Toyota moves catalytic converter to engine bay on 2016 Tacoma

http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news...revention-on-new-tacoma/ar-BBseBvc?li=BBnb4R5

Not sure if this has been posted, if so I apologize.

 

Interesting... I don't think my exhaust looks like the one in the pic on that article. I just replaced the cat back exhaust - thought the cat was bolted to the down pipe right where the article said it was in previous years...??? I'm confused? What I "thought" was the cat maybe is not the cat but another smaller muffler?

 

There is a downside to converters being in close proximity of the cylinder heads. If any part of the converter breaks down, the pieces will be scavenged into the cylinders and cause a number of issues. Cylinder scoring, bent valves, holes in pistons to name a few.

 

By doing so, Toyota was able to get the cat heated up much faster allowing for lower emissions, the theft part wasn't the main reason for moving it.

 

You'd have to have a lot of backwards flow to get all the way back to the cylinder.

 

Maybe so but it happens to many engines with converters near the heads.

 

Im guessing it will be a pain to remove.

 

Yes!

 

I really like this feature. This is an epidemic back home in Detroit. When I heard my friend tell me he went to start his car one morning and it was super loud then he noticed his cat was stolen I was amazed. They are super expensive to replace correctly...

 

Get a "test" pipe installed problem solved.. and the emissions will likely pass as well. I wonder how much emissions it takes to make a catalytic converter??

 

Never seen or heard of this happening. An engine is just one big air pump not a vacuum, I don't see how pieces of the converter can backfire into the cylinder heads.

 

Not only that, but how many engines have converters that close to the engine? Something seems off.

 

I would have thought moving the converters further up into the engine bay would have been done due to the off road nature of a vehicle like Tacoma. Hot converters have been known to start grass / brush fires in dry conditions if they are close enough to the ground or tall dry grass. Regardless, maybe this will help cut back on the converter theft.

 

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The Nissan QR25DE was notorious for this issue.

 

Had a 1978 Ranchero with the cats on each side of the auto trans.
Cooked the fluid to varnish just after the warranty was up at 12000 miles.
Being a dumb kid I just took my lumps but today would be back at the dealer bitching.
Had to change the fluid every 8000 miles after the rebuild, not at the dealer, to keep it from burning the fluid.
Traded the car away after 2 years.

 

Exactly.

Same thought as forum rumors as ditching cats and free flow mufflers cause noticable power loss due to lack of backpressure.

 

Just an idle thought...whatever happened to the days when you opened the hood on a car or truck and saw...an engine?
Not a piece of plastic covering everything, or tubes, hoses, wires, and belts, but an engine, with the spark plugs where you could see them, and change them, where the wires were easily changed, the belt(s) were accessible, the radiator and heater hoses were somewhere you could change then easily, the oil filter was right in sight, and so forth?
Ah...the good old days....

 

This is probably the most reasonable reason.

I've seen a couple of Jeeps and Tahoes ablaze because of this.

 

I am not even going to pretend that I am an engineer for Toyota but I am not at all worried about the cat deteriorating and effecting the engine. Subaru at one time put a cat between the engine and the turbine and THAT was a bad idea and corrected shortly after. In that case, if the Cat gave out, it would take the turbo put down stream, and inturn throw chunks of metal into the intake air stream. But that being said.... Emissions, theft, heat retention, all played a part in our engine. By eliminating the typical "header" (exhaust manifold) and integrating cooling jackets into the exhaust ports meant they had to get the cat as close as possible to the engine to heat up quickly for CA emissions standards. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for tuning potentials with this design, as tuning would be required to see any gains with the current exhaust system.