Ford Taurus Catalytic Converters
What is it, and what does it do?
The catalytic converter on the Ford Taurus (well for any car for that matter) is a component placed inline with the exhaust system. It’s task is to reduce the toxicity from the emissions of the combustion engine. More specifically, a two-way catalytic converter reformulates carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide (less harmful) and Oxidizes unburnt hydrocarbons (basically turns it into carbon dioxide and water). A three-way has an additional task reduce nitrogen oxide (a molecule composed of nitrogen and oxygen) by splitting it into oxygen and nitrogen.
Construction of The Catalytic Converter
It either contains a ceramic or stainless steel foil honeycomb center. This provides the most surface area for the “cat” to do it’s stuff.
Ceramic Core Honeycomb Center of The Catalytic Converter
There is also a wash coat that makes the surface irregular to increases the area even further. The actual catalyst is made of precious metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium, and that’s why converters are so darn expensive.
Damage that can occur
It’s called poisoning when the converter is exposed to substances that coat the working surfaces rendering it unable to perform it’s duties. The most notable is lead (that’s why we use unleaded gasoline). Others come from gasoline additives and coolant, if it leaks into the combustion chamber. Some of these can be removed by running the engine hard to melt them off. There is no hope for lead unfortunately.
Meltdown can also occur if your Ford Taurus is running rich or under a misfire condition. This causes high levels of unburned fuel which skyrockets it’s temperature, melts the honeycomb, and causes severe exhaust restriction. You will know when this happens. The car will be very sluggish. Don’t drive any further because you could do damage to internal parts of your engine.
All Converters are NOT created equal
Just a side not. When looking to purchase beware of cheap converters. Not all are bad, but make sure you check out their warranty. If there is none, then I would be weary of buying from them. Cheap cost = cheap materials