome video my friend .
what about connect the see thrugh cat. converter to diesel engine? or have a try to build a gasoline fired furnace with see thrugh cat. converter But not flame inside?
Very interesting! I really like the videos with the see-through engine parts, they give a clear picture of what's happening inside of an engine. Maybe it would be interesting to see a slow mo of a camshaft when the engine is revving to it's max rpm. Especially if the springs aren't good enough, to see a floating valve.
Would be interesting to see what injecting air into the exhaust ahead of the cat to provide extra oxygen like the car does with the air pump. Bet it would have gotten much hotter much quicker.
The fact that when he enriches the mixture, you see the back end of the catalyst glow red hot so soon compare to the outer edges of the catalyst shows that catalytic converters, designed with airflow/efficiency also kept in mind, din't restrict flow NEARLY as much as people think they do.
They do restrict the air significantly, but there are expensive and larger units for racing and performance needs. If the combustion chamber was designed properly, and the high load fuel trim wasn't so darn high, we wouldn't need them at all.
@@Baigle1 so you think engine engineers are designing combustion chambers wrong or do you think the EPA is putting restrictions on NOX exiting the tail pipe? Use your brain a little
@@Baigle1 No, we very much would need them. I'd rather not be huffing nox and unburned fuel vapors all day because some gearhead thinks he knows better than basic biology.
Thanks to the YT "bot" this popped up today. Years ago I was driving home from work in my '89 Pontiac Grand Prix (rare 5-speed SE). Suddenly massive misfire! Got home and the cat was RED HOT! A little diagnostic work and I found a dead coil. Or so I thought at first. Actually the ignition module that fires that coil failed. 6-cyl "waste spark" setup. Three coils each firing two cylinders simultaneously. Each cylinder fires twice per cycle. Once at normal ignition point and again on the exhaust stroke. Emissions related. So when it went TU my 6-cylinder became a 4-cylinder dumping 1/3 of its fuel into the cat! Good thing I wasn't far from home when it failed. Next day after an all night cooldown I took it to the Stealership two miles away (which I rarely do) and told them what the problem was. They replaced the module (all three coils were good) and told me the cat "probably" was OK. I guess it was because it lasted 140,000 miles before I sold the car!
I enjoyed your work! I was A tech for about 15 years. So I can relate to your interest I found it interesting the amount of restriction it produced as it raised in temp. Nice work good stuff and thanks for the entertainment
@Jimmy S this happened to me. my vehicle was misfiring due to a design flaw in the ECU. misfiring busted up the 1st cat. when i got the ECU fixed the remaining pieces of the 1st cat jammed up inside the 2nd cat and reduced the exhaust flow to the point that my vehicle could not properly accelerate.
Just liek the see through engine videos, it's so interesting to see mechanical things working in real life rather than a diagram. Thanks for the video!
Oh man, not too many videos makes me feel good to have watched it.....thank you, thank you, thank you.....now my engine research and new design is better comprehended and more complete.
Fascinating vifeo! The reversion was very interesting. Would love to see you run an anti-reversion chamber in the same test and see if you can catch the exhaust slugs getting caught.
It's not supposed to be glowing underneath your car. If you ever see the case of a converter glowing hot. You have a problem! It means that it's falling apart on the inside and clogging itself up or the engine has been running too rich or burning oil for an extended period.
Exactly. Misfires and rich conditions rapidly deteriorate the catalyst and in come cases the valve overlap allows the engine to pull the abrasive particles from the exhaust into the cylinder and ruins the rings and cylinder walls and the engine consumes oil and runs poorer.
@@Vile-Flesh yeah I could see that. I have never really thought about it or heard it mentioned before. But your right it could happen. What especially comes to mind is some engines that have pre cats, or "mini cats". They are only a foot or less away from the cylinder head. So I'm sure those would be very likely to suck those loose particles backwards. Even in this video you can see how the pressures of the exhaust flow backwards. It's almost like the engine is taking breathes. This process is used in 2 stroke engine exhausts. Where the exhaust systems shape and size is tuned specifically to help those exhaust pulses to refill the cylinder under back pressure. Also even 4 stroke engines need some type of exhaust to be able to run well. Or even run at all. Because of the same principals. Recently the exhaust fell off my old car with a 318. So the exhaust ended midway under the car. Only a few inches after the converter. No muffler, no tail pipe. The engine gained a slight bit of power. But the fuel mileage dropped ALOT. I presume this was because of loss of gasses that would linger of reburn.
@@Vile-Flesh Valve overlap doesn't happen in a correctly timed and tuned engine. And the "abrasive particles" don't add anything to wear, the excessive temperatures deforming components like valve steats and melting pistons does.
Catalytic converters are nice... They stop cars from smelling like shit while only sapping like 20hp. I can live with that since I like to daily drive. There is really no reason to take cats off anymore. Diesel dpf and egr is another story unfortunately.
Actually newer cars models (2000 and more) don't loose power with a cat. It's design to save the maximum of power while being eco-friendly. The only way you will increase performance by removing the cat is weight reduction. But here I don't talk about the style. If you want to be loud, you know what you need to do
When I get behind an older car from the 70's, it stinks, and to imagine we never noticed the smell in the 70's because they all smelled that way, and we didn't know any different. At least most of us didn't, thank God some of us figured out that maybe we shouldn't be breathing in lead.
@@ccox7198 I mean if you wanna go on about losing power, the typical ICE only turns around 18% to 20% of the energy contained in the fuel to into actual power "at the crank." Even if you were losing 20hp (not true with most modern cars) I doubt it would be missed among average drivers. Cars on average just have so much more power than they did. Little economy cars that used to come with 90 hp now have 150+ hp. Hell, most of these midsized sedans are nearing 300 now.
Very true. It definitely over heated from running straight rich. The mixture would be alternating rich lean about 60+ times a second in a fuel injected engine.
I can’t even explain how much this made me happy cuz I thought what the chemical was in the cat but I never seen it in action. Thanks man that’s was a new experience and guys tune in and not onlyfans 🙏🏽
I once owned a car that leaked oil on the catalytic converter. Mechanic said that I was "driving a bomb" and he shouldn't "let me drive this away". Now I see why, holy crap does that sucker get hot. It's pretty impressive that it maintains its integrity under such conditions.
it gets hot *by burning off hydrocarbons,* not "it burns off hydrocarbons by getting hot" that's why its called "burn" cuz it burns stuff, and heats up cuz burning stuff makes heat. aka, the catalytic converter burns un-burnt fuel that made it out of the engine, and by doing so heats up because burning the fuel makes heat, not the other way around. in the beginning it heats up cuz the exhaust is simply hot to begin with, after all, it was on fire a moment earlier. but once it heats up, it oxidizes excess fuel and makes its own heat.
@@Metal_Master_YT Catalytic converter by definition means that it helps to change things on a chemical level. Catalytic converters were invented to change nitric oxide that are created in the combustion chamber to nitrogen and oxygen. It also takes hydrocarbons and oxygen and makes carbon dioxide and water H2O. Water cools a hot environment down.
@@Metal_Master_YT lf a car is running lean which means there's more oxygen to fuel in the combustion chamber this will cook the catalytic converters that's why all cars are set up to run rich which means there's more fuel to oxygen that gets burnt to cool the catalytic converter.
Hey, enjoy your vids! I had an idea on my head this am and your channel came to mind. Using the phantom to show a fuel injector working at varying duty cycles. I would find it interesting to see if you could pick up the frequency in the spray pattern. It would also be neat to simulate engine rpm so the duration of injector was also indicated. Thanks for the great videos man, making youtube a better place!
6:00 There is no hydrocarbons being burned inside the catalyst, because both catalyst and burning need oxygen. And you don't have enough oxygen for catalytic converter to work and for unburned fuel to burn while you have constantly rich mixture. The "fireball" can only be seeing at the exhaust end where hydrocarbons get oxygen to ignite. You didn't show the functioning catalyst - it can not function without additional oxygen that is left in the exhaust by the engine control system using slightly lean mixture. Exhaust gas analyzer would be a great help to educate people. 7:45 The catalytic converter might be looking like "perfectly new", but it still might be out of working order, because it is not the ceramic cells that convert CO and HC into CO2, but catalytic materials like platinum, rhodium, titanium oxides etc. are long gone from the surface of the ceramic honeycomb due to the high temperature of the converter. Man, if you make this kind of educating videos, you have to know, how things work first of all. Second, you could use a gas analyzer and thermometer to measure temperature of the exhaust and for example show, how fast it starts working after a cold start and what kind of temperature it keeps during normal engine work etc. Otherwise great videos you've got, thanks!
Another great test partner. What makes these test great is that if it weren't for you doing it we'd never know what would look like. Great and thanks for your test.
Check this out th-cam.com/video/Jj-ufVglr6M/w-d-xo.html a very informative and entertaining video on the catalytic converter.
i feel like you should wear a gas mask sometimes
You make some incredibly interesting videos man!
Hi makes a transparent Supercharger
Bhow much for scrap metal
Great video im sure you can find a way to fit the catalytic pice a little better and then make some videos of clogged catalytic vs cat cleaners im really interested to see how good they work but you definitely did great on this video.
As an engineer who works for a company that designs and manufacturers Catalytic converters, this is awesome!!!! I sent it to my whole team!
Thank you so much ! I've been waiting for somebody who works in that industry to comment.
Can you tell me why a California Cat Converter is $1200 vs an out of California cat converter?
@@dudewtf1776 Can't say exactly as we just build em, so I don't always know the application. But usually, it's a few things, more platinum on the substrate means a better reaction and a better burn. But also means more money. Or the addition of another substrate so you have twice or more the burning power. That's what adds cost, more of a costly metal. Or more of the substrate brick itself. (Move to Michigan, we don't even have inspections here lol)
@@dudewtf1776 How about a starter 2 br condo is $800k?
Ian, i work for Corning Incorporated the company that invented it and sold the first one to GM in the 70s. i work in the plant where it all started
Amazing job! I've always wanted to see a catalytic converter while it's functioning! Looking forward to the next video.
Project Farm You guys should definitely do a collaboration video
Yes! Collab!
not much to see honestly unless something is wrong. They won't "glow" unless there is way too much fuel in the exhaust. Since what is happening is just a chemical reaction that just generates heat. automotive 3-way converters generally run at between 1200 and 1600 degrees F when they are operating properly, but can work as low as 800 degrees. below that, they don't operate correctly, and above 1800f you start to damage the retainer/holding material honeycomb.
@@chubbysumo2230 You're right.
In newer cars with leaner engines can spit out exhaust gases at around 900-1000 degrees C, most likely turbocharged cars, but even a NA engine could do that.
The temperatures are only there at max. Load, but constantly driving 100-130kp/h also get's the converter toasty. ^^
The Video showed why the coldstart phase is so important: The converter warms up fast and sooner starts to break down the exhaust gases.
Thank you!! That last video you posted, it was just hilarious!!
You see flame because the catalyst can't keep up and there isn't enough oxygen stored in the catalyst to do it's job. An EFI system is constantly switching slightly lean/rich to allow the catalyst to store oxygen to allow it to burn HC when present. When exhaust in this video which is super rich (orange flame is indicative) reaches atmosphere it combusts with a flame. You see some flame at the back of the catalyst here because there is some reverse flow every stroke. Excellent video.
In the 70s they had cats and used carburetors with no computer. They did inject air with a pump to help burn the hydrocarbons. 76 Monte Carlo and 80 Citation v6 were examples.
Catalytic converter does not store oxygen. They reduce the activation energy for a redox reaction - reduction / oxidation and that doesn’t mean oxygen. It’s a matter of electron donation and acceptance.
@@michaelchownyk5255 Storing O2 is a function of cats. The primary operating mode is as you say. When the engine goes rich during heavy load, some stored (somehow) O2 is available. Under sustained heavy load, the cat can't keep up no matter what, and you see black exhaust. I'm no chemist, but even some of the ECU manuals explain it this way and any reference to cats I've seen. It's not the precious metals that store the O2. It's the rest of the catalytic converter as designed for use on an engine.
The catalyst starts working long before it starts glowing.
The outlet is usually hotter (+50°K) than the inlet on a controlled 3 way catalyst.
The maximum temperature we measured was 950°C at a VW Golf 2 GTI (US model). Full throttle at 190 km/h uphill.
The normal operating temperature is between 250°C and some 500°C
Greetings from the founder of a German catalytic converter factory.
Holy cat, 950°C!
that's a pretty incredible temperature tolerance!
@@Werepie I'm not sure its meant to tolerate that high a temperature to be honest
How can one tell the difference between a clogged cat and one that lost active material? Is there such a thing as cleaning the cat (whatever method - fuel additives, washing after removal etc.) or is it snake oil? Thanks.
@@cristianstoica4544 A catalyst does not clogg if it's installed at the right place. This means: No fiber filled silencers before the catalyst.
If it cloggs nevertheless it means that the substrate is molten (which happens at above 1200°C) and the catalyst is irreparably destroyed.
If there should be fibres on the inlet (for whatever reason), just use compressed air to blow it out gently, but avoid inhaling anything (wear a good mask - FFP2 or better and protect your eyes).
If the active coating has left the game, the catalyst cannot get reactivated without an new washcoat and new noble metals (Platin, Rhodium, Palladium). All the "catalyst cleaners" are snake oils and may cause more damage than they would help.
Water does not help anything but might cause damage to the converter: If it sucks into the support mat, blowing it into pieces once it gets hot again.
COOL story bro.
From a welder fabricator that does everything from building my own computers, to doing all the work on my own car it's nothing short of epic and exhilarating seeing the freedom being able to make all your own parts gives you. Seeing your videos motivates me to follow my dream, building custom parts/3-D printing/fabrication. Thanks for sharing your videos they are always epic. Especially enjoy the slowmos.
same here. i love manufacturing!
hope you can make it a reality brother
@@WhuDhat You as well, follow your dreams, and remember to help our brothers and sisters on the way.🙏🤝
What I found most interesting was the difference that was quickly apparent between the inlet and outlet sides of the glass! The inner surface of the inlet side very quickly became dark and cloudy, while the outlet side after the honeycomb stayed clear and transparent - a perfect visual confirmation that it does what it is intended to! Great video, thank you!
Sort of, anything blocking/restricting flow of exhaust will get sooty.. I done enough custom exhaust work on my own cars to tell you that.. see y pipes with door build up after the cat.
It's actually the opposite - the inlet side was clear while the outer part was dark.
It does something but it's just breaking down the ash and gasses into another form NOT removing them! Burns cleaner but the particles are just smaller now. You can stand next to a running car and not smell anything but still start coughing. We're still being affected the same way.
@@enigmareach1129 it's still better to be breathing mostly carbon dioxide instead of breathing in nitrous oxide and other worse stuff
@@pilotavery Sure but no one wants to address the 500 lb gorilla in the room which is the fact that upper respiratory diseases are ten times more prevalent than they were 30 years ago. Everything has a down side.
Only mower in Illinois that would pass emissions.
Lol !!! Great point, that's awesome
I give up. I'm titling out-of-state. Three failures perfectly running Grand Prix. Plus, the privilege of paying more!
@@iditarod4081 that's why the 3.8 was discontinued. One of the most reliable engines ever built but couldn't pass emissions.
@@tylerwhite3248 Really, cool to know thank you. Yes i love my GP, & my 3.8s (had a bonneville before, its' 3.8 is why i stuck with the line..). I might research it more now that u mentioned it. Purrs like a kitten and the 02s and mufflers are brand new, but I'm not doing the cat just for the heck of it, I've analyzed it over and over with my OBD and it's fine. I have begun to notice that others with GPs tend to I have mufflery sounding problems too, I assumed it's something with the dual exhaust but I'll look into 3.8 emissions issues
@@iditarod4081 The muffler issue is probably the resonator. They always rot out. I just cut them out and replace with a glass pack. Runs just as quiet. Not sure of emissions, as we don't have to deal with that here
Take a scrap piece of leftover catalytic material and hit it with a propane torch until it is red hot. Cut off the flame and then quickly expose the red-hot area to a gas stream and you will see it glow red hot again with NO open flame.
Cody’s lab did a video on catalytic material some time ago. Worth the watch.
Thank you for the very cool video and please keep up the great work.
Thank you and regards to Briggs
Butane soldering iron does the same thing.
Funny you say that, I had a shot that I was supposed to use in this episode but I ran behind schedule. I take a piece of catalytic light It up get it warm and I not only hit it with propane gas, I hit it with a scary amount of propane gas...lol. it look like the damn sun !!!
Dope
@@WarpedYT That shot is going to make to one of your channels eventually right?... I want to see that shit...lol.
Seriously as a mechanical student you are teaching better than the University. I never understand the work of the cataliseur better like this wonderful video.
You can also just heat the honeycomb with a torch to get it warm and then put the torch out. Then just blow the gas from the unlit torch through it and it will burn without a flame and get the cat material orange hot. I always found it fascinating to watch something burn with no flame because it's just so counter-intuitive.
When I was a younger I LOVED blown up diagrams, cross sections, etc and had a bunch of picture books explaining/showing how things worked or what they looked like. Your see-through series takes me back to that same curiosity and wonder.
I have been studying jet propulsion, engineering, rocket propulsion and Aerospace since I was 7, I used to have exploded diagrams all over my walls in my room. I know exactly what you're talkin about!!
Warped Perception my man!
“I started running rich and the cat LOVED that!”
*in reality cat did not like that and in fact can be damaged by running too rich*
Lol... Good point. Well I guess I should have said " I loved that"
Warped Perception: [Loved that]
Cat: [Did not love that]
Everyone else: [loved that]
I always thought the lean mixture will heat it up and burn the carbon off cleaning it but didnt think rich mixture would actually burn the cat by overheating.
I was so sure rich mixture would foul it like a plug :D
@@eamh2002 there's a difference between cat and DPF wchich indeed is made to burn carbon
Yeh
Cat converters are large honeycombs of platinum, palladium and rhodium, when the toxic unburnt gasses like carbon monoxide pass over them, they get pulled onto the surface of the metal, the high concentration of the gasses on the surface forces them to react and turn into non toxic gasses like co2 and oxygen
Also the reason leaded fules for banned, is the lead atoms would permanently bond to the metals in the converter, getting rid of their ability to catylyse these reactions, destroying the converter
Well, that and, you know...lead.
@@sentry4944 Lead isn't in fuel anymore and is not part of the catalyst either.
So that's why in Blues Brothers Elwood says about the Bluesmobile, "It's a model made before catalytic converters so it runs good on regular gas." Meaning, regular leaded gas. Nice!
Actually, exhaust catalysts are large honeycombs of ceramic material with traces of platinum, palladium and rhodium. The reaction is intended to produce CO2, water and N2; oxygen is used up in that process.
Lead poisons the catalyst, and makes it so it doesn't work properly. Lead also poisons people. Banning tetra-ethyl-lead use in fuel was a huge benefit to people, not just catalysts.
@@willmcgo8288 Sure but it made the cars run worse without the leaded fuel because the TEL also acted as a lubricant for some engine parts. So older cars either need lubricants added to the no-ethanol high octane fuels they were designed to run, or you need a modern (post unleaded era) engine in your old car.
Year 2030 - Alright so here we have our fullsized see-through Atomic Bomb and here's the small second one. Fair warning this bomb is loud.
M0o
M0o
M0o
M0o
M0o
This is absolutely the most under-rated channel on TH-cam. The work put in and production quality is extremely great, and why this is not on the discovery channel eludes me.
agreed
this is why you dont park cars on tall grass when you've been driving a long time.
I know someone whose car burned down as a result.
pdgeman or dry leaves...
Damn I wonder how many wildfires started due to this
Funny because if you dont have cat then youd often have backfire that could really start a fire
@@bernatzel17 yep. My old 66 Plymouth was sitting in a field for a cpl of years fired it up backfired because the gas was old and plugged one of the jets.. As it back fired shot flames out. Lit under the car on fire. Drove it to a where e dirt was. Grabbed a hose to put the field out. Luckily it was not a really dry field.
That's one of them Cadillac converters.
NO! A cataract it's one of those Japanese luxury vehicles.
Jeff Liggett 🤣🤣🤣 yes!
I work at an auto parts store, once had a customer ask if we had a Cadillac convertible in stock.
@@markjmarkjack Shoulda asked "Which one, the Allante or the XLR? Maybe something older? Cause we'd have to order it regardless!"
@@man_on_wheelz 🤣🤣
Catylitic converters are something almost every car in the world had until they were parked in
A neighborhood with a crack head with a sawsall
why?
@@AlainCarAudioManiac theft
@@six_point_seven1057 why would somebody steal it?
Cats are made with precious metals in them
@@LuxuryNoCap THANKS for sharing your immense expertise on this subject
The best part is when it breaks the seal creating a leak and turn into a pulse jet in slow motion! Nice.
I noticed that too, but checked here to see if somebody already commented about it.
@@Metal_Master_YT Drawing oxygen in to complete combustion
As a auto mechanic engineer of 52 & years your video is one of the very best I have seen.!! Well done Mr warped!.
This was fun to watch. My father was the lead tech in R&D at Briggs and Stratton 22 years ago and that was back when they were testing putting catalytic converters on for california. He also did high speed photography for them and I got to watch the films of some of their tests trying to develop the converter. Fun stuff so thanks for this one :)
I'm currently on set filming a new years video for the channel, I'm going to check everybody's comments tonight!!
Warped Perception I would like to see through a turbo it would be interesting
This is a "burning up a catalyst" demonstration - not a catalytic converter demonstration. Essentially this demonstration combusted fuel resulting in temperatures that destroyed the catalyst. Typically a catalytic converter will degrade at temperatures above 1200F -.
It wasn't destroyed though. The most damage that was done was just from sawing it into shape
glass: *survives brutal vibrating and getting rattled around*
also glass: ᶜ ʳ ᵃ ᶜ ᵏ
it cracked due to temperature difference
Yeah, rapid cooling is real nasty to most types of glass. Even Pyrex is not exempt. I recently exploded a much-less-than-hot glass mug just with insanely cold ground water, during the 2021 deep freeze. (That one was definitely not Pyrex.)
As soon as I read this it cracked
@@arfyness pyrex also uses a shittier formula nowadays
Just goes crack
The flames at 5:52 happen because that tiny piece of catalyst was overwhelmed (can be seen because the whole piece got red hot), leading to flammable gases exiting the exhaust.
Thank you. I invented this in 1961. My grandfather owned a muffler manufacturing company. At 16, I was put to work as a machinist apprentice in the experimental shop. We had a big Chevy engine on rails, driving a generator for load. I was amazed to see the glowing pipes on the exhaust manifold.I knew enough chemistry that I thought hydrogen peroxide would convert carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. So, how do you make hydrogen peroxide? High heat, water, and a platinum catalyst. We had all of that, except the platinum. My father was Sales Vice-President, and he dismissed my “invention” as kid’s fantasy. I think the first cats came out in 1974.
BTW: today, I think it is worth investigating the enzymes the bombardier beetle uses to produce hydrogen peroxide at ambient temperature..
That's pretty cool, you invented the catalytic converter? That's interesting I'm not familiar with the enzyme from that beetle, but I will do some research. in my opinion there has to be some way to recover all of that wasted energy going out of the tailpipe. It just seems like such a waste.
Warped Perception The leading researcher on that beetle used to be at the University of Kentucky. J
Interesting story thanks for sharing. What else have you found particularly fascinating, are you an inventor that has brought innovations to reality?
Avery I have no quarrel with that. I never reduced it to practice.
After reading some comments it is clear that many people do not know what a catalytic converters actually does
Adam Kegg it helps burn off unburnt fuel and makes cars exhaust cleaner
I know what a catalytic converters does
Aight big man, we all have the power of google. The knowledge of how a catalytic converter works is next to useless.
@@him_899 okay fool, the next time im held at knifepoint and told to explain operations of a catalytic converter, ill blame you for me getting stabbed. people like you are why that first dude was comfortable going around threatening people and why i got stabbed.
"its just useless info." tell that to the scars on my kidney and abdomen.
@@FWAKWAKKA Ok schizo
The high speed actually did reveal something neat on the small converter test. As the piston was going through its stages, you can see the flames/smoke would get pulled back into the exhaust very slightly. Than get blown away again. Very cool!
That’s what destroys Gallardos engines
I made of one of the first Cats for GM when I was younger, it was sent to Arvin Bosal in I think Belgium for testing. We then made all the lightweight stainles manifold and heat shields for a few years at prototype stage. Great experiment to see how they work. I also noticed that the internals have changed removing the rolled fine wire mesh and the asbestos paper and replacing it with something which looks much safer. At the time many cars adopted the heat shields with two pieces of aluminised steel with a layer of asbestos paper between.
In your first attempt converter started to glow much faster even having higher mass and being attachet to big conductive piece of metal because the seals at front part of your construction ruined, letting air in. In your second attempt with the glass tube you can see that ceramics of converter glows better on the backside because exhaust pipe after converter is short and lets the air go inside.
Actually converter doesn't "like" (starts to glow better with) the richer air-fuel mixture because there's no oxigen to burn hydrocarbons. In your experiment oxigen was coming from the ambient, that's the reason of glowing better. If you run rich with long pipes and good seals, you'll see that temperature drops down in comparison with stoichiometric ratio. But if you run so rich, that there will be missfires or switch the ignition off still adding fuel you can even melt the ceramics.
So my proposition for a new see-through converter video is to make longer exhaust pipe, better seals and install a valve before converter for controllable adding of air into exhaust. Then run rich and add air.
If it will not melt down, then make revs as high as possible, and switch ignition off. All the fuel and air will reach converter and mostly burn in there. And also it would be better to load the engine.
Inside a diesel dpf? How about inside what ever the def fluid does
dpf and def fluid ? u mixed some up there ;)
@@heinzkot360 ik they are two different things
@@VFio689 ouh okay i was just a bit confused about your comment ;)
Diesel converters use a slightly different process to trap and break down NO2 gases. The SCR system uses a base metal catalyst to save money, and a reagent containing ammonia (DEF) to facilitate the reaction.
@@Nighthawke70 im a carmechanist in germany ;) i know ... i was just convused about him using two different systems in that relation ;)
Now can you do one with a diesel engine & DPF(especially during the regeneration phase)?
Yup.... Coming up soon.
Nice. I've been around diesel machines and that regen gets flowing like a jet engine also extremely hot. Looking forward for that video
@@WarpedYT really looking forward to this
@@WarpedYT don't recommend doing it in your shed. My partner said her car was running different soot at the back of her car told her to give it a bit of a rev, it shot white smoke out, it felt like my lungs where being scrubbed with a wire brush.
After I got my breath back and wiped the tears from my eyes I said to her "it's okay it's just the the stupid pdf burning off"
@@remyche8768 I would disagree. carbon build up is probably from burning oil and that would explain the white smoke. Also you dont get any visible vapor while in regen. also only diesels have DPF. And if a DPF was dumping alot of smoke in to the air it's not doing its job. something is wrong with it.
I am surprised the orange sealant held up as long as it did.
Me too,
william killingsworth We used to use red (at that time it was very hard to get ) for header gaskets , Was one of the smartest then we ever did.
100% URETHANE ONLY
thanks, sterling effort. 'platinum' award winning video. Kind of like antilag in a turbo the way she heated up
Thank you
Buy Elrond EGLD
Crypto currency the next Bitcoin 😀
This demo of yours is the most straight forward NOT LOADED with Egomaniacal BS!!! The setup with the motor's exhaust, the two different cats, were both as clear as day. This demo should be shown in automotive theory classes everywhere.
Thank you.. I have many more coming soon
those sliced cats does look like some minecraft structure
It really does, that's exactly what I thought when I was building it
here in germany the short form is kat and i was like who tf slices CATS in half o.0
@@3lp4u my exact thoughts when my friend was listing his cats as second hand and selling for huge bucks. I'm like how does it look? Fluffy? Short haired?
Turns out he wants to swap his performance catalytic converter to stock for his honda.
ducttaperulestheworl yeah I’m not gunna lie, ever again
The exact thing I was thinking 😂
I love how you can see the exhaust pulses move the flame around in the slow-mo shots. You can clearly see what I believe are moments of valve overlap during the intake stroke, where it's pulling the burning air/fuel mixture back into the exhaust as the two valves are open at the same time, and what appears to be a short outward flowing pulse during what I believe is the compression stroke. Most Briggs/Tecumseh/other similar small engines that I've encountered have a small bump on the back of the exhaust lobe on the camshaft to relieve some compression to make them easier for the consumer to recoil start. A common (and basically free) modification for these small engines is to grind that compression relief bump off the back of the exhaust lobe so you get full compression instead of pushing some of the mixture out the exhaust. Makes it a bit harder to start but it's a "racer" trick from older go-karting days.
Yes !
WHAAT ? is that why ? I remember last year had to clean up valves on a generator. I was very confused why the semi open positions... Really had my head messed up.... These new cheap gens have the cam vent SO close to the intake it often pulls oil in. Which in turn oils the air filter , and if the customer never checks the filter,, totally fks everything. Have you really cut that part off the cam as you say and ran it for a bit ? I imagine there are other engineering compromises manufactures might lax on when they can afford lower compression
That's fucking sweet hahahaha
@@mrsc1914 I can't speak for your engine specifically, but on an old Techumseh 8HP(from a snowblower) I had that was modified for racing use the small "relief lobe" on the exhaust side of the cam that was used to make it easier to start was ground off to allow for increased compression. it also got stronger valve springs to handle higher RPM and a bunch of other race oriented mods. The last newer generation single cylinder engine I had apart used a plastic camshaft... Pretty sure it was a briggs OHV engine from a generator that got run without oil. I couldn't believe the cam was plastic, gear and all, injection molded. insane. They don't make them like they used to.
@@mrsc1914 The crankcase vent is meant to get sucked into the intake. Burning off blowby is way better at reducing smog than just venting it. And no, no generator I've ever had has plugged the air filter before debris does. It makes the filter wet if there's lots of blowby, but there's still plenty of airflow. It also keeps crap out of the engine internals. Don't lop things off thinking you know more than the manufacturer- because you don't.
This is awesome! Very cool, seeing the difference in the exhaust before vs after the catalytic converter is pretty damn impressive. Also the honeycomb structure is great to watch when it glows. Thank you!
I found that very interesting as well, you can clearly see that there's no flame on one side of the catalytic oh, that really explains visually how much more fuel is being burned in the catalytic that was not burned by the engine
8:10 you don't need to worry about that because that video is just perfect! of course it is not a GM or Ford factory, it's a "garage", but the very idea of it, of showing how this thing works is just sensational! I loved it, for me, this video was perfect.. very teaching, very useful, thanks a lot for making it! you're the guy!
Been a auto technician for twenty years and always wanted to see this.
Hey Matt, a couple of future projects that I think would be really killer would be see-through drivetrain components, like automatic transmissions, torque converters, and maybe even a see-through rear end. Great video as always!
I have that in the books, it's coming pretty soon
Tip: Catalytic converters "clean" themselves at high temperatures, gives you a reason to rev your car every once in a while ;) extends the lifespan of the converter and it's fun too, especially if you do a lot of "slow" city driving let her rip every now and then on the highway to clean out that hard working platinum in there
And, interestingly, catalytic converters don't really begin functioning until about 400 to 600 degrees F.
Casper Born na. I just took mine off.🖕
@@mitchellmitchell6938 Well, funnily enough, if your car is more than about 15 years old your catalytic converter is likely not working anymore anyway: Massive stresses of very high heat and vibration will eventually take their toll on it. So in that sense you might as well not even have one on your vehicle! In my state they got rid of emissions testing years and years ago so no one would even notice if I took mine off.
@@JustWasted3HoursHere what state is that?🤔
@@number015 its not Illinois! We got checks every two yrs
Its a wonderful scientific lab educating the masses of the world without spending millions of dollars. Salute Sir!
Haile Okbe, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I'm very mechanically minded have been a mechanic. Built an high performance rx-3 station wagon way back in the day (80ish) so I was familiar with the sunrise catalytic converter.
Still was VERY impressed with the experiment. It just was so interesting to actually see it working so well.
I’ve got an idea: how viable do you thing a see through exhaust header would be on an OHV engine?
Headers get way too hot. Maybe if it's made out of glass it will survive
I will try
@@blowndome if its on this stationary engine sure, but putting glass in an engine in a car for driving is a bad idea
@Swampy it looks really Cool at night
CO + NO2 + CH3 --Pt-> CO2 + N2 + H20.
The "--Pt->" in this case means that the chemical reaction is being carried out using a catalyst, in this case Platinum.
Grant Seuser Ok, I just didn’t know if it were possible to show the above chemical equation with more than 1 catalyst
Sheldon?
I studied about this thats why when I saw your notification I hooked up to see. Though I appreciate it took a lot of work for u to make it
Quick tip next time you do a see through anything that involves hot like this I recommend you use Quartz glass since it’s designed to be used with heat
Good job. It's clear to understand how does it send a signal to the car computer about fuel excess, to reduce the mixture.
NEVER wondered before, but I do now, lol.
(How I love a channel that makes me "wonder")
Wonderful ;-) .
I agree.
Thank you !!!
@@WarpedYT
Au contraire, thank-YOU Sir ;-) .
I love these kind of videos, man! It’s so great that you’d take the time to do this for us. Much love, friend.
Thank you! Sending love your way as well !!
wow my 15 year old self has always wondered how a cat looks like when its doing its job and im amazed :D thank you for posting this
At first I thought the video was going to be lame but your camera at high frames made it worth watching . I have had 2 cars out of the many I have had that I gutted out the catalytic converter . Awesome video my friend .
The cracked glass was satisfying.
what about connect the see thrugh cat. converter to diesel engine?
or have a try to build a gasoline fired furnace with see thrugh cat. converter But not flame inside?
Very interesting! I really like the videos with the see-through engine parts, they give a clear picture of what's happening inside of an engine.
Maybe it would be interesting to see a slow mo of a camshaft when the engine is revving to it's max rpm. Especially if the springs aren't good enough, to see a floating valve.
Would be interesting to see what injecting air into the exhaust ahead of the cat to provide extra oxygen like the car does with the air pump. Bet it would have gotten much hotter much quicker.
I'd love to see that on video
I’m thinking that could be explosive once it reaches a level of heat and oxygen levels are higher.
@@chazzcapone. No, it wouldn't. Didn't happen on old cars, wouldn't happen here.
The fact that when he enriches the mixture, you see the back end of the catalyst glow red hot so soon compare to the outer edges of the catalyst shows that catalytic converters, designed with airflow/efficiency also kept in mind, din't restrict flow NEARLY as much as people think they do.
They do restrict the air significantly, but there are expensive and larger units for racing and performance needs. If the combustion chamber was designed properly, and the high load fuel trim wasn't so darn high, we wouldn't need them at all.
@@Baigle1 just swap your engine for a 12-valve Cummins diesel... no need for a cat or a muffler, haha
@@Baigle1 so you think engine engineers are designing combustion chambers wrong or do you think the EPA is putting restrictions on NOX exiting the tail pipe?
Use your brain a little
@@traugdor truck bros are cringe
@@Baigle1 No, we very much would need them. I'd rather not be huffing nox and unburned fuel vapors all day because some gearhead thinks he knows better than basic biology.
As a person who watches TH-cam on a normal and almost excessive basis I find this freakin amazing!
Was amazing to see that thanks for figuring out a way to show it
Why did I keep squinting like I was going to get glass shrapnel in my eyes if the glass tube shattered? Haha.
Cool video.
You always come up with excellent ideas!
Not always but you are motivating me! In my mind they don't always seem so great...lbvs
As a random TH-cam viewer who kills plenty of time watching videos, this is awesome!!! I showed it to my cat.
It's amazing how well this demo worked, good job! The flame at the back indicates the cat is not handling the load, though!
I've always wondered about the catalytic converter on today's engines. Thank you for doing this episode!
The coolest use for a catalytic converter is the Zippo hand warmers.
Thanks to the YT "bot" this popped up today. Years ago I was driving home from work in my '89 Pontiac Grand Prix (rare 5-speed SE). Suddenly massive misfire! Got home and the cat was RED HOT! A little diagnostic work and I found a dead coil. Or so I thought at first. Actually the ignition module that fires that coil failed. 6-cyl "waste spark" setup. Three coils each firing two cylinders simultaneously. Each cylinder fires twice per cycle. Once at normal ignition point and again on the exhaust stroke. Emissions related. So when it went TU my 6-cylinder became a 4-cylinder dumping 1/3 of its fuel into the cat! Good thing I wasn't far from home when it failed. Next day after an all night cooldown I took it to the Stealership two miles away (which I rarely do) and told them what the problem was. They replaced the module (all three coils were good) and told me the cat "probably" was OK. I guess it was because it lasted 140,000 miles before I sold the car!
I've never even seen inside one that wasn't working. I learned a lot from this.
I'm pretty sure you broke like 7 EPA laws during the production of this video...but it was worth it! Great video!
I knew they wouldn’t sustain, BUT a neat thing to see. We all have an idea of its mechanics, and better to see a neat bench test.
The catalyser heats up when you enrich the mixture is due to the higher output of unburned products which the catalytic reacts to more stable gases
Hey Mr. Warped , I want to try putting a catalyst on my riding mower and generator, to keep the air clean. Any sources for small cats?
Yes officer..... this comment here
Man ! This was very educational! A lot of people wash this but in fact a lot happens inside the catalytic converters
I enjoyed your work! I was A tech for about 15 years. So I can relate to your interest I found it interesting the amount of restriction it produced as it raised in temp. Nice work good stuff and thanks for the entertainment
one good reason never to drive with a misfiring engine
y
backfire doe 😳 💥
@Jimmy S Seems like you lot about it. Do you know if the engine control unit recognizes that the engine is misfiring and perhaps let the driver know?
Just add a rocket nozzle to your exhaust :D
@Jimmy S this happened to me. my vehicle was misfiring due to a design flaw in the ECU. misfiring busted up the 1st cat. when i got the ECU fixed the remaining pieces of the 1st cat jammed up inside the 2nd cat and reduced the exhaust flow to the point that my vehicle could not properly accelerate.
Pretty damn cool. Already knew what it does and how it does it, but being able to see it just adds to the knowledge.
great video :D
Finally I always wanted to see how it looks, thank you!
Just liek the see through engine videos, it's so interesting to see mechanical things working in real life rather than a diagram. Thanks for the video!
Oh man, not too many videos makes me feel good to have watched it.....thank you, thank you, thank you.....now my engine research and new design is better comprehended and more complete.
you should attempt this with a Diesel particulate filter.
0:32. He's using a nail for the spark plug. Nice!
Watch the see-through engine series
Fascinating vifeo!
The reversion was very interesting. Would love to see you run an anti-reversion chamber in the same test and see if you can catch the exhaust slugs getting caught.
nice use of a vibration dampener! I use those in refrigeration to stop vibrating pipes from bursting. Dude you are so creative!
It's not supposed to be glowing underneath your car. If you ever see the case of a converter glowing hot. You have a problem! It means that it's falling apart on the inside and clogging itself up or the engine has been running too rich or burning oil for an extended period.
Exactly. Misfires and rich conditions rapidly deteriorate the catalyst and in come cases the valve overlap allows the engine to pull the abrasive particles from the exhaust into the cylinder and ruins the rings and cylinder walls and the engine consumes oil and runs poorer.
@@Vile-Flesh yeah I could see that. I have never really thought about it or heard it mentioned before. But your right it could happen. What especially comes to mind is some engines that have pre cats, or "mini cats". They are only a foot or less away from the cylinder head. So I'm sure those would be very likely to suck those loose particles backwards.
Even in this video you can see how the pressures of the exhaust flow backwards. It's almost like the engine is taking breathes. This process is used in 2 stroke engine exhausts. Where the exhaust systems shape and size is tuned specifically to help those exhaust pulses to refill the cylinder under back pressure. Also even 4 stroke engines need some type of exhaust to be able to run well. Or even run at all. Because of the same principals. Recently the exhaust fell off my old car with a 318. So the exhaust ended midway under the car. Only a few inches after the converter. No muffler, no tail pipe. The engine gained a slight bit of power. But the fuel mileage dropped ALOT. I presume this was because of loss of gasses that would linger of reburn.
@@Vile-Flesh Valve overlap doesn't happen in a correctly timed and tuned engine. And the "abrasive particles" don't add anything to wear, the excessive temperatures deforming components like valve steats and melting pistons does.
Catalytic converters are nice... They stop cars from smelling like shit while only sapping like 20hp. I can live with that since I like to daily drive. There is really no reason to take cats off anymore. Diesel dpf and egr is another story unfortunately.
Actually newer cars models (2000 and more) don't loose power with a cat. It's design to save the maximum of power while being eco-friendly. The only way you will increase performance by removing the cat is weight reduction.
But here I don't talk about the style. If you want to be loud, you know what you need to do
Nico M not true, most cars nowadays do get about 20+ horsepower when compared to standard cat and remap vs the cat is removed and the car is remapped
@@HarryG98 I didn't say that a cat is adding 20 hps. Im saying (and not me, its prooven by many tests) that cats don't make a car loose power
When I get behind an older car from the 70's, it stinks, and to imagine we never noticed the smell in the 70's because they all smelled that way, and we didn't know any different. At least most of us didn't, thank God some of us figured out that maybe we shouldn't be breathing in lead.
@@ccox7198 I mean if you wanna go on about losing power, the typical ICE only turns around 18% to 20% of the energy contained in the fuel to into actual power "at the crank."
Even if you were losing 20hp (not true with most modern cars) I doubt it would be missed among average drivers. Cars on average just have so much more power than they did. Little economy cars that used to come with 90 hp now have 150+ hp. Hell, most of these midsized sedans are nearing 300 now.
Not actually “while functioning” more like when A/F controllers are malfunctioning.
Very true. It definitely over heated from running straight rich. The mixture would be alternating rich lean about 60+ times a second in a fuel injected engine.
In Nigeria we call the catalytic converter 'indomie' because it looks like uncooked ramen noodles.
That's funny
I can’t even explain how much this made me happy cuz I thought what the chemical was in the cat but I never seen it in action. Thanks man that’s was a new experience and guys tune in and not onlyfans 🙏🏽
I once owned a car that leaked oil on the catalytic converter. Mechanic said that I was "driving a bomb" and he shouldn't "let me drive this away".
Now I see why, holy crap does that sucker get hot. It's pretty impressive that it maintains its integrity under such conditions.
That's what it does. It burns off hydrocarbons by getting hot. I thought it was pretty cool to watch it in action though. Good idea in my book.
Gasoline cools down catalytic converters
@@FirstnameLastname-tw6yt in what context.
it gets hot *by burning off hydrocarbons,* not "it burns off hydrocarbons by getting hot" that's why its called "burn" cuz it burns stuff, and heats up cuz burning stuff makes heat.
aka, the catalytic converter burns un-burnt fuel that made it out of the engine, and by doing so heats up because burning the fuel makes heat, not the other way around. in the beginning it heats up cuz the exhaust is simply hot to begin with, after all, it was on fire a moment earlier. but once it heats up, it oxidizes excess fuel and makes its own heat.
@@Metal_Master_YT Catalytic converter by definition means that it helps to change things on a chemical level. Catalytic converters were invented to change nitric oxide that are created in the combustion chamber to nitrogen and oxygen. It also takes hydrocarbons and oxygen and makes carbon dioxide and water H2O. Water cools a hot environment down.
@@Metal_Master_YT lf a car is running lean which means there's more oxygen to fuel in the combustion chamber this will cook the catalytic converters that's why all cars are set up to run rich which means there's more fuel to oxygen that gets burnt to cool the catalytic converter.
Whenever I hear or see people talk about the catalytic converter - the first few things that pop into my head are: Rare Metal and egg-farts.
Hey, enjoy your vids! I had an idea on my head this am and your channel came to mind. Using the phantom to show a fuel injector working at varying duty cycles. I would find it interesting to see if you could pick up the frequency in the spray pattern. It would also be neat to simulate engine rpm so the duration of injector was also indicated. Thanks for the great videos man, making youtube a better place!
Best video on catalytic converter working. Now people will understand how important is cat for environment
Great video. Very awesome experiment. Subbed. 👍
That's why they say don't park over dry leaves/grass/debris
T H E Y , don't say it enough. 👍
If you drive like maniac than catalic converter can be hot to burn grass. Nobody drive like rally drivers
As crazy as you are you’re damn good at building things
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
6:00 There is no hydrocarbons being burned inside the catalyst, because both catalyst and burning need oxygen. And you don't have enough oxygen for catalytic converter to work and for unburned fuel to burn while you have constantly rich mixture. The "fireball" can only be seeing at the exhaust end where hydrocarbons get oxygen to ignite.
You didn't show the functioning catalyst - it can not function without additional oxygen that is left in the exhaust by the engine control system using slightly lean mixture. Exhaust gas analyzer would be a great help to educate people.
7:45 The catalytic converter might be looking like "perfectly new", but it still might be out of working order, because it is not the ceramic cells that convert CO and HC into CO2, but catalytic materials like platinum, rhodium, titanium oxides etc. are long gone from the surface of the ceramic honeycomb due to the high temperature of the converter.
Man, if you make this kind of educating videos, you have to know, how things work first of all. Second, you could use a gas analyzer and thermometer to measure temperature of the exhaust and for example show, how fast it starts working after a cold start and what kind of temperature it keeps during normal engine work etc.
Otherwise great videos you've got, thanks!
He did show how it works, just not the way you wanted, it was a cool video so don't hate.
Another great test partner. What makes these test great is that if it weren't for you doing it we'd never know what would look like. Great and thanks for your test.
It was one of the best films on TH-cam I have ever seen. Great job!!!