05/30/2026
Myth Buster Friday Answer
FALSE — and using these products on a genuinely damaged converter is a waste of money that delays the correct repair.
Catalytic converter cleaner additives work by adding a cleaning agent to the fuel that burns through the engine and exhausts through the converter at elevated temperature. They can clear minor carbon deposits and combustion residue from a converter substrate that is essentially healthy but slightly fouled — a situation that sometimes occurs in vehicles used primarily for short trips that never fully heat the converter to its optimal operating temperature. In that narrow use case, the additive may provide some marginal benefit. However, a converter that has been damaged by a misfire is a physically different situation. Misfires send unburned fuel into the converter, where it ignites and generates temperatures far beyond the substrate's design tolerance — literally melting or fracturing the ceramic honeycomb structure inside the converter housing. A converter with a melted or fractured substrate cannot be cleaned back to function. The substrate is physically destroyed and the converter needs to be replaced. Running a tank of additive through a mechanically failed converter does nothing except give the driver a false sense that something productive was accomplished while the real repair waits. Quick Muffler Shop diagnoses converter condition accurately before making any recommendation — and never suggests a service that will not actually solve the problem. Hope everyone has a great weekend — see you Monday at 7.
