Quantcast

Someone stole the catalytic converter off of my truck - WTF?!

Total Heckler

Beer and Bike Enthusiast
Apr 28, 2005
8,171
189
Santa Cruz, CA
Seriously?! From right in front of our house too.

I went out to start my truck yesterday to help a friend move and quickly realized something with the exhaust must have been disconnected/broken with how loud it was. I pull the truck back to a area where I could get a better look at it and notice a pile of bolts on the ground. I look under and the catalytic converter had been removed completely.

Filed a police report and they said its pretty common and near impossible to really do anything about. Grand. I should be getting a call from the insurance company today to see if its worth trying to get it replaced through them or just buying a new one and getting it welded on to avoid this happening again.

I don't even know what to think about this. It's really something I ever thought about getting stolen from any of my vehicles. Ugh.
 

blackohio

Generous jaywalker
Mar 12, 2009
2,773
122
Hellafornia. Formerly stumptown.
super common. what year is the truck? Cali you are probably proper f'ed with buying a replacement. Be very careful on "supposed" CARB/EPA EO#'s some companies claim to have it but don't.

Call MagnaFlow and ask for Jim Cates. Tell him Corey or Jim Bell told you to call and see what he can do to help you out. If the price sucks tell him corey said to quit riding darron's jock and help a dude out.
 

kickstand

Turbo Monkey
Sep 18, 2009
3,441
392
Fenton, MI
very common, espescially around the "city" in our areas. Detroit, Flint, Saginaw.

They bring anywhere from $35-150 depending on current market prices.
 

Total Heckler

Beer and Bike Enthusiast
Apr 28, 2005
8,171
189
Santa Cruz, CA
No way to avoid it in the future?
Getting it welded on should fix that problem.

We moved the truck off the street (was parked directly in front of our house). We are also updating the motion light on the side of the house where the truck is parked now.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,520
7,069
Colorado
Someone on the forum used to work for an aftermarket provider of Cats. Look for another thread on stolen cat converters and you can get the contact. He was offering up an RM 'help a brother out' rate.
 

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,520
7,069
Colorado
To prevent theft, you will need to weld in some adtl materials to make it extremely difficult to steal. That however is a pain in the ass.
 

wreckedrex

Monkey
Feb 8, 2007
137
0
Fremont, CA
It is a 1989. I will be cautious about buying one. I may call up your buddy from magnaflow. hah


Yeah, not a great start for this week.
Toyota, probably a 4x4 right? Bastards cut mine out in the parking lot at work, broad daylight between 8 and 5. Unreal. The OE part was crazy expensive, but an aftermarket one was only a couple hundred bucks welded in.
 

blackohio

Generous jaywalker
Mar 12, 2009
2,773
122
Hellafornia. Formerly stumptown.
It is a 1989. I will be cautious about buying one. I may call up your buddy from magnaflow. hah


Yeah, not a great start for this week.
Oh as an '89 you dont have to worry about obd2 certs. Any decent converter should do the job and welding isnt gonna stop them, they'll cut it off just as fast.

a aluminum skidpad bolted to the subframe will however.
 

pZyteX

Monkey
Jan 28, 2003
294
0
Amsterdam
Couldn't you just run a piece of pipe instead of a cat? And then when it has to be checked you just bolt in the cat and take it out again after the test.
 

4xBoy

Turbo Monkey
Jun 20, 2006
7,016
2,849
Minneapolis
Couldn't you just run a piece of pipe instead of a cat? And then when it has to be checked you just bolt in the cat and take it out again after the test.
And a person can run race gas or off road diesel in their automotocars but if you get a random test,....
 

pZyteX

Monkey
Jan 28, 2003
294
0
Amsterdam
And a person can run race gas or off road diesel in their automotocars but if you get a random test,....
Ah, I didn't know about the random test. Over here they just test your car once a year and assume you are a law abiding citizen for the rest of the year.
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
Couldn't you just run a piece of pipe instead of a cat? And then when it has to be checked you just bolt in the cat and take it out again after the test.
More trouble than its worth, the PCM actually moniters the cats efficiency with the down stream o2 sensor, without the cat itll set off a cose p0420, when you swap the cat back in itll need to be reset, when you reset the codes you also reset the moniters, which will also have to run before you can pass emissions test. some vehicles have more moniters than others, and as it sits, you must run all but two moniters and they must pass or you cannot pass the emmissions test.
 

JRogers

talks too much
Mar 19, 2002
3,785
1
Claremont, CA
Ah, I didn't know about the random test. Over here they just test your car once a year and assume you are a law abiding citizen for the rest of the year.
Hmm, I dunno. I live in the same state as the OP...never heard of any surprise inspection or anything like that...here or elsewhere. There's a smog test every two years for most of CA.
 

Wumpus

makes avatars better
Dec 25, 2003
8,161
153
Six Shooter Junction
Hmm, I dunno. I live in the same state as the OP...never heard of any surprise inspection or anything like that...here or elsewhere. There's a smog test every two years for most of CA.
Maybe they quit, but I definitely remember a road side smog inspection set up in Napa, but that was in the early 90s and I might have been high.
 

Total Heckler

Beer and Bike Enthusiast
Apr 28, 2005
8,171
189
Santa Cruz, CA
I could always do that. My neighbor installs airbags on cars as a hobby.

Hmm... replace the cat and get it welded in for $350 from the local muffler shop or spend 4k on airbags...
 

ridiculous

Turbo Monkey
Jan 18, 2005
2,907
1
MD / NoVA
Did they use a pneumatic cut off disc? Because someone tried to do that here at my workplace in the visitor lot. :rofl: Had he used the right tool he probably would have got away with it.
 

Total Heckler

Beer and Bike Enthusiast
Apr 28, 2005
8,171
189
Santa Cruz, CA
Nope. Just straight up unbolted it. Super simple to do. I just never thought about someone going through the trouble to steal something like that.
 

binary visions

The voice of reason
Jun 13, 2002
22,092
1,132
NC
I keep a wolverine in mine. If someone tries to unbolt it from my car, they're going to be in for a nasty surprise.

I have to replace them fairly frequently but I feel that it's worth the payoff for the day someone actually tries to take it.
 

insanitylevel9

triple nubby
Jan 7, 2011
2,001
5
hopkinton ma
seems like a odd thing to steel to me even after reading the entire thread. park your car on top of a bear trap and wait for results... should be interesting :thumb:
 

DirtyMike

Turbo Fluffer
Aug 8, 2005
14,437
1,017
My own world inside my head
I could always do that. My neighbor installs airbags on cars as a hobby.

Hmm... replace the cat and get it welded in for $350 from the local muffler shop or spend 4k on airbags...
350 is a screaming price, go for it..... just make sure its a qualified replacement for what your truck calls for


Did they use a pneumatic cut off disc? Because someone tried to do that here at my workplace in the visitor lot. :rofl: Had he used the right tool he probably would have got away with it.
Proper tool for stealing something like this is a chain type pipe cutter, sadly I see alot of posts talking about hack saws etc..... the chain type pipe cutter is half the price, and does the job in a fraction of the time....... Sadly it takes less than a minute to get through each pipe.


seems like a odd thing to steel to me even after reading the entire thread. park your car on top of a bear trap and wait for results... should be interesting :thumb:


Sadly its really not about the materials inside of the cat, its about the replacement cost...... what you will find is people selling these at exhaust shops for a discounted price as a "used" item....... With cat replacements sometimes 500, 700, even well over a grand....... it can actually be a lucrative money making theft
 

KavuRider

Turbo Monkey
Jan 30, 2006
2,565
4
CT
I keep a wolverine in mine. If someone tries to unbolt it from my car, they're going to be in for a nasty surprise.

I have to replace them fairly frequently but I feel that it's worth the payoff for the day someone actually tries to take it.
I use a honey badger in mine, but same basic theory.