Cat Converter Dilemma!

They are all back ordered and as far as making sure my Prius cat was original 2 years ago nobody would have looked to even see if the Prius had a cat for the most part until all the hullabaloo started with the people sneaking around in the middle of the night jacking up cars just steel catalytic converters like they were doing in the early '80s yeesh. And all of my other Toyotas I never had to worry about any of it you could take the cat off gut it put it back on the car check engine light would never come on had nothing to do with it now I've got Prius that are flushing and testing their own catalytic converter on the car just because they can whatever It's kind of a joke actually thank God I'm in a state that got rid of smog smart people or I'm in a county sorry.

 

Let me refine the question. Was the car ever titled in CA? I think CA cars might have a special code or letter in the VIN.
If it is missing that I think you are stuck. Next question will be how do you sell it? Is the title CA or do you have a title signed by the PO? If the latter there might be issues reselling it.

 

There's no such info in the VIN that specifies the state, there's a sticker in the hood or radiator support (see video below) that says if it's Federal or CARB compliant.

As a buyer in California (or anywhere) it pays to do more homework first before buying out of state vehicle. Majority of the time if there are are modified cold air intake in the car (in CARB states), it will automatically fail inspection. I even bought cars that have a clean title and then the state just informed me that it has a lien on it (happened to me twice already) luckily I bought them from people that I have complete contact info and willing to work with me to settle the issue.

 

That would be true with an OEM catalytic converter installed. Presumably with a non-compliant CC installed it would void the label statement, would it not?

 

Its a shame as a cat on Amazon for $125 fit perfectly and ran great on my car. But that wouldn't pass a CA smog check either as they check the model numbers on the body of the cat. It must have these 6 numbers:

 

Those are photos of the cats that Ed took off his car and sold.

Presumably, other manufacturers of CARB-compliant cats would have their own marks on their cats which the inspectors would look for and pass/fail as appropriate.