Well I joined the stolen cat club. My O2 sensor wire is hanging and my speed/odometer display isnt working. The horn still works though! Had I realized this was such a rampant issue, I would have taken preventive deterrent measures. The thieves left about one inch of pipe before it goes back further in the exhaust system. My question is: Is this enough leftover pipe to be able to buy just the catalytic converter part, or do I need to buy the cat plus the pipe that goes all the way back? I have a friend who's willing to install it for free and he's not exactly sure which part I should order. I suppose a picture might help? It just snowed like eight inches here and I don't have a shovel and now it's getting dark so if anyone wants to see a picture I can take one in the morning. Any help is greatly appreciated!
If you were in California you'd have to buy the entire exhaust system from Toyota for $2500. But because you aren't in California your friend just needs to get under the car and measure everything and figure out the fastest way to do it. In general, there won't be much problem with welding everything back together for you.
I bought this one: It's pricier than the other aftermarket ones, but after 6 months, I've had zero issues with it whatsoever. I had a muffler shop weld it up to the resonator that the thieves left behind. I probably had 1/2" of pipe sticking out/forward from the resonator. That was enough for the muffler shop to do the weld.
I bought the parts from amazon (denso 234-4623, and mayasaf catalytic converter), and I installed myself. Also, I loan a pipe expander to fit the aftermarket pipe with the prius exhaust.
It's a sadly growing trend, lucky for you you live in a non-carb state and can just purchase an aftermarket unit to keep it on the road. With that said, you will have to buy the catalytic converter anyway, how much need to be extended should be left to you friend, I presume a muffler specialist mechanic? He should have extensions on hand if so, and he will be able to tell right away what and how much length he needs if so when it's on a rack. Some key terms you need to keep in mind: A resonator is the part that connects to the pipe after the 2 catalytic converter 'canisters.' that's usually what thieve leave behind as it just 'dumb metal' and it has to be long enough to mate to the OEM position in order to make use of the rubber hangers. (See picture of intact unit.) The things you will need by the sound of it are: - Denso OEM Downstream 02 Sensor - Aftermarket Catalytic Converter - The inner 'donut' gasket that mates with your new catalytic converter, most in the kit are utter garbage so buy EM unless you want it to leak - Labor to fit it in and weld it up - An OBD2 reader to clear the code, generic ones will do that but better ones are availabl I just got another email from Toyota today inquiring about the OEM catalyitic converter units and they are now over +1000 in back order as of Wednesday night. It's safe to say no one is getting one until Fall at this point that isn't buying a wrecked chassis and taking a gamble on a used unit. Ive been in the Auto Industry for most of my career, and I even worked at VW duing dieselgate Tdi buy back program and was working side by side with Bosch and VW coprporate at the dealer level, and to this day I've never seen anything like this. The sheer amount of cars affected by this is not the same on volume, but it equally as wasteful as those 'cheater' cars just needed a ECU flash, but resulted in billions in fines and several arrests. So far, we're still just dealing with the aftermath, but to be honest this is yet another nail in the coffin of ICE-hybrid cars further proving why EV even with it's less than ideal situation (conflict minerals etc...) is the future for a reason. Post that picture and we can help you further, I've personally been dealing with this but only because my gf's catalytic converter died in February and I've fallen down a deep rabbit hole. EditL posted pic now that I'm on PC.
A couple thoughts to add... The aftermarket cats are well designed in terms of the clamp it comes with working great with oversized pipe so you don't have to do any welding. Also the flange gasket and hardware they include when you buy one is unpredictable. Sometimes they provide quality bolts, springs, clamp and flange gasket and sometimes they don't.
