Whatever Happened to...: Motoring Motoring Discussion forum

Motoring Discussion > Whatever Happened to...	Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Robin O'Reliant	Replies: 13

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Tue 4 Aug 20 20:26

Whatever Happened to... - Robin O'Reliant

...that flatulent smell you used to get from the exhaust when Catalytic convertors first appeared on cars?

It disappeared after a while, did they change the materials they used or something? I'd forgotten about it till Mrs O'Reliant mentioned it tonight.

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Tue 4 Aug 20 20:34

Whatever Happened to... - Manatee

They probably took the sulphur out of petrol.

I'd forgotten about that.

Edit: Yes they did, from 2011.

Last edited by: Manatee on Tue 4 Aug 20 at 20:35

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Wed 5 Aug 20 00:08

Whatever Happened to... - smokie

I remember when I was young the stink when they dug up our local street. Maybe the sewers were more leaky then.

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Wed 5 Aug 20 09:14

Whatever Happened to... - bathtub tom

Anyone else noticed the stagnant water pong M1 J14? I always get it when I leave the southbound carriageway.

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Wed 5 Aug 20 09:37

Whatever Happened to... - Duncan

Isn't that just Milton Keynes?

Why else would they call it Milton?

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Thu 6 Aug 20 20:16

Whatever Happened to... - martin aston

I often sense an exhaust smell out of old, pre-cat cars. Did they all used to smell that bad originally and we just got used to it?

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Thu 6 Aug 20 22:47

Whatever Happened to... - bathtub tom

>> I often sense an exhaust smell out of old, pre-cat cars. Did they all used
>> to smell that bad originally and we just got used to it?

They all smell like that, because I assume, they all used to run much richer. I deal with a number of 80-140 year old cars and they won't run lean.

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Fri 7 Aug 20 06:02

Whatever Happened to... - Duncan

Which 1880 car do you deal with?

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Fri 7 Aug 20 09:44

Whatever Happened to... - bathtub tom

>> Which 1880 car do you deal with?

There's a Marot-Gardon, which I believe creeps in just under the wire.

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Fri 7 Aug 20 07:42

Whatever Happened to... - Bromptonaut

>> I often sense an exhaust smell out of old, pre-cat cars. Did they all used
>> to smell that bad originally and we just got used to it?

I think so yes. Currently on camping trip to France and we've had it full on on a couple of days from and elderly VW Combi based motorcaravan.

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Fri 7 Aug 20 08:06

Whatever Happened to... - jc2

It was the smell of Hydrogen Sulphide(H2S);In those days,it took several minutes for the catalyst to reach operating temperature.When I left the industry almost twenty years ago,catalysts were reaching operating temperature within thirty seconds due to more and different precious metals and positioning.Presumably,by now,that time to fire up has been reduced still more.

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Fri 7 Aug 20 09:30

Whatever Happened to... - Manatee

>> It was the smell of Hydrogen Sulphide(H2S);In those days,it took several minutes for the catalyst
>> to reach operating temperature.When I left the industry almost twenty years ago,catalysts were reaching operating
>> temperature within thirty seconds

You don't get the rotten egg smell at all now, owing mainly I'd guess to the the 90% reduction in allowed sulphur content imposed 10 years ago.

The characteristic smell in the pre-cat days was mostly unburnt hydrocarbons and burning oil. It's very noticeable to me whenever I follow one now.

The general attitude to pollution now is fairly irresponsible but it was on a different scale in those days, as if the sea, the land and the air were so extensive that none of it made any difference and somehow went back to nature without doing any harm. Now it is probably impossible to eat food or breathe air that doesn't contain microplastics.

On which digression I was horrified the other day to see that the yellow microfibre cloths I use for car cleaning among other things were shedding tiny fibres despite having been washed many times, no doubt putting millions of the things into the water supply. The trouble is the blasted things are so much easier to use than cotton stockinette and chammy leathers but I have decided not to buy any more. I suspect it's a lost cause.

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Tue 11 Aug 20 16:06

Whatever Happened to... - Oldgit

This is the main drawback with these cloths but from my point of view, it's the damn little fibres that are alway left on my car's windows especially if one uses the cloth too dry. Once it 'drags' on the glass the microscopic fibres are left everwhere.

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Fri 14 Aug 20 22:13

Whatever Happened to... - Dave_

>> as if the sea, the land and the air were so extensive that none of it made any difference

Have you visited the Inner Hebrides lately? It's pretty much like that out there - there isn't anywhere to fix or scrap cars so they just keep on leaking and smoking everywhere.

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