Emissions Problems

Does anyone know of a good way to clean a catalytic converter on a 2006 v6 Tacoma? It is throwing up faulty converter codes and when I crank it up it sputters and acts like it’s gonna cut off for a minute then levels out and runs normally. I tried a bottle of Cata-clean and that didn’t seem to last too long. Thanks

 

Haven't heard a lot of strong success stories about cleaning cats.

How many miles on the truck?

On a vehicle of that vintage I'm guessing most likely you'll need one or more new cats.

 

It has 260,000 miles. I thought about cutting it out altogether honestly

 

260K miles is a respectable lifetime for the original cats, can't reasonably expect more than that.

Since it's throwing cat-related codes, it probably the front cat(s) as those are the ones with the O2 sensor. Rear cats don't have any sensors. (But they, too, could be clogged.)

Cat-delete is a topic well-covered elsewhere, search 2nd gen forum for related threads or maybe someone will link a couple here.

Feasibility depends on your jurisdiction's requirments for smogging. My understanding is that if front cats are deleted, perhaps some kind of O2 sensor simulator is needed to prevent codes being thrown. Also not sure how that affects overall air/fuel ratio & whether it could cause other issues such as low mpg or other problems related to running habitually too rich or too lean.

 

Thanks for the info

 

Stick around, hopefully a more authoritative mechanic/diagnostician will chip in w/ extra info.

I was doing a bit more reading on 2nd gen Tacoma O2 sensors, apparently there is a front O2 sensor, which is before any cats (just past the exhaust header,) and a rear O2 sensor, which is actually on the first (front) cat.

As I understand it, the front O2 sensor is what the engine uses to calculate & adjust air-fuel ratios (very important,) while the rear O2 sensor (on the first cat) is just there to monitor the effectiveness of that catalytic converter, but seldom or never gets used by the ECU for A/F ratio calcs.

 

There is no magic that can bring converters back to life that have failed, at best anything you do to try to revive them would be a temporary "fix"

The P0420/430 codes don't mean they are plugged, providing there are no exhaust leaks upstream or near the AFR and O2 Sensors those codes mean the converters are no longer doing their job effectively in reducing emissions. The PCM monitors this by monitoring their oxygen storage capacity, it achieves this by commanding a rich or lean mixture, watches for the AFR Sensor to respond, and measures the length of time it takes the downstream sensor to respond.

Converters can also become restricted/plugged (usually due to overheating from excess fuel from a misfire or other fueling issue) but restricted/plugged converters typically cause low power and in severe cases a no start or start/stall.

You need to solve your startup issue before worrying about the converter codes.

From your description I'd be starting with a fuel pressure check to see if it the correct pressure (41 psi) and that it holds pressure with the key off (should hold a minimum 21 psi for at least 5 min).