To meet stringent LEV and ULEV emission standards, a considerable amount of development work was necessary to ensure suitable efficiency and durability of catalyst systems. The main challenge is to cut off the engine cold-start emissions. It is known that up to 80% of the total hydrocarbons(THC) are exhausted within the first five minutes in case of US FTP 75 cycle. Close-Coupled Catalyst(CCC) provides fast light-off temperature by utilizing the energy in the exhaust gas. However, if some malfunction occurred at engine operation and the catalyst temperature exceeds 1050$^{C}$, the catalytic converter is deactivated and shows the poor conversion efficiency. This paper presents effEcts of engine operating conditions on catalytic converter temperature in a SI engine, which are the indications of catalytic deactivation. Exhaust gas temperature and catalyst temperature were measured as a function of air/fuel ratio, ignition timing and misfire rates. Additionally, light-off time was measured to investigate the effect of operating conditions. It was found that ignition retard and misfire can result in the deactivation of the catalytic converter, which eventually leads the drastic thermal aging of the converter. Significant reduction in light-off time can be achieved with proper control of ignition retard and misfire, which can reduce cold-start HC emissions as well.