Hi all, I'm new here, I was watching this forum for some time now, but now I need your help. My 2011 Prius Gen 3 loses its coolant. I found out that the upper pipe on the catalytic converter is dripping so I thought to fix it. In my research for the cats I found that mine is not the same as it should be. The pipes going in for the heat exchange are there but the valve is missing. I'd understand if it's just jumped over an aftermarked-cat but it's actually going in the resonator and leaving on the other end. I start to doubt that it's actually a functionning piece of equipment but only a pipe going straight through... Even the resonator is unconventionaly long and straight. Not the shape of the original as I think it's supposed to be. I bought the car for a dealer here in my area, but I doubt about his honesty now. I was thinking about welding the pipe back in place. It's dripping where it was already soldered once before I had the car. But now I start to think that it's not worth it and just bypass it. Did any of you ever see a catalytic model like this?
I begin to think it's a Prius Gen 2 Cat being forced to wear a coolant-pipe of no use... Maybe even an aftermarket? Would the cat at least do it's supposed exhaust-work for a Gen 3 so it'll pass the technical checks? Or are they totally different in terms of exhaust-treatment? What would you think and do if you found out about this more than a year after the purchase? I'm totally mad about the vendor but I suppose I'm out of options for pressing charges against him. Here the guarantee for used cars is somewhere at 6 or 12 months.
Is there much cat theft in Germany in recent years? Or is it mostly a US thing? There should be a Toyota logo on your cat somewhere if it's legit... If I were you I'd find a good price on an aftermarket direct fit cat and study those photos and compare them with OEM cat photos so you're more clear on what's wrong and then replace the whole thing with the correct aftermarket cat. They're less than US$200 and easy ton install without welding... As in fixing a weld that's been fixed before is no fun, especially when it might not be designed properly in the first place.
Cat theft is defintively a thing here. As for my car I bought around 2 years ago the dealer told me it was stolen and he prodly announced that he put in a new one, supposedly original. I should have checked it then... this is definitively not a proper type. I fixed the leaking part today by bypassing the preheater. I am not convinced by the model under my hood either way. I have my technical check in 2 months, by then I will see if the cat is doing his work. Otherwise I'm going to get an aftermarket one. But those don't do preheaters, too. Actually the prices I can find start at 550€ (with is around the same in $ nowadays. Maybe 580$) Still wondering about this coolant-pipe in the 3rd box... I don't relly want to call it a preheater in my case... The coolant dropping out there was so minimal I still assume it's really just a pipe stuck in a can. Not much heat transmission going on there and surely not controlled by the missing valve. As I'm not dripping any coolant any more I'm at ease for the moment.
