Precious Moments Crew... How much Platinum is there and what's it worth???

Broadstruck · January 28, 2009 7:51AM

I need a new catalytic converter for my vehicle... I heard there's a good amount of platinum in them.

Anyone know how much

gecko109 · January 28, 2009 8:02AM

I've heard as much as 1/20th of an ounce. Thats right around $50 worth at current spot.

Wingsrule · January 28, 2009 8:39AM

Straight from WikiAnswers:

There are usually about 3 grams of platinum in a catalytic converter. There are 31.1 grams in an ounce. Platinum is at $2000/ounce so you can figure right at $200 worth. Please note manufacturers are starting to use other materials so you may have very little, if any, platinum.

You can tell by the price that the answer is a little out of date.

coinsarefun · January 28, 2009 8:52AM

I'll trade ya straight up for 4 vf common date Morgans for your old one

Stefanie

cars · January 28, 2009 9:06AM

Depends on what type of car you have. When platinum and Cats were at their peak last year I dealt with them a lot. Most of the foreign vehicles have to contain more plat than 1/20 or even 1/10 ounce as they were bringing $200-$400 for small and large foreign cats. That was to a middle man so he was getting even more and then they had to be refined so I imagine close to 1/3-1/2 oz in the larger cats. Price could have also been b/c the cats contained Rhodium and Palladiam as well. Rhodium was well over $10K/oz if I remember correct.

Ford cats do not contain much as they were only bringing $50 At the peak although fords contain 2 cats per pipe, dual exhaust has 4 cats on ford. Aftermarket cats sold for $20 at peak. BMW and other exotic cars were the best/highest priced.

Deadhorse · January 28, 2009 9:07AM

More lies brought to you and paid by you from the Feds.

Modern vehicles, within the last 12-15 years, do NOT benefit from catalytic converters. It's still open to question whether they ever did to older vehicles. We now know that supposedly scientific test results have been fraudulently forced on the dumbed down masses for longer than we ever thought.

They do reduce your milage and performance and that serves big brother very well.

I have removed and replaced all mine with test pipes or gutted them over the last 20 years. All my cars and trucks have passed emissions requirements with flying colors and I have gotten better milage at the same time.

This was simply a "feel good" law passed by a feel good legislation to pacify the enviro nuts. It remains one of the better cases of hoodwinking even after all these years. These same legislators are still busy ripping us off today.

If you are faced with buying one, simply buy a fake one, a hollow one. There are plenty out there. If they think it's real, you'll pass easily.

If we keep cowtowing to these fools who think they know better than us, we'll all be driving cars with 300 foot extension cords and windmills on top.

cars · January 28, 2009 9:11AM

I find it hard to believe you passed emissions without a cat. While I'm in ohio I don't have to worry about it much as they do not make us pass emissions. I do know a lot of friends of mine in Cali and NY that put aftermarket cats on their cars and couldn't pass emissions, certainly not with a test pipe or hollowed out cat. Removing them will give you more power and MPG on older vehicles. Removing cats from newer cars will throw your Check engine light and screw with the Fuel curves as well resulting in less power and MPG.

Deadhorse · January 28, 2009 9:27AM

<< I find it hard to believe you passed emissions without a cat. While I'm in ohio I don't have to worry about it much as they do not make us pass emissions. I do know a lot of friends of mine in Cali and NY that put aftermarket cats on their cars and couldn't pass emissions, certainly not with a test pipe or hollowed out cat. Removing them will give you more power and MPG on older vehicles. Removing cats from newer cars will throw your Check engine light and screw with the Fuel curves as well resulting in less power and MPG. >>

Actually, I live in the toughest area in the country for emissions requirements. This is one huge city and we are in the stiffest category for emissions. We are tested yearly and if we don't pass, the car will get you arrested. We must have a current sticker on the windshied.

In Cali and NY, they look at your cat(s), aftermarket must fail, that's how it works. For those I recommend a gutted cat. For those you say have failed, I'm guessing they are wannabe street racers and have messed with their engines. It's not as simple as it used to be and unless one really knows what they are doing, it's easy to foul up while mistakenly thinking they have improved horsepower. I see these kids fail regularly around here and even when they replace things back as they physically were from the factory, it still fails. Need to get around that big brother computer.

Check engine light is nonsense, there is a very simple way around that. You are forgetting the test wire attached to the cat, it simply works as a tell all to the engine computer. Nothing to do with emissions. All you have to do is fool it so it believes it is still attached. Simply ground it properly, you're done. Removing them will give you more power and milage in brand new vehicles as well. I drive a new turbo Carrera among others and none have working cats.

I can tell you a way to take a 40 year oil burner and make it pass easily. A couple of bucks in simple fluids will do it.

I'd like you to open your eyes, you really sound like a fairly young person who has been indoctrinated most, if not all, of your life.

cars · January 28, 2009 9:42AM

Wow, I'm impressed with your ability to psychoanalyze me from a few paragraph's. You did get one thing right, I'm fairly young. I will not instigate an argument with you about the function of cat converters and the fact you cannot just remove it and pass emissions without negative consequences to your vehicle. You obviously know all so there is no point.

Deadhorse · January 28, 2009 9:49AM

<< Wow, I'm impressed with your ability to psychoanalyze me from a few paragraph's. You did get one thing right, I'm fairly young. I will not instigate an argument with you about the function of cat converters and the fact you cannot just remove it and pass emissions without negative consequences to your vehicle. You obviously know all so there is no point. >>

No, I don't know all. However your response does not surprise me.

You are simply wrong regarding emissions tests and how they are foisted upon the public.

There are no negative consequences to your vehicle. One simply has to outwit the big brother computer and it's not that difficult to do.

You've been indoctrinated well. Your lack of real world experience is clear, something that is common in youth. Made my guess easy.

OTOH, it doesn't have to be that way. Your choice.

garsmith · January 28, 2009 11:54AM

Time to go raiding junk yards for caty converters

SportsModerator · January 28, 2009 11:57AM

Play nicely gentlemen.

I can't babysit a war-thread as I have a fresh supply of hacksaw blades and intend on being busy tonight.

Jsayre · January 28, 2009 12:16PM

The price of these has unfortunatley dropped significantly in the past 6 months. It is no longer worth the risk or reward for thieves to steal these, as noticed by the complete lack of short news clips in the media about catalytic converter theft. They are still worth a few bucks but less than a third of what they were this past year. If you have any, treat them like bullion and hang on for the ride, as well as try to acquire them for cents on the dollar while you can. I have had cars fail with out them and pass with out them.

rld14 · January 28, 2009 4:01PM

<< I find it hard to believe you passed emissions without a cat. While I'm in ohio I don't have to worry about it much as they do not make us pass emissions. I do know a lot of friends of mine in Cali and NY that put aftermarket cats on their cars and couldn't pass emissions, certainly not with a test pipe or hollowed out cat. Removing them will give you more power and MPG on older vehicles. Removing cats from newer cars will throw your Check engine light and screw with the Fuel curves as well resulting in less power and MPG. >>

Any OBD2 car will throw a check engine light on if you gut the cats, period. Any 1996 or newer, and many 1994 and newer cars sold in the USA are OBD2.

Here's how it works, OBD2 cars basically monitor their own emissions, they do this via 2 Oxygen Sensors, basically, and I am trying to type this in layman's terms, you have one pre-cat sensor and one post-cat sensor. The precat sensor talks to the ECU and tells it if it';s running too rich or too lean, the second, post-cat sensor tells the ECU if the Catalytic Convertor is behaving itself. If anything else, a hollowed out cat will throw a code because the car won't see it heating up quickly enough. Now, you can get O2 Sims, but that's going a bit far.

Will the car pass emissions without a Cat? Sure it will, it'll pass a sniffer test in all probability, in fact, I had a 1984 BMW that sailed through the sniffer test with a hollowed out cat.

Oh yes, performance... on any modern car hollowing out the cats gives you very little actual performance benefit. Read all the nonsense you want, but do the following before and after... dyno your car. I tried it on a 1998 M3, 58k mile car in otherwise good shape. An AA test pipe gave the car less than 2 RWHP.

Wow, 2 more horses to the rear wheels! Less than 1%! I assure you that you will NOT feel that.

cars · January 28, 2009 5:13PM

funny stuff

PutTogether · January 30, 2009 11:16AM

<< 

<< I find it hard to believe you passed emissions without a cat. While I'm in ohio I don't have to worry about it much as they do not make us pass emissions. I do know a lot of friends of mine in Cali and NY that put aftermarket cats on their cars and couldn't pass emissions, certainly not with a test pipe or hollowed out cat. Removing them will give you more power and MPG on older vehicles. Removing cats from newer cars will throw your Check engine light and screw with the Fuel curves as well resulting in less power and MPG. >>

Any OBD2 car will throw a check engine light on if you gut the cats, period. Any 1996 or newer, and many 1994 and newer cars sold in the USA are OBD2.

Here's how it works, OBD2 cars basically monitor their own emissions, they do this via 2 Oxygen Sensors, basically, and I am trying to type this in layman's terms, you have one pre-cat sensor and one post-cat sensor. The precat sensor talks to the ECU and tells it if it';s running too rich or too lean, the second, post-cat sensor tells the ECU if the Catalytic Convertor is behaving itself. If anything else, a hollowed out cat will throw a code because the car won't see it heating up quickly enough. Now, you can get O2 Sims, but that's going a bit far.

Will the car pass emissions without a Cat? Sure it will, it'll pass a sniffer test in all probability, in fact, I had a 1984 BMW that sailed through the sniffer test with a hollowed out cat.

Oh yes, performance... on any modern car hollowing out the cats gives you very little actual performance benefit. Read all the nonsense you want, but do the following before and after... dyno your car. I tried it on a 1998 M3, 58k mile car in otherwise good shape. An AA test pipe gave the car less than 2 RWHP.

Wow, 2 more horses to the rear wheels! Less than 1%! I assure you that you will NOT feel that. >>

There is NO, I repeat, NO simple modification that can be done to any car, any time, that will make a large performance difference 100% of the time. A car's methods of making power and how it is related to air/fuel, engine speed, compression, forced induction, not to mention the actual application of that power through a transmission, has SO MANY variables, that there is no "magic pill" for better performance on any car.

Taking a cat off will NOT always make your car faster or give you better mileage. The chances of it are very good, but not infallable. Some cars love having their cats ripped out. (My Audi does) and on some it simply can't make a difference that you can feel.

That said, I can not think of a single situation in which the removal of a cat hurts anything. Nothing. It won't change your A/F ratios, how your ECU computes for timing, or anything else. It may not help a great deal - but it certainly can't hurt. And I literally mean can't. It is impossible. The cat is the last stage of the whole process before a the muffler, and you can't convince me that the air not going through the cat's honeycomb is somehow bad for the muffler. Though admittedly some cars with no cat but otherwise stock exhaust sound horrible, but it still isn't hurting a damn thing.

rid14 nailed the part about the check engine light.

cars · January 30, 2009 2:06PM

"The third stage of conversion is a control system that monitors the exhaust stream, and uses this information to control the fuel injection system. There is an oxygen sensor mounted upstream of the catalytic converter, meaning it is closer to the engine than the converter. This sensor tells the engine computer how much oxygen is in the exhaust. The engine computer can increase or decrease the amount of oxygen in the exhaust by adjusting the air-to-fuel ratio."

I understand the information comes from the o2 sensor but w/o the cat the information will be corrupt and will effect the A/F ratio's. Fuel will not be stoich and could result in less MPG.

Norseman88 · January 30, 2009 2:25PM

<< Wow, I'm impressed with your ability to psychoanalyze me from a few paragraph's. You did get one thing right, I'm fairly young. I will not instigate an argument with you about the function of cat converters and the fact you cannot just remove it and pass emissions without negative consequences to your vehicle. You obviously know all so there is no point. >>

It is true that newer vehicles can't run properly without cat's on them, now if you get a handheld tuner or laptop with the correct software you can disable the check engine light and tune your engine to run without cat's. Of course some of the older cars with cat's but no computer would respond very well to removing the cat and running a pipe instead.

Norseman88 · January 30, 2009 2:27PM

<< 

<< Wow, I'm impressed with your ability to psychoanalyze me from a few paragraph's. You did get one thing right, I'm fairly young. I will not instigate an argument with you about the function of cat converters and the fact you cannot just remove it and pass emissions without negative consequences to your vehicle. You obviously know all so there is no point. >>

It is true that newer vehicles can't run properly without cat's on them, now if you get a handheld tuner or laptop with the correct software you can disable the check engine light and tune your engine to run without cat's. Of course some of the older cars with cat's but no computer would respond very well to removing the cat and running a pipe instead. >>

Forgot to add that you would need to run oxygen sensor simulators if running header with no cat's.

ttown · January 31, 2009 12:23AM

ttown · January 31, 2009 12:33AM

It doesn't sound like we have too many hotrodders on this forum. The car will run without cats but it throws a code so you have to cheat around the 02 sensors that are placed on the cats, they sell products to cheat these sensors. A good tune on almost any car will net 10 to 20 RWHP, cars from the factory are tuned for fuel ecomony to meet CAFE standards as well as low octane gas (87). If you tune to 91 or 93 octane you can reset the timing for more HP. If you have a turbo car like the SRT 4 there a lot of power that can be had for almost nothing or a Supercharged car like the 03/04 cobra all you need is a pulley and a tune and you'll get 75 to 100 extra RWHP. The hot rodders have figured out the computer long ago. The real problem with removing the cats is the increased noise but I will say cats do clean up the exhaust somewhat but even without them newer cars will still pass a sniff test but not the physical inspection. The trick to passing a sniff is making sure your A/F ratio is right,

Norseman88 · February 1, 2009 6:10AM

<< It doesn't sound like we have too many hotrodders on this forum. The car will run without cats but it throws a code so you have to cheat around the 02 sensors that are placed on the cats, they sell products to cheat these sensors. A good tune on almost any car will net 10 to 20 RWHP, cars from the factory are tuned for fuel ecomony to meet CAFE standards as well as low octane gas (87). If you tune to 91 or 93 octane you can reset the timing for more HP. If you have a turbo car like the SRT 4 there a lot of power that can be had for almost nothing or a Supercharged car like the 03/04 cobra all you need is a pulley and a tune and you'll get 75 to 100 extra RWHP. The hot rodders have figured out the computer long ago. The real problem with removing the cats is the increased noise but I will say cats do clean up the exhaust somewhat but even without them newer cars will still pass a sniff test but not the physical inspection. The trick to passing a sniff is making sure your A/F ratio is right, >>

I wouldn't exactly say that cars are tuned for max fuel economy from the factory.
I had a 1987 Buick grand national which I put a bigger turbo, injectors, intercooler, ported heads, bigger downpipe and after market chip, naturally these modifications made the car very fast but it also got alot better mileage (car went from 23 mpg to 28 mpg). The factory sets the fuel mixture quite rich not to enhance fuel mileage quite the opposite, the factory tunes are set quite rich to keep the motor from leaning out (which as you should know would help both power and mileage) this helps them out on factory warranty work by preventing motors from self destructing along with related drivetrain parts.

Norseman88 · February 1, 2009 6:18AM

I forgot to add that after I bought my 2006 GTO I wanted a little more snort without tearing into the motor and the IRS ( the supension alone would cost a small fortune) so I decided to but a Predator hand held tuner and put a Borla exhaust on along with a modified air intake.
The difference in performance was noticable and according to my computer I picked up roughly 3 mpg, of course the tuner helped eliminate the dreaded "skip shift" from my 6 speed manual tranny along with advancing the timing and leaning the fuel mixture as these cars run pig rich from the factory.

Precious Moments Crew... How much Platinum is there and what's it worth???

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