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Catalytic Converter - which parts to protect?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by darelldd, Jul 19, 2019.

  1. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    2006 Prius.

    Can somebody who knows the Prius exhaust system confirm which are the valuable CAT parts? Starting from the manifold flange, there is the first can that I assume is a CAT. Then the O2 sensor installed in a bent section of connecting pipe, then another can, a straight pipe, and then a big resonator and the rest of the exhaust system that that thieves don't care about. Are both of these front cans with the O2 sensor between them (and heat shield above them both)... are they both CATs? Thieves seem to take them both. But would they take just the front one if it were too difficult to also take the back one? Or is the front one perhaps the only thing with Platinum in it, and they cut the pipe in the back for convenience? (Turns out that my guess was pretty accurate).

    Mine was cut at that straight pipe section as shown in the first image below, so that the two front cans were taken as a set. Now that I have a replacement installed, I have reinforced that area... but not the pipe between the cans where the O2 sensor is (since rectified, see lower in the thread!). Should I protect that as well? (Doesn't matter... I did)

    My protection consists of a hardened steel bar that I welded across that thin-wall pipe, plus a chain welded to the body of the car.

    190716.014.JPG 190718.018.JPG
     
    #1 darelldd, Jul 19, 2019
    Last edited: Jul 19, 2019
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  2. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Some fancy exhaust work, hope it stays put.

    Curious which area of northern California this happened in, and if you filed a report.
     
  3. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    06 has two cats (small cans) feeding into a resonator (long can).

    Usually two cats in line means they have different guts, with each one doing a different chemical reaction on the exhaust flow. I don’t know if that’s true on this car. In other two-cat cars I’ve worked on, the forward catalyst is the valuable one.
     
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  4. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Well... A thief, in the dark of night is going to have to crawl under your car and do what they do as quickly as possible, so rater than securing it, it's more about creating a discouraging visual (or by feel) scenario that makes it clear to them as quickly as possible that this is not the car they want to mess with. There's a chance they might not notice the chain till after the damage is done... A motion sensitive alarm is probably the best bet, but a hassle when it goes off when it's not supposed to. Also I got some great booby trap ideas you could do with the HV battery, but again, those would be a hassle when they go off when they're not supposed to. :)
     
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  5. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    Hey Danny! Been a long time.

    Several things:
    1. I'm in the Sacramento area.
    2. I immediately filed a police report. 12th theft in this exact (college) lot in 2019.
    3. I live in the town of Davis, and we've had 40 reported thefts in 2019.
    4. It is a HUGE problem here. They have now run out of the part. I got the last one in the area.
     
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  6. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    The other telling sign about the front one being the "important" one is that the O2 sensor is behind it, and there isn't another sensor behind the second one. As far as I know, the thieves alway take them both. But to be sure, I have now reinforced the thing-wall connecting pipe between the two cans where the sensor is.
     
  7. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    I spend a lot of my time thinking like a thief and studying their ways. In fact the product you see welded up to my exhaust system is all recovered stolen property. Think of me as a trained thief who's been blessed by my local PD. :). I'm working directly with the police on this (all PDs in the area are now coordinating because they have to get a handle on this. I have already agreed to press charges if they catch somebody). Anyway, I've learned many things through the years. And one of those things is that there is often a most common way that things are stolen, but there is no single way. And note that this happened at 3pm on a beautiful, bright sunny day in an open parking lot.

    In every video I've seen of this theft, somebody first looks under to make sure it is worth committing to jacking the car. At some point they absolutely need to see what they're doing. You aren't going to hit those flange nuts with a socket on the end of a 24" extender unless you're looking. And you can't appropriate position a saw or cutter without looking. And what I've done makes the socket not work, and the chain cutter not work. They can't even get started. They *could* get started with a saw.

    And the bottom line: Even if they cut through the pipe and my hardened bolt and my chain (if they didn't first consider where best to cut... note that the chain placement isn't random) They still can't get the flange nuts off. I can weld the cut back up in a jiffy. Way better than losing the whole thing again, even if they do managed to get a cut started.
     
  8. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    I've just spoken at length with my local exhaust shop CAT guy who did my replacement. This guy is BUSY. Literally my Prius was just one of six that he replaced CATs on this week alone. Unreal. Anyway, he explained the various cans to me (answering my original question of the thread!)

    The first can after the flange is THE valuable one. The second can he calls "part resonator, part cleanup." The second one doesn't have any value to recycle. But he says of the 30 he's recently seen BOTH cans are always taken because it is the easy place to cut.

    But knowing that the front one is the valuable one, I decided to climb back under there and put a second bar between the two cans. So you can see what I did near the O2 sensor below. I also added springs to my fancy chain... because it rattled and sounded like popcorn under there! Now I'm done. I'm somewhat confident that nobody is gonna walk off with this thing any time soon.

    190719.002.JPG 190719.001.JPG
     
  9. Data Daedalus

    Data Daedalus Senior Member

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    image1.jpg

    And this was the solution to protecting my replacement catalytic converter after the originals theft last November - in South London, UK.

    It was custom constructed by a knowledgeable and talented Prius enthusiast - specifically for me. He has a similar one on the Prius in his family.

    Yes, I have a replacement non-OEM catalytic converter - worthless to your average Grand Theft CAT criminal, however, since the UK has some of the dumbest home grown wannabe criminals on this planet, at some point, they’re likely to come back and steal it first then discover it’s worthless afterwards.
    Some of them are quite special that way .

    Hence the extra protection. A 24/7 dash cam system (128GB capacity) powered by an independent auxiliary battery system installed onboard my 2008 Prius (a.k.a. The Spaceship) ensures about 36 hours of parking mode surveillance recording - back and front. All professionally installed.
    It’s a Thinkware F800 Pro dash cam.


    iPhone 6s +
     
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  10. Prii_socal

    Prii_socal New Member

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    i will thinking about it after i have mine fixed, still looking for replacement of my stolen cats
     
  11. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    In CA you don't have much choice: You need to use an OEM unit. There are some online places that sell them for cheaper. And if you're handy, you can install them just fine. There's no way that I could find a better deal than my $100 deductable to have the whole thing replaced. And then of course I did all of the "protection" myself. The muffler shop wouldn't weld for fear of wrecking the Prius "electronics." Maybe I was lucky.... no problems here.
     
  12. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    That's awesome! Those who don't think like thieves do will consider: Well, that's easy to remove. Just get a driver to remove the clamps and remove each cable... or just cut them!

    Doesn't work like that. They know the exact tools needed to remove an OEM product. And that's what they bring with them and know how to use efficiently and quietly. They don't have an entire tool box... nor do they want to spend the time devising a way to defeat some unique thing. Sure the cables can be cut easily.... if you have the right tool with you. But they don't.

    Nothing is completely secure. But they sure as heck aren't going to spend time unraveling that!
     
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  13. Prii_socal

    Prii_socal New Member

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    i thought a 08 prius is so old that i didn't get comprehensive insurance for it, lesson learned. found some really old cats(130k miles) on los angeles craigslist, but they are too far from me, like 150+ mile, bummer. still looking for some other options. you are really lucky i can say that
     
  14. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    Yeah, I don't have a lot of coverage on the Prius. But my insurance won't let me have different comprehensive on the two vehicles, and I sure wanted coverage on the new Tesla. So as luck would have it, this has now paid for any premium I'm paying on the Prius for many years to come.

    Odd definition of "luck" but whatever! These parts are expensive. And if you have to pass smog (as in Calif.) then you'll need to have a genuine product on the car that still does its job.

    My new one is also stamped with my VIN. I think I've done all that I can reasonably do to prevent this from ever happening again.
     
  15. Prii_socal

    Prii_socal New Member

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    i saw some posts on this forum mentioned these thieves sold the rare metal to scrap shop instead of reselling as converter
     
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  16. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    There's a vanishingly small market for used CATs. The buyers of the scrap is where we're seriously looking. The CATs can't legally be recycled unless the numbers all match (I'm only speaking for Calif here, don't know about the rest of the country). We can't yet figure out who is paying for this stuff. This won't be solved until we stop the market for the stolen product.
     
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  17. Andrea Freeland

    Andrea Freeland New Member

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    Howdy. I've a Prius that I'd love your fix to protect my cat. I'm in NoCali too.
    What would you charge?
    alf
     
  18. Andrea Freeland

    Andrea Freeland New Member

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    I want recyclers to only accept cats from businesses. I also want them to do undercover sales to recyclers to determine if they are above board.
     
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  19. darelldd

    darelldd Prius is our Gas Guzzler

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    I appreciate your confidence in me, but the chance of screwing up the car in some way is too much liability for me. My local muffler shop will not weld with the parts on the car as I have done. They claim that they've seen the Prius computer screwed up by doing this. I'm skeptical about that, but as I've gotten older, I've become more conservative in what I'm willing to do on other cars. Sorry about that.
     
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  20. audiodave

    audiodave Active Member

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    I've had some welding done on mine in the car with no issues.
    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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