I see "brand new" catalytic converters on ebay for as low as $65. What's the catch?

With the latest technology they're super cheap to make and demand for them is off the charts due to organized crime harvesting older cats that have more precious metals.

We had a similar situation with cat shields... 4 years ago hardly anyone was making them and the cheapest ones were more than $300. Then every business with a machine that cuts sheet metal realized they could sell them for pennies on the dollar and now you can buy a shield on ebay for $70.

As for quality @TMR-JWAP studied that in a post on here and while we lack the ability to sniff emissions at higher driving speeds, he found the new cats are fairly close to OEM... Here's the one both him and I recommend: https://www.ebay.com/itm/193690871378

 

I just pity those in California who are not allowed to use them legally.

 

Especially those who decided to give up their Gen2 Prius after the second theft in California when Toyota Stealerhips scam their customers for $4K per repair. That's so wrong!

 

Not just CA, there may be up to five (5) or more states now

 

They can use a much thinner layer of precious metals on the surfaces to create the same low-pollution results... As in Gen2 Prius 2004-2009 went to great extremes in using 2 grams of palladium, platinum and Rhodium to create the cleanest burning exhaust system back then. It's possible that replacement cats still don't work as well as that, but close enough to be comparable says something if you go look at current value of those very expensive metals. You only need a tiny fraction of a gram of those precious metals in a catalytic converter a decade or two later compared to two grams each back in the day. And like many things on PriusChat, we aren't that certain about that yet.

 

Just to be clear I have a few of these aftermarket cats made by the largest cat manufacturer online they make cats for Corvettes you name it that pass in every state except California because this company doesn't want to go through the nonsense to appease California in the nonsense that goes on out there That's about it. Point blank but I will say this I have not gotten the PO420 light to go off in any Gen 2 Prius that I own so far One actually has its original aftermarket cat still installed someone tried to cut the pipe 2 years ago they didn't even get through the pipe I had my exhaust guy put some snot around it just to make sure but the pipe was not leaking and did not get cut through they barely got the sawzall up against it and then got scared this is before I own the car after having that sealed back up both the O2 sensors were untouched and before I bought the car the guy said he never had a PO420 and never had a check engine light on that came on after I bought the car and put over a thousand miles on it The only code the cars ever really had worth discussing is this PO420 catalyst below threshold and I believe it has something to do with the car flooding the cat to run the goofy test it does and that's the end of that My Corollas and Camrys and matrix's and all that stuff none of these cars do that test only the Prius does only the Prius has this continuous PO420 too. The check engine light doesn't matter in my state so I just leave it alone I know the only code that said is the 0420 getting 47 mi to the gallon it's just not worth chasing and throwing parts at it I don't think my upper or downstream O2 sensors are bad I might change the lower one one of these days just to see so I think this is just a bad design on the very good design of the Gen 2 this is one area where they failed. Just like they failed in the '02 Corolla they allowed AC Delco which I think was named another company Delphi maybe for a while anyway they allowed an American company to make the main ECU for the '02 Corolla and that was an epic fail check engine lights came on at 60,000 miles and we're on until 300 if you had the car that long or you got rid of it because nobody could fix it and get it right without doing it illegally and it turned out it was a simple fix a firmware update was needed that fixed the calibration between the up and downstream O2 sensors The firmware had the two sensors too tightly controlled so there was no margin for anything dink dink in the light was on that was it they widened up that space between the two sensors electrically with the firmware something to that effect and all the problem went away. Flooding the cat with some kind of silly test you know 10 times a week or however often it has to happen doesn't even sound like that would be a good idea that sounds like it's just overly flooding the cat for no reason forcing itself to clean itself up and then report back to the computer The sound of that to me is completely tard.

 

Well, as we all know, everything that you see in an Internet Ad has to be true......right ??

They may not be totally new and might be stolen.
Or they might not be functionally any different than a "cat bypass" pipe.

When you buy something cheap, you usually get what you paid for........cheap.

 

A catalytic converter can also be made to reduce CO and HC emissions but not NOx emisions and it will still keep the check engine light off.

Perosnally I've had really bad experiences with other cheap autoparts off eBay.

 

The reason that there are only one or two aftermarket CATs that has the Cal. EPA stamp of approval; is that they must meet or exceed ALL OEM CAT standards. Ca EPA actually requires the manufacturer to submit lab certified test data. What trips most of these third party CAT manufacturers up is, how long the CAT will last. Again, It must meet or exceed ALL OEM standards, meaning 20 years and/or 200K miles. I just pulled those last numbers out of my a**, but if that replacement CAT doesn't get stolen - it need to last the lifetime of a good running car. It's a one and done......

 

That’s called a 2 way cat which is what they used in the 70’s and on diesels
Very cheap but usually very durable

if you own a very old car that never had a cat a 2-way is the best option if you want to clean up the exhaust

 

That being so for California, practically, the CAT has to last at least two years. It's another case where the California EPA has no idea of what the public needs are.

A 15 year old Gen 2 Prius is not likely to last another 20 years.

Should a cheap aftermarket cat not pass inspection, it can readily get a fail ticket, be replaced with another new one and then pass.

It's a wonder how no politician has address this as a campaign issue. It sure would be a winner.

Even the aftermarket 49 state suppliers gouge the public purchasing through the US distributors in the aftermarket replacement market. The ones selling for a little over a hundred dollars on eBay apparently are made on the same line as the ones sold by the aftermarkets supplier are sold for $300-600.

 

I do not disagree with you on that one, but you got to admit that there are a lot of crappy aftermarket knock-off parts out there. The Ca compliant CAT laws was recently tightened; within the last 5 years. They used to allow any replacement CAT; but when consumers started complaining that they needed to replace their aftermarket CAT every two years, because they were failing their smog tests. The law was tighten up and consumers stopped complaining about having to replace the CAT every two years. Now it only needs replacing when it gets stolen.

 

The law of unintended consequences; The complainers screwed themselves and many others.

Like Prohibition, these rules need to be repealed.

 

Yep; Same goes for those PG&E customers. They sue the utility and prevail; then complain that their utility bill is crazy high. The only people that win here, are the class action lawyers. I'm lucky to be in a well managed, not for profit utility area.

 

I just don't understand how from the same manufacture and supplier I can buy a cat for my 2010 Corolla $200 $150 120 whatever it is cheap and it never puts the light on or nothing My cars don't get sold so when lights come back on it's me that gets to see him not some kid down the street I sold the car to don't know what he's looking at All of my Corolla sitting here no check engine light with major manufacturers catalytic converters sold on eBay sold everywhere the sold by weight of the car My Corolla is typically get the under $5,000 lb marked catalytic converter It slips right into place where the old one bolted on two flanges and I put a seam around each end with the wire feed welder never see a light the rest of the car's life The catalytic converter is not getting replaced because the lights on it's getting replaced because the converters plugged and flow is horrid. I could take the cat out and just ram a bar through it knocked the brick out weld it back in place The numbers on the sniffer don't change enough to alert anybody and you can't see through the steel I was trying to be a good steward but as we see it's kind of unnecessary.But yet only on the Prius the cats made by the same manufacturer doesn't change anything PO420 regardless so far.