
Warning Signs of a Failing Catalytic Converter in a Mini
Keeping your car in working order requires constant maintenance, but it will ensure the reliability you have come to love on your Mini. When issues appear, your vehicle may develop additional problems that can have detrimental effects. Any problems you notice under the hood should be a reason to take your car into a professional shop.
Faults with the catalytic converter can be serious and should certainly warrant a visit to your trusted Mini expert. While the catalytic converter is a relatively unknown part for those not interested in vehicles, it is one of the reasons you are allowed to drive your Mini at all. Learning about the catalytic converter is the first step to learning the signs that point out something being wrong with it.
What does the catalytic converter do?
The catalytic converter, as mentioned, is a large reason why you are able to drive your car at all. Without the catalytic converter, your vehicle would have countless emissions problems that would stop it from being legally on the road. As your engine goes through its internal combustion process, there are harmful chemicals released as byproducts.
Getting rid of these byproducts and only allowing for safe fumes to escape from the exhaust requires a working catalytic converter. As the harmful fumes move through the exhaust system, they pass through the catalytic converter, where the process begins to make them harmless. As they pass over the catalytic converter, there is a component that separates the chemicals.
From this point, the chemicals are released through the exhaust tailpipe and sent out into the air. When your car takes an emissions test, it is essentially measuring the effectiveness of your car’s catalytic converter. If yours is not working as it should be, you may also notice that problems develop with the exhaust tailpipe.
The catalytic converter also keeps these harmful gases out of the cabin, where they can be extremely dangerous for you and your passengers.
Fortunately, there are a number of key indicators that can tell you when your Mini’s catalytic converter is developing problems. As outlined above, never hesitate to take your vehicle into the shop when you notice issues arise with your catalytic converter. Allowing these problems to develop will only hurt your car in the long run.
Signs of a Failing Catalytic Converter
While the below signs are not the only indicators of something being wrong with the catalytic converter, they are the most common. These signs can help you to diagnose this problem sooner and get your car into a professional MINI repair shop before more issues develop:
Bad Fuel Efficiency
Your fuel economy is partially determined by the cleanliness of the fumes that are in the exhaust section of your vehicle. If there are too many harmful byproducts, your Mini’s performance may be hindered to the point of getting worse gas mileage. Check to see if you are at the pump more often or if the amount of gas you go through seems to be disproportionate.
Check Engine Light is On
Your check engine light is a fantastic system that is connected to your vehicle’s onboard computer. This computer can sense when things are wrong under the hood of your car and will respond by turning the check engine light on. In fact, issues with the catalytic converter are one of the leading causes for a check engine light to turn on.
Poor Acceleration
As with getting worse fuel efficiency, issues with your vehicle’s acceleration may be attributed to a failing catalytic converter. If the fumes being released are not as pure, your engine may not run smoothly and your acceleration may be rougher.
How Turning Wrenches Can Help
At Turning Wrenches, we understand how important your Mini is to you and we are able to restore it to its former performance. With that in mind, we can only handle the issue if you trust our experienced mechanics to troubleshoot your vehicle. We have experience working with clients in and around Louisville, KY, which means that we are a trusted name in the community.
Please give us a call or come visit us today to set an appointment so that we may show you why we are the best in the business. We look forward to earning your business and trust.