Anyone cleaned the inside of their exhaust system?

[Bluesideup]

When I bought my 2G Tsi it was running ridiculously rich. As in fuel spitting out of the tailpipe. The previous owner said he could only drive it 5 miles before the plugs loaded up and it died. Hopefully that means he didn't drive it far.

I have fixed the problem and changed out the oil. Compression is good but I'm wondering about the carbon build up in the exhaust. Primarily I'm concerned about the catalytic converter. I've only driven it about a mile, of course it was blowing out soot the entire time.

I am pulling the exhaust to swap the drivetrain into another car. Any ideas what I should use to clean out the cat?

 

[chico904]

Gasoline, brake cleaner... for the exhaust. Not sure on the cat.

 

[Bluesideup]

As long as it will keep the carbon from clumping up and clogging the cat. Are DSM cats mettallic or ceramic core?

 

[chico904]

I just noticed you meant clean out the cat, not the exhaust. I dont know if you can clean out a cat. Why not just buy a new high flow cat, or better yet a downpipe that eliminates the cat completely?

 

[Bluesideup]

Yeah I'm sure the carbon is in there I just don't want it to bake on and solidify.

 

[greg90gs]

dont try to clean out the cat just avoid the problem and install a high flow or "test pipe" if you load up the cat with a flammable liquid (gas,rake cleaner) you run the risk of one clogging the cat the rest of the way with the sut and stuff that you are breaking free, also if you dont give it the proper time to dry/drain you will smoke like a mother, and you could run the risk of causeing detonation in the cat, trust me i have seen it first hand guy did the same thing you did while i was at firestone when we told him his cat was shot so he filled it with break clean from autozone stuck it back on and went for a drive to blow out the crap, which would just get clogged in the muffler, and the exhaust got so hot it ignited he pilled it back into our shop sounding like a tractor with the cat bulged out and a portion of it blown open

 

[mrTalonAWD95]

take the cat off and weld a test pipe. you gain power and lose worries.

 

[->PrOjEcTGS<-]

Dude lives in California. I think the best thing for you to do is drop in a High Flow Cat. Putting a test pipe in a car, in a state where they are nazis about their emissions is bad news!

 

[my dreamt dsm]

dont try to clean out the cat just avoid the problem and install a high flow or "test pipe" if you load up the cat with a flammable liquid (gas,rake cleaner) you run the risk of one clogging the cat the rest of the way with the sut and stuff that you are breaking free, also if you dont give it the proper time to dry/drain you will smoke like a mother, and you could run the risk of causeing detonation in the cat, trust me i have seen it first hand guy did the same thing you did while i was at firestone when we told him his cat was shot so he filled it with break clean from autozone stuck it back on and went for a drive to blow out the crap, which would just get clogged in the muffler, and the exhaust got so hot it ignited he pilled it back into our shop sounding like a tractor with the cat bulged out and a portion of it blown open

Agreed. Plus u live in Cali like me. Go with high flow cat and save stock for smog. If ## local pigs are strict... Try looking up obx hi flow cat on eBay. Look stock, if u don't like it. Just gut it. Spraying cat with cleaning chemicals will just cause guck to fall and clog up ## cat. Sorry for the spellin, on iPod.

 

[954TalonTsi]

DO NOT TRY AND CLEAN CAT. My friend did same on his S14 before he move to cali. and on way out driveway to drive there, BOOM! lets just say that he left cat-back in my driveway. The break cleaner he used had settled in the cat, even though he had cat off car for 2 days to dry!! He has aggressive timing so we think spark got down and out combustion chamber