The vehicle converter purifies the exhaust. It serves about 120,000 miles under ideal conditions, but it can fail ahead of time when exposed to mechanical damage or when low-quality fuel is used for the vehicle.

In order to avoid harming the environment and make money along the way, it is necessary to sell unnecessary catalysts for scrap. For more information, see AutoCatalystMarket -- catalytic converter BMW catalog. Converters from different vehicle brands are bought out for scrap. Vehicle parts that come to our country from Europe, the USA, Asia are of particularly high value.

Dealers that buy out converters enable drivers to earn money and save the environment since used converters accumulate hazardous toxic substances that can pollute the air and soil if the part is simply thrown away like ordinary garbage.

Design

The catalytic converters have different designs and installation locations; they are installed after the engine or at the exhaust pipe outlet. They vary in the types of carriers coated with the catalytic layer.

There are the following types of carriers:

• steel;
• cast-iron;
• ceramic.

The most standard option is when the inner structure is made of ceramic, and the outer body is made of metal. The all-metal body is more reliable compared to the ceramics one. It is not damaged by shock and other mechanical impacts. But at the same time, the ceramic body is used more frequently because it is cheaper.

The ceramic part to be damaged, it is enough for a vehicle to drive into a deep puddle after rain.  Such a catalytic converter will be damaged even being hit with a stone. Ceramics is fragile, which may cause issues in the exhaust system, the vehicle will not start at the first attempt, and problems with the engine may also come up.

Threats that can be posed by a failed catalytic converter

If the converter is out-of-service, it is not safe to drive the vehicle. When the engine started, the fuel does not immediately ignite. If its quality is low, unburned fuel residues accumulate in the exhaust tract and the catalytic converter. And when the engine starts, the accumulated fuel explodes, the converter honeycombs crumble. Such a nuisance can even cause fire and ignition of the entire car.

Ceramic and metal converters have an equally negative reaction to poor-quality fuels. The ducts are clogged, the engine power is reduced, and the catalytic converter overheats from the high temperature. An overheated converter can melt the aluminum heat shield and ignite the anti-corrosion coating on the bottom side. There were such cases when they started to massively install catalytic converters on public buses, but fleet workers did not monitor the condition of the exhaust system and let fire to break out.

To avoid premature converter wear, it is required to:

• monitor the quality of fuel;
• avoid driving over stones, kerbs.

After the catalytic converter fails, it should be replaced with a new one or its analog that is more affordable. There is another option -- to install a flame arrester instead of the converter. But such a replacement will contribute to accelerated wear of the exhaust system.