Stolen Catalytic converter

You would have to go through 8-10 Sawsall blades to get through that shield. The time, noise, and cost of the blades would make the attempted theft futile.

 

Curious how the thieves get under the car, doesn't seem to be much clearance. Thinking I could make a cement block or hump 2-3 inches high under the cat area to park over to lessen the clearance under the car.

 

YouTube shows the guys in action. 3 man team one guy stays behind the wheel for fast get away one guy takes a floor Jack out of the car slides it under the Prius while another guy slides under while he’s jacking. jack guy stands guard while under guy works.

 

Just had mine stolen last night. I live in Hawaii. I have full coverage on the car. I was thinking to just install a straight pipe and bypass the O2 sensor so the check engine light goes out. We don't have smog checks out here.

Gus//

 

Check engine light will not go out by bypassing it.

Just sold my oem cat on ebay $1350. 480 views and 50 watchers.. Constant emails if I have anymore cats.
People are desperate.
Guy who bought it lives in mass.

 

@edthefox5 $1,350!? Thats crazy. Or maybe not. I bought a used california prius, but am moving to TX, where stolen cats are a big problem i read. Going to swap it out for an aftermarket one to pre-empt the inevitable. Thinking of posting it here for members or on ebay. How did you get a box to ship something like that?

 

I used the box that my new after market came in to ship out my eBay cat.

Before you put a new cat on the car paint it with bright paint.
I used VHT HEADER PAINT sold at auto parts store.
Has not burned off yet. In hopes that the thief will see its painted and hopefully look for the part number that’s stamped on both cats and see there not there and realize it’s not an oem cat and not chop it.
But there not rocket scientists so that may be futile anyway.

I will be able to tell how bad it’s getting here as my neighbor leaves his G2 in his driveway mines garaged. I have warned him but he just laughs. If his gets clipped I will know.

 

Is it mainly Gen 2’s they steal from, or all models. I have a 2007 and a 2011 but can only put one in the garage, so I’m wondering which one.

 

Gen2 has a higher scrap value, though it wouldn't surprise me if the gen3 replacement costs more at the dealer parts counter.

They will both be nicked given enough time.

 

The check engine light will always be on unless you find a way to cheat the system.

There are two oxygen sensors. The first O2 sensor is supposed to see O2 levels bouncing up and down (within a certain range) with each puff of exhaust. The second is supposed to see a constantly low level of O2 (indicating the catalytic converters are burning up the left over HC and CO with O2).

If you don't have a working catalytic converter (either it doesn't work or you put on a straight pipe) then the second O2 sensor will see the same bouncing O2 levels as the first O2 sensor which will trigger the check engine light.

A way around this that might work is to coat the second O2 sensor tip in silicone sealant. The silicone will absorb the oxygen under it and cause the second O2 sensor to always register a constantly low level of O2. Or just get used to seeing the check-engine-light on constantly. If you're good with electronics, you may also be able to wire up a circuit that mimics what the second O2 sensor is supposed to do.

Personally I bought a Prius to get better emissions, not worse emissions.

If I didn't care about emissions I'd still be driving my 1985 VW Golf diesel. But I do care, so I bought two Toyota hybrids. One needs a new catalytic converter, and as much as I wish there were evidence that the 10th-the-price aftermarket ones cleaned the emissions as well as the 10-times-more-expensive OEM ones do, I can't find any and so am going to buy an OEM catalytic converter as soon as I have both the money and have fixed the oil consumption problem that likely caused the catalytic converter to foul up in the first place.

Of course everyone has their own agenda and way of doing things. So no offence to anyone who thinks or does differently than I think I do.

 

Oh that 2007 is fresh meat in the driveway bro. New cat is $1551 plus expensive install as they cut the o2 sensor wiring.
They'll cut that thing out in less than 2 minutes and not make any noise.

 

Whats really whacky is the car runs better with an after market cat. Must be alot more free flowing.

Coupled with my new battery & the Red Bullet its pretty frisky little car now. Its fun to drive. Wife keeps mentioning it.

 

There are two things probably going on.

One, any new cat is going to have less restriction than an old cat because it will have less carbon and zinc buildup, especially if you had an oil burner or used high zinc oil on the last cat.

Second, there's quite a few that feel that aftermarket cats have less material inside. Usually this is in the form of a smaller cat (could be covered by a false shell making it look as big as the OEM) which can actually lead to more restriction later on, or can mean less material in the same size cat, which would cause less restriction (e.g. bigger holes in the honey comb). But that also means that the cat won't have the same catalyzing capability as OEM (less surface area plus less precious metals) and it also means it will "wear out" faster.

 

Just had my second cat stolen, even after installing the CatStrap after the first one was stolen last year. The CatSrap folks say thieves have switched from reciprocating saws which the strap ruined to circular saws and cutoff wheels. Anyone consider running a wire down the length of the exhaust from the hybrid battery? That's about 245V to ground... maybe put a high voltage warning sign down there. The PD did say to have your VIN number engraved on the Cat by a good welder... then they can be traced and can potentially discourage theft if they see it., I prefer my idea because it would hopefully cut down on theft throughout town if bodies started to be found under Priuses...

 

That's got to be frustrating! What is a guy to do? (especially if you either live in a CARB state or just prefer OEM cats.) Put on a cat strap, a cat alarm, a cat guard, a cat cage, weld write your VIN, plate number and "THIS IS STOLEN PROPERTY CALL 911", paint it florecent orange, weld lengths of rebar under the cat and invest in cat insurance????

Or do an EV conversion and fill up a fake cat full of explosives...

I've thought about hooking up the HV battery to it too. You'd need to have it electrically isolated from the rest of the car. The rubber suspenders probably are fine, but how would you make it isolated from the exhaust down pipe and manifold? Maybe some sort of ceramic disc sandwiched into the gasket and ceramic cups for where the bolts seat?? Then how would you ground it? To the car? Maybe have braded copper fringes that dangle around the edge, about right where a theif's crotch would be.

The Cat Strap has steel rods in it IIRC. I wonder if it would be feasible to trade those out for tungsten rods or something else that's super hard. Probably wouldn't shape to contours of the exhaust line then.

 

I see cats for $150 on ebay. Are those junk?

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Those are aftermarket catalytic converters. Even a used clogged up OEM cat will go for $1,000 (US dollars) or more. @edthefox5 was able to sell his used cat for $1,350.

The OEM ones are worth a lot more because they have a whole lot more precious metals. That's why people steal them, because they can easily make $1,000 a pop. But that also means that the aftermarket ones aren't as good as OEM ones. Sure, they're good enough to keep the check-engine-light off by burning up HC and CO emissions ok. But they probably don't do as good of a job at it and who knows if they even reduce NOx emissions or not. There's also the question of how long will they last. There are a lot of aftermarket cats out there that also are much smaller and will end up clogging up and causing a restriction a lot earlier than an OEM, even if the outer shell looks the same size. Fitment can also be a problem sometimes.

But those $150 cats do usually work as long as you live in a State that allows them. You do get what you pay for, but they seem to be good enough for most folks. After all, you could buy 10 of them (or more) for the price of an OEM cat. And any cat good enough to turn the CEL off is better than no cat.

 

that’s awful. I think I would sell the car at this point. Anybody under the car grinding away real loud seems to not worry about owner coming at them with a hand cannon. Which means there nuts.

 

Our 2005 was recently totaled. I think I'll cut that cc out before she's crushed.

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Holy crap that’s a bell ringer everyone ok?

yeah grab the cat it’s 2 bolts at the mani and cut it flush with the resonator
Leaving nice long tail at the end of the 2 cats. Grab the donut that’s $90
And the 2 bolts and 2 springs and the O2 sensor.
Worth $1350 + with hardware on eBAy don’t do a buy now let it go there’s crazy amount of bids super hot.
Good luck.