Re: All this talk about cat converters

[C2slayman@domain.elided]

Hi John'
       God!  What a horror story.  But it might not be as bad as your friend 
thinks.  First of all, maybe it's not bad that the cat shell was empty.  If 
the sulfur content in the SAfrican fuel is high, that might have polluted the 
catalyst anyway.  
       Do you have wide filler holes for leaded gas tanks and narrow filler 
holes for unleaded gas tanks?  In the US, during the conversion from leaded 
to unleaded back in the '70s, the narrow (or filler restriction) was used to 
prevent putting gas from a leaded pump into an unleaded car.
       Unleaded costs more in the US because it takes more refining to get an 
equivalent octane.  Tetra-ethyl lead is a very cheap octane booster.  
Unfortunatley it has all sorts of nasty side effects, so I for one am glad 
it's gone in the US and we are fully converted to unleaded.  
       In my view, the push for lower emissions in the US was actually a 
blessing for car enthusiasts.  But being the "harry knuckled" crew that we 
are, we're too stupid to recognize it.   The adoption of fuel injection, 
electronic ignition, knock sensors and all the other electronic performance 
enhancements would NEVER have come about in the US without the EPAs push for 
cleaner air.  If it weren't for the EPA, I'd still be rebuilding the stupid 
leaky gaskets on my Rochester Quadrajet every other year. 
       New catalytic convertors aren't that expensive if you don't have to 
buy them from the factory.  Have your friend check out 

http://www.randomtechnology.com/audi.html

or

http://www.discountconverter.com/

       My guess is that once he has a new catalytic coverter installed and 
passes European emissions, they aren't going to look under the car and say 
"Hey, that's not the stock Audi unit!  This isn't legal!"  If he could get 
the car to Europe (probably won't let him do it without passing smog first), 
he might be able to pick up an Audi cat con from a wrecking yard cheap!

Cheers,
Charlie

PS  I don't know what the bill of sale looks like in SAfrica.  In the US, the 
manufacturer has to call out all the line items.  So you will see a statement 
about the emissions control equipment.  If it says it has a catalytic 
converter, then it will have it.  Did your friends bill of sale contain any 
reference to the details of the emissions equipment?

In a message dated 06/21/2002 7:46:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:


> Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 17:27:54 +0200
> From: "John Fielding" <johnf@domain.elided>
> Subject: All this talk about cat converters
> 
> Hi All, no Alfa content here but an interesting story that happened here 
> recently.
> 
> In a local actuality magazine published here an article featured the 
> nefarious dealings of
> a certain Gemanic motor manufacturer based here.  Seems a guy in Cape Town
> bought an A**i A4 1.8T cos' it was fitted with a cat converter, he paid big 
> $$'s cos the
> car is fully imported and attracts an additional tax because of this .
> 
> Now in this country we have no emissions issues as yet, talk is that it 
> will be introduced
> maybe in 2010 or later, who knows?  Why buy a car fitted with a cat con 
> when the law
> doesn't require it?  Well the guy was planning to emigrate to the UK in the 
> future as he
> was originally from there and under the UK tax & customs laws if you have 
> owned a car here
> for longer than 2 years it doesn't cost any duties to import to the UK, it 
> is simply
> treated as part of the "chattels & possessions" belonging to you.
> 
> Well he went shopping for a suitable new car, chose the A**i 1.8T cos it 
> was emission
> legal in the UK & Europe and the brochure listed the emissions features "O2 
> sensor, cat
> converter etc etc".  The salesman confirmed the car indeed did have a cat 
> converter and
> the workshop manager instructed the new owner on collecting his new car 
> "under no
> circumstances use unleaded fuel cos it will destroy the converter".  All of 
> this was known
> by the buyer and he dutifully paid an extra 5c a litre everytime he filled 
> up with
> unleaded fuel, cos unleaded here actually cost more than leaded!  Screwy 
> tax system here!
> The owner was very pleased with his new purchase, although he could have 
> bought a much
> cheaper locally made car, and he lavished vast sums on servicing over a 
> lengthy period,
> everything had to be just right for his "new toy".
> 
> Fast forward a while and the time to depart is approaching and he has to 
> obtain an
> emissions clearance certificate for importing the vehicle into the UK.  He 
> goes along to a
> certified testing station for a smog check (funny we have several of those 
> but no legal
> requirement to comply, they exist to check imported vehicles!), and was 
> told that his
> vehicle fails the UK emissions test badly.  The car is only about 18 months 
> old and
> meticulously serviced by the A**i agent and only genuine A**i parts have 
> been used - yada
> yada - when the tester informs him the car never will pass emissions as it 
> has no cat
> converter!
> 
> Seems A**i have been selling a lot of cars claiming they have cat 
> converters fitted when
> in fact they aren't fitting them!  The owner was livid and confronted them 
> about the
> matter only to be shown the "fine print" in the sales brochure which stated 
> that the
> specification is only "a representation of the build standard & some 
> vehicles may not have
> all the features listed, A**i reserves the right to amend specifications 
> etc etc ".
> 
> The "cat converter" was cut open by an independent test laboratory and 
> found to
> contain ------------ nothing - just an empty box!!!!
> 
> The owner is now down a lot of $$'s and has a car he can't legally import 
> to the UK
> without spending about $4000 to have it brought up to emissions standards, 
> which the UK
> will not accept because it wasn't done by the original factory and tested 
> against the
> certification lodged with the EU specification authorities.  A**i have 
> washed their hands
> of the matter but have offered technical advise to assist the conversion, 
> no suggestion of
> them paying for the conversion.  The case is going to court soon!
> 
> BTW  The sulphur content in the fuels produced here are far too high for 
> cat converters to
> work correctly, many of the imported vehicles have the converters removed 
> by the agent
> before delivering the cars to the buyers, cos they make a terrible smell of 
> rotten eggs!
> 
> It could only happen here.
> 
> John
> Durban
> South Africa
> Alfetta 1.8L turbo - no cat converter!
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