Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Platinum, a metal that helps craft aesthetically pleasing jewelry, also finds use in a car's exhaust for entirely non-aesthetic reasons. The catalytic converter is required on nearly every car to remove harmful gases, such as nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide, from your exhaust. Platinum and other heavy metals such as palladium and rhodium in the catalytic converter act a catalyst in detoxifying these gases.
However, the presence of such precious metals and catalytic converters' easy accessibility makes converters a sought-after target for thieves known as "cutters." Catalytic converter theft witnessed an exponential rise during the pandemic, peaking in 2022, when State Farm alone saw 45,000 claims for stolen converters. Cutters often sell the stolen converters to scrap recyclers, who then extract the pure platinum and palladium.
So how much platinum and palladium does your catalytic converter contain? Also, why exactly does the mostly inert platinum find its use in a catalytic converter?
[...] The major reason why catalytic converter theft skyrocketed after the pandemic was the sudden price rise of the catalyst, especially platinum and palladium. During their peak, platinum sold for $1,289 per ounce and palladium sold for $3,307 per ounce, making a typical catalytic converter worth at least $128 of platinum and $231 of palladium. With metal prices settling since the pandemic, a typical catalytic converter now contains upward of $90 worth of platinum and $68 worth of palladium. The massive drop in prices and government efforts to end catalytic converter theft have been a key reason they've declined in recent times.
[...] While numerous other metals such as copper, nickel, manganese, cerium, and iron can all behave as catalysts for the these reactions, they often lack the stability and heat tolerance needed to withstand the high temperatures and elemental exposure in a car's exhaust. As a result, metals like platinum, palladium, and rhodium become the perfect fit for catalytic converters, helping reduce harmful exhausts that can have detrimental environmental effects such as acid rain and formation of ground-level ozone.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 08, @05:18PM (5 children)
I help a disabled relative look after their old Corolla. Two weeks ago the check engine light (CEL) came on and I used my cheap OBD reader to get some idea of the problem. Got a P0420 code, Catalyst System Low Efficiency.
The car is driven very gently, this person is one of those right-lane "road blocks". On a whim I wondered if a little running at high load would "clean things out". First I cleared the code, then warmed the car up and made about a half dozen hard accels (stopping short of redline) over a couple of miles of empty road driving.
When I got back home, I did a little internet research and it seems that this is one recommended way to get the pre- and post-cat O2 sensors to read properly. The next level of treatment could be a catalyst cleaner additive (gas tank) which is a mix of strong solvents--but I'm somewhat dubious about adding this to an old fuel system.
The CEL hasn't come back and the car is driven daily (mostly short trips). Hoping to get a few more years out of this nice old car...without the expensive cost of replacing the cat.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by epitaxial on Sunday February 09, @07:34AM (4 children)
If you're handy with electronics you could install an O2 sensor simulator. https://www.chippernut.com/blog/o2-simulator#/ [chippernut.com]
Years ago my Acura with close to 200k miles started giving that code. As luck would have it the wires for the sensor were right by the drivers foot well. I tapped into the correct colors and hid the small board under the carpet. Ran the car like that until it went to the scrap yard at 250k miles. The rust belt takes a toll on vehicles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09, @02:26PM (3 children)
Interesting, thanks. Did you disconnect the post-cat O2 sensor, or just put the output from the 555 timer on top of it (in parallel)?
I checked the link, but it didn't answer this dumb question...
(Score: 3, Informative) by sgleysti on Monday February 10, @04:45AM (2 children)
In a followup comment on the page he clarifies that he disconnects the O2 sensor first and then connects the little circuit instead.
If the electrical system in the car experiences a load dump, that circuit is a goner.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 10, @02:08PM
> If the electrical system in the car experiences a load dump, that circuit is a goner.
I wondered about that. Perhaps take the V+ from the power to the dashboard? Seems like that should be pretty well protected from spikes...?
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Monday February 10, @05:33PM
And you're out $1 worth of parts. Oh well.
(Score: 2) by ChrisMaple on Sunday February 09, @04:47AM (1 child)
"Nitrogen oxide" is ambiguous.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 09, @02:19PM
That's why those pollutants are generally referred to as NOx -- since there are several of them.