Catalytic Converter Theft, Parts and Repair

welcome, and thank you!

this makes a good case for pure ev's

 

Quick money for newly unemployed. Big hurt for those of us who don't steal for for a living.

 

Same thing happened to my 2008 Prius a month and a half ago. I bought all the Toyota OEM parts (flange bolts with springs, O2 sensor, and flange gasket) except for the catalytic converter itself. Since I don't live in CA, I bought a MagnaFlow 49752. I bought every part from amazon. I also bought the Cap City shield for $160 shipped. Total cost after installation at the local garage -- about $1,300.

 

Had the same thing happen 2 years ago, parked on the street overnight in Silver Lake/Los Feliz, big roaring when I started up. There had been a string of these in the area.
Local muffler shop on Glendale Ave charged ~$2400
State Farm covered most of it.
Ouch.
Now I park in a garage under my apartment bldg. Nominally gated, but people walk in and out all the time

 

Will you help me figure out which oxygen sensors I need to replace? The thief cut the bolts attaching the cat to the manifold (you can see one tension spring stayed on the frame) and the pipe just before the muffler.

According to the diagrams I should have the air/fuel (expensive one) intact as it's upstream of the joint there. But I can't tell if I need one or two of the O2 sensors that go on the cat.

There is a single set of four wires hanging down. Visible in the picture but not clear.

Also there are several Denso sensors that say they fit, can you tell me which I need? Cat is in transit to arrive in a couple days and I'd like to have all the parts on hand.

Thanks. I had no idea this (cat theft) was an issue until ... yesterday. Ugh.

SM-J737P ?

 

You can get the Denso one. Works fine but the wires are a different colour.
I stripped them and joined it inside a plastic junction box.
The 2 whites go to the blacks on the denso
The black goes to the blue on the denso
The grey goes to the white on the denso
It's good and it's cheap.

 

What cat did you purchase?

 

Fits 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Toyota Prius 1.5L V4 Catalytic Converter | eBay

I'd like to make a review of this product since I linked to it.
Packing and shipping were effective and quick enough. It arrived UPS.
It is the right size and shape and it fits.
It comes with a new gasket, new spring bolts and a 1 7/8 pipe clamp.
My dad taught me to weld when I was seven, and this is how my welds looked until my second week. But these are complete and intact. :]
The flange is round and curved properly to fit the gasket and the gasket is the right size.

However.

The pipe clamp might lead you the buyer to believe that you could attach this exhaust pipe to the one that's coming out of the upstream end of the muffler by either sliding it over or sliding it inside and clamping down the bigger pipe. Not so! This is the same size pipe! So you will either be making a friend with a welder or find a creative way to put them together.

The way I did it was to cut three 1.5 slots into the new pipe, and use big pliers to flange it out big enough to fit over the original. Then I found some flashing and made a single wrap around the joint. Then I put the pipe clamp over the flashing at the part of the joint I thought was best for clamping. And away I rolled. It leaks a little and I might get some of the hi-temp JBWeld putty, pull off the flashing and goop up all the little gaps then flash and clamp it back up. Or I might not.

Oh. And you'll need to purchase the O2 sensor separately, but this cat has the right size hole to accept it.

SM-J737P ?

I got the Denso one on Amazon.

I didn't do any wire stripping. There are a couple youtubes show how to pull back the carpet at the passenger's feet and install the new sensor just like OEM. Super easy, one trim clip (see the video its hidden well!) to handle and it went right back to looking like an 04 Prius with over 300k on it.

SM-J737P ?

 

Get extra alarm, tilt sensor saved me 3000 a couple days ago.
for Cat shield you can go Royal Car Limo Service in SSF, they have it 250 installed.

 

In Colorado we have the right to protect property law. I have video cameras and an SBR suppressed loaded with green tip 5.56 to put holes in any theif on my lawn. Once videos of would be theives bleeding out on front lawns go viral.. they will go back to stealing something else.

 

To the original poster - Thanks for the detailed post.

Because of all the catalytic converter thefts, I decided to get some protection. The local repair shop that I trust has the Millercat cat shield in stock since there are so many thefts recently. For SoCal (LA county), it was $180 for the shield (retail on the Millercat website is the same) and $95 for one hour of labor. I think it took slightly less than an hour to install. (I think $300 to install is definitely high). Hopefully, the thieves will target a different prius when they see the shield.

I was considering both the Cap City Muffler and Millercat, but went with the Millercat because he had it in stock, Toyota is recommending this shield, and some reviews I read about the Millercat here on priuschat.

Cheers!

 

Leaving aside the moral issues of killing somebody over a catalytic converter...
Even on free soil, you're probably going to have DA trouble if you start knocking holes in a cat thief with a firearm.
You may want to re-read the law.
It probably says something like "reasonable force."

Now.......peppering their CAR with bird-shot or salt???

 

Yes, from the photo, there are less holes to be made on the Millercat than the Cap City Muffler shield.

 

You might want to re-read that law. The versions I see state that you can use only "reasonable and appropriate physical force", and only to the extent that is reasonably necessary.

Deadly force is only to defend yourself or another. I.e. you can't put holes in a simple thief who doesn't escalate to a threat to kill or maim you.

=========================
2016 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 18 - Criminal Code
Article 1 - Provisions Applicable to Offenses Generally
Part 7 - Justification and Exemptions From Criminal Responsibility
§ 18-1-706. Use of physical force in defense of property
Universal Citation: CO Rev Stat § 18-1-706 (2016)
A person is justified in using reasonable and appropriate physical force upon another person when and to the extent that he reasonably believes it necessary to prevent what he reasonably believes to be an attempt by the other person to commit theft, criminal mischief, or criminal tampering involving property, but he may use deadly physical force under these circumstances only in defense of himself or another as described in section 18-1-704.

https://law.justia.com/codes/colorado/2016/title-18/article-1/part-7/section-18-1-706/
CO 18-1-706. Use of physical force in defense of property – Law of Self Defense

 

Thanks for the detailed breakdown, we should archive this given the recent article about stolen cats in CA.

Had you gotten full coverage on this car, what was the likelihood they would have scrapped the car? I ask because I'm on craigslist looking at the amount of cars in the Bay/East Bay area listed with stolen cats, are these theft recoveries that the insurance either didn't cover or the owners simply bought back?

 

Thanks to the OP for this post. Mine was just stolen from 2006. I have comprehensive coverage so, to answer Socal_Prius' question, it wasn't totaled by the insurance agency.
As for carb compliant replacements - I think this Executive Order gives an aftermarket compliant converter for 2006 Priuses (a MagnaFlow). Unfortunately, it lists the MFG part number and I can't find it but hopefully the Exec Order helps someone.


Executive Order

 

the link is blank when i click on it, am i doing something wrong?

 

Maybe the link doesn't want to play nice. It's Executive Order D-193-151 if you want to do a search for it. I called MagnaFlow and the bad news is they are still in production and don't expect them to be available until August. :/