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Can Lacquer Thinner Clean The Catalytic? Is It Safe For The Engine?


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Hi mate.

Can you be a bit more specific about what your trying to do ???? :huh:

hello mate,i think my catalytic is dirty and need cleaning or else need to replace it! engine warning lights on,power loss!noisy!

i mean if it safe for the engine? to put lacquer thinner in the gas tank?

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No i wouldn't add anything to my tank especially Lacquer thinner.

If your EML light is on you need to have the codes read to determine what fault the ECU has stored, your engine may be in "limp mode" that means the engine won't have the normal power as it's restricting it to stop any further damage occuring.

Take it to a local garage and have the codes read it's normally between £30 & £50 quid or buy your own scanner from any good auto parts retailer.

Good luck mate.

Terry.

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I have to agree, you need to confirm what the problem is and a code read will point you in the right direction.

Cats not only fail on emissions but the internals can also collapse causing a blockage in the exhaust system so generally replacement is the best option.

There is a company called Cataclean which supplies a fuel additive to restore the cat from an emissions point but having had no personal experience with the stuff I couldn't comment further.

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thanks mates! i went to the toyota garage and they said i need to change the catalytic,controller etch... total cost of 2,600 euros.!! regarding cataclean! they do not sell it here in france i look everywhere! how can i get one? i know that it is available in uk.

pls watch scotty kilmer in youtube! is it true or not?

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right im confused??why are you needing to clean your cat??and in all my years of being a tec(15)ive never heard of a dirty cat!!

what is the actual fault??also you have three cats two on the manifold and one under the car which is the main cat..

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I heard Fairy Liquid is good for cleaning cats too.

I'm joking by the way. Essence sans plomb is all you should ever put in your tank.

Do you have some paperwork from the garage regarding the complaint and diagnosis? Scan it or take a photo of it if you can? Or even transcribe the content here so we can give you accurate information.

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Hi mate.

Can you be a bit more specific about what your trying to do ???? :huh:

hello mate,i think my catalytic is dirty and need cleaning or else need to replace it! engine warning lights on,power loss!noisy!

i mean if it safe for the engine? to put lacquer thinner in the gas tank?

Do NOT put thinners in your tank. In low concentrations it will not dissolve anything blocking your CAT, nor even really effectively if in high concentrations which would make flames shoot out of the exhaust. Worse though, Thinners will definitely attack almost all of the plastic, nylon, rubber or synthetic components the fuel passes through on the way to the cylinders. Also if combusted or partly so along with the fuel, thinners are super-rich in carbon molecules and will block the CAT even more.

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from my experiance (22 years in garages) no fuel addatives work. Petrol itself will clean anything in the fuel system. If you have dirt in your fuel system your fuel filter will take care of it. if theres dirt in the system after the filter you need to ask how it got there its a sealed system from filter forward so shouldnt have got there.

I used to be a retail outlet for Forte motor flushes and fuel addatives. The rep got me to use my car as an example. Placed my car on the emisions machine recorded readings. Applied both fuel treatment and oil flush to the car. followed all instruction on bottles of treatments. changed engine oil and filter, and refilled engine (paid for by the rep so might as well free oil change after all) warmed car up re checked on emisions machine. The only diffrence was a slight increase in co2 reading. My car was perfect example of what the flushes are ment to do. Its done over 160,000 miles with no history of servicing prior to me owning it (about 6 months at time of the tests). so from my experiance of following the exact directions on the fuel addative bottle it made no diffrence at all.

Just on a side note, i used to restore morris minors i used to bucket of petrol to clean parts. It it will clean 30 years of rubish of parts it should keep your engine fuel system clean!

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