My Cats ruined by leaded fuel?
 

Yes, many things escaped me in the pre purchase inspection. The nature of these oversights lies in the fact that I refused to consider buying a red car and did not want the auto trans either. I easily fell in love with the india red at first sight. I knew nothing of the kick down button when on the test drive I went from 60 to 90 faster than I could sign the check. It was these exciting factors that made me overlook or just plain ignore some of the pre-purchase inspection items. So yoou will continue to see me w/ the fis it v/s High HP questions for a while.
On that subject finally.....

I have noticed that my fuel filler neck has been punched out. I assume this was to fit the larger leaded fuel nozzel into the PREMIUM UNLEADED ONLY sized hole. Have my cats been ruined by the use of leaded fuel? If the answer is yes what are my alternatives for best performance? I live in CA so a test pipe is not the answer. I am due for emissions in a few weeks. I saw that the car passed emissions in Tennessee but my understanding is that these cars will pas even the CA test without cats.
TIA,
Andy K

Leaded Fuel would certainly ruin your cats, and it would take a couple of gas tanks to get the lead out of your system. Where did the car run before you bought it? Is there still leaded fuel available in the US?

I think the best way to find out if the cats are ruined is to go to the smog test. If you need a replacement cat, call Susan at <a href="http://www.devek.net" target="_blank">DEVEK</a> - they have replacement cats that are much less expensive than the original factory units (about $350 vs $1,000). 650-592-5287

Good luck!

Nicole,
I bought the car in Tennessee. I can't say exactly as for Tennessee, I assume these states are similar, but in rural Georgia leaded fuel was available up until around 1990. That could mean leaded fuel was used in the car for a few years, but not recently. I have put ~4k miles using only premium unleaded since purchase in 2001. When you say "and it would take a couple of gas tanks to get the lead out of your system" are you refering to the fuel and emissions system or just the cats?
Thanks,
Andy K <img src="graemlins/crying.gif" border="0" alt="[crying]" />

I was referring to the whole fuel system. You should be fine after 4,000 miles.

When the cats came up in Germany in the late 80ies, the government gave incentive discounts to car owners who would add cats to their cars. It was recommended to use up at least 4-5 gas tanks full of unleaded gas before putting the cats on - otherwise the cats could get damaged, and the car would not pass the next emissions test (which from the moment you took the tax incentive was based on having functional cats).

Most people added cats to their cars, because they wanted to do something for the environment, and the registration tax incentives paid for the cat. Besides, the registration tax was raised for cars without cat - Today, a 928 without cats would cost you in the neighborhood of $1200/year in registration alone.

Even though 928s have very clean burning engines, noone on this board has come forward with smog test results that would let a non-cat 928 pass a California emissions test. One owner in Oregon or Washington State built a custom cat exhaust to get the car smogged. If your car fails the smog test, talk to Susan at DEVEK about your options - she might be able to save you a bundle of money.

Best of luck!

Andy,

I wouldn't be sure that the filler nozzle was punched out to allow the use of leaded fuel although that is a possibilty). I took mine out for very different reasons.
On mine, the spring flap for the gas nozzle had broken and all the neigboring peices, being steel, kept building up rust regardless of what I tried. After having my share of fuel pump, filter issues, I decided to remove that peice in the hopes of eliminating a potential source of rust debris in the hopes of keeping the fuel system cleaner.