Opportunity to buy 2011 with stolen cat, advice ? 250k miles

Hi All , I live in non carb state with no smog checks locally where I live. I have a gen 2 and don’t know a lot about gen 3. Details are 2011 with 250k miles, cat just stolen. Car is in Cali a couple hours away. Plan is to go check it out next weekend and install an after market one to get it home, then do a bunch of updates and pass on to a family member (and install a better cat once proven reliable).

Owner says no evidence of coolant drain on ground after cat was stolen and coolant reservoir still full. Also says he doesn’t believe there is oil consumption, Here is a pic of what he sent. Did the thief just steal the first part of the cat ?

Anything else I should plan to look at and check out before I purchase it ?

 

Hey JC9! How have you been? All my repairs from last fall turned out good including the HV battery swap.

Yes I was planning on doing the head gasket on my own, prolong reconditioning on the battery and swapping out the ball joints, tie rods, hub assembly like I did on my 07 last fall.

Are there any visual cues on the big repairs that inspection will see ?

 

The full detail on how this came about, I was playing poker in Reno and the table started talking about cars… “you have a Prius.. I have a Prius … my cat got stolen, I’m going to donate it since it’s $3500 and a long wait “
“how much do you want for it” and he said $1000.

I know it’s a lot of work and potential $1000 loss..but it seems like worth taking a shot, if it doesn’t burn oil like he says. if it is a money pit, I want new wheels for mine and the battery is worth a few hundred or could be useful for dead Prius revivals. Could see if a junk yard will give some money plus let me keep the wheels and battery then I’m just out time.

oh if someone reading this and you want it, I’m happy to pass it on.. car looks clean, good for parts car.

 

Yeah looking at the pic, it doesn’t look like it’s ever seen a drop of water… underside of my 15 year old g2 that was in Chicago for 10 years looks like it’s 10000 years old.

speaking of JDM , has anyone ever put an Otto cycle Yaris version of the engine in a Prius ? For me living in mountains could use the extra low rpm torque. Need to check to see if there’s a shop in Reno.

 

Main outstanding question for me is did the thief only take half of the cat ? It looks like the coolant lines are still intact and the owner said no coolant puddle in his driveway and it’s still full in the reservoir.

or is it possible to steal the full cat without having a coolant spill ?

 

Thanks for the info , plan is to check out the car and as long as it isn’t spewing oil and coolant i’ll take it. Then, after driving it around for a couple 1000 miles and if I decide not to put money into it I’ll drive it down to JC9 in LA for a parts car.

as usual the PC community comes through when I’ve needed advice !

 

With the help of the amazing @SFO , the gen 3 is in Tahoe!

The aftermarket cat I bought didn’t fit correctly so I drove it up with it making a lot of noise. I searched forums for a while and couldn’t find a live link to one that fits correctly. Anyone have a live link or manufacturer suggestion for one that works/fits?

Oil change sticker has 2000 miles left before being due for changing and it was 3/4 quart to top it off (dip stick reading was in the middle), consuming less oil than my gen 2 with 75k more miles!

AC works like new, new headlight covers , new tires, super clean interior..seems like the deal of the century. So many options on what to do with it:

sell my gen 2 and drop a gen 4 engine in it ?
After getting the cat fixed , sell it and use money to keep gen 2 going ?
Keep both and have a winter setup car ?
Fix and give to family member ?

 

I don’t have smog check where I live in NV. I just have to do a vin inspection at dmv. Unless there is a law on the books that I don’t know about ?

Searching now for threads on egr and manifold cleaning !