My CAT got stolen last week...stupid jerks...

Many many recent threads related to your question, just have to read unfortunately.

https://priuschat.com/search/226995947/?q=california+cat+converter&o=relevance&c[node]=3+22+87+68+56+21+49+91+12+54+13+85+14

 

Well you can drive the car without a cat in a pinch.
Depending on how neat the perps were when they excised YOUR cat, you can easily fit a temporary pipe in the gap (secure the o2 wires that are probably dangling) or even use a down-turned tip and point the exhaust down away from the heat shield....and of course since there IS a heat shield you can just drive the car sans muffler.

The Check Engine Light will stay illuminated but it will NOT hurt the car.
TRUST ME
People in states that don't have smog take their cats out all the time.....sometimes even before they fail.
There are even ways to eliminate the CEL, but I do not recommend you go down that road.
It's not an ecologically sound thing to do long term.

Good Luck!

 

^ That's why you will want to graft a straight pipe into your exhaust system if it's going to be more than a few days driving sans muffler.

@ECU....
I'm a little curious about this.
Short to what?
From what?

I mention this because not being a California resident, I've never seen a cat theft in real life, but I AM an electronics tech in real life.

So.....I'm thinking that if there are two wires going to the O2 Sensor (according to what I'm reading...and again....I've never looked) then one is going to be a ground wire maybe running through a biasing resistor, and the other is going to be a sense wire, probably diode protected......
BUT here's the thing.......O2 sensors are voltage GENERATORS.
Basically, they're an electrochemical cell.....producing probably under a volt throughout their range of measurement.
I'm thinking that....given the location of the wires, and their function it would be criminally stupid if "shorting them to ground" would zorch the ECM.

I'm thinking instead that shorting those wires to ground may instead lead to more air pollution, but only because power boats are not regulated for air quality as stringently as private automobiles are....even out on the left coast.

Easy way to tell in real life would be to take a multimeter and see what's really going on with those wires when the car is booted up and the engine is running....

It would be a shame to get ripped off by cat thieves and then again at the dealership.....

 

Ug...Our daughter has our 2010 liftback in Minneapolis, MN. She is a senior at the University of Minnesota and needs the car for her internship. Previously she got by without a vehicle during the school year. Unfortunately, she has to park on the street. Needless to say, I'm a bit worried about the cat getting stolen.

 

Damn....I was thinking about getting a cat shield!

 

Too bad we can get a 'Tazer car alarm system'...lol. I suppose we we would get sued if something like that existed.

 

There are solutions :



That's for a Gen3.

Although @The Critic reports there is some resonating with metal to metal contact .

I told him to turn the radio up.

But protect that Barcelona Red Prius.

 

The oxygen sensor has four wires- two for the sensor; a signal circuit and signal return,- and two for the sensor heater; a 12V ignition feed, and a ground side control inside the ecu.

When the sensor is "hacked" off, if the heater feed wire is shorted to the ground side control then the mosfet in the ecu will fry (there is no overcurrent protection on any of the Gen2 ecu drivers).

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OK.
So it's not a good idea to short a heater wire to ground or each other.
I guess that's part of the "criminally stoopid" design.
The good news is that you can get a new ECU for about $50 and they're easy to swap out.

TL;DR

Protect the wires.
Get a second opinion if somebody says that "You need a new_____"
(Except the cat.... )

There's a sub-forum here for people selling cars....or you might be able to donate the car to charity - depending on your economic situ.

@Sacto.
That's a different conversation....

 

Thieves are stupid. They even stole an aftermarket cat from my son's car because they're too dumb to recognize what they're looking at....The State (SC's newspaper) just had a front page article about cat thefts in the Columbia and surrounding areas. If they can't recognize that a 'clamped' cat is aftermarket, God help those who welded theirs in place. At least it was easy to replace with another clamp on style, especially since they seem to be nice enough to leave the bolts and springs laying on the ground. They were even nice enough to cut the wires to the O2 sensor instead of ripping them out.

 

I can see it now...

"HEY....I have a $1,000 PRIUS muffler!!"

....."No....you have a $100 Rock Auto muffler....."

 

Yes, I humor myself about it by imagining all his thief friends or his 'fence' scrap dealer laughing at him for being so stupid or his 'boss' beating him with a baseball bat in a plastic lined room.

 

No- most criminals are stoopid. Can't really expect Toyota to "hey, why don't we design the car so that if somebody hacks the wiring harness while stealing the cat and shorts the power straight to the ECU driver it won't blow the mosfet". Well, maybe they could but that would likely make the ECU cost lots more $$$.