MotorWeek’s Pat Goss (RockAuto.com is a MotorWeek Sponsor) explains what the check engine light might be telling you about a coil on plug (cop) that could help prevent ruining the catalytic converter.
Motorweek televisions original automotive magazine brought to you by rockauto.com line from a comprehensive selection of brands prices and specifications rockauto.com all the parts your car will ever need the catalytic converter just about every car built in the last 40 years has one and many of them end up where we’re headed next at gauss’s garage do you read
Your owner’s manual more importantly do you follow what it tells you to do especially when it comes to the yellow check engine light it tells you if that yellow light is flashing that you’re supposed to shut the engine off as soon as you safely can because if you don’t well you can damage this part right here this is a typical catalytic converter cars today have
Multiple converters on them and they’re often built into an assembly such as we see here that assembly can be expensive none of them are really cheap but no matter what it costs there’s no reason on earth to damage something when turning the key off will prevent it you see what happens here is real simple when that light is flashing one of the cylinders in your car
Is not firing properly and that means on some cars that you could have liquid gasoline accumulating in the catalytic converters underneath the car that causes them to overheat and when they do they can be damaged now one of the more common causes of this is right here this is a coil on plug assembly this is the spark plug this is the ignition coil that produces the
High-voltage spark for the plug these are referred to as cop cop assemblies and as the car ages these coils get weak and when they fail you have a flashing engine light all right now inside the catalytic converter we have media material it’s made of a ceramic material such as we see here we can see the light right through this that means that it can flow exhaust
Gas through it very easily but when it gets flooded with fuel it overheats and this ceramic turns into what looks like a chunk of coal such as we see here it melts it blocks the flow of exhaust gas it ceases to treat emissions and you have a problem so check engine light starts flashing shut the car off as soon as you possibly can and if you need a new catalytic
Converter make sure you find out why the old one failed before you put a new one on did the old one just wear out or is there some problem that caused it to overheat and melt down such as we’ve seen here if it is an external cause if you put a new one on and it melts down the same as the old one did the manufacturer’s warranty will not cover you and you’re going
To be out some money so check first and if you have a question or comment drop me a line right here at motorweek you
Transcribed from video
Check Engine Light & the Catalytic Converter By RockAuto Auto Parts
