Does your Geo Metro have reduced engine power? Does it show a regular hesitation with each press of the gas pedal? Maybe your exhaust smells like rotten eggs. Perhaps your Metro failed its emissions test. The problem could very well be the catalytic converter.

This converter is part of the exhaust system. Its job is to reduce the level of harmful, poisonous gas that your engine emits with the exhaust.

A vehicle’s exhaust naturally contains carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxide. Each one of these elements could cause health and environmental problems. The Earth’s ozone layer is particularly affected by these hazards. The catalytic converter is located at the front of the exhaust system and vaguely resembles the muffler. All of your Geo’s exhaust flows freely through it, but it uses a chemical reaction to take out those harmful elements found in your exhaust. It turns the carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide, the nitrogen oxides into nitrogen and oxygen, and the hydrocarbons into water. The failure of your catalytic converter is caused by a fuel mixture that is too rich, which in turn can create heat stress. The underlying problem could be caused by several things. First, your exhaust system could be emitting too much unburned fuel. Next, the computerized controls could be sending too much fuel into the combustion chamber. Finally, your fuel injectors could be failing. To ensure that a new catalytic converter would last a long time, it is important to trace the cause of your Geo Metro’s rich fuel mixture.It would be a waste of time and money to replace the catalytic converter without fixing what made it go bad in the first place.