Catalyic Converter Theft Leading to no-start Situation / Davico 18382f Cat Review

Unfortunately, I can't provide all the info, as I didn't bother to grab a CEL when this situation occurred, but I can hopefully point someone with the same problem in the correct direction.

My catalytic converter was stolen about a week ago, and I opted to replace the unit myself with a Davico 18382f unit, which is just the front half of the exhaust (two cats prior to the middle resonator), and is a slip-fit with the original exhaust. I can report two positive things.

1. The flange where the pipe meets the header is well done, there are no gross welds like the cheap $100 ebay ones to grind down, and fitment appears good. A gasket is included, but I used a new OEM part because aftermarket units are known to have poor fitment. Hardware is NOT included. Thankfully the thieves left that on my subframe.

2. While the pipe does slip fit over the pipe coming out of the resonator, you will need to provide a sleeve/clamp/welding to get this to seal well. This is not unexpected.

Anyway, back to the original problem. The O2 sensor wiring was cut, and as I was fitting the new exhaust, I ended up touching two of the wires together. I saw the wires glow, and I knew immediately that I had likely shorted something out. ALWAYS DISCONNECT YOUR BATTERY WHEN DOING WORK! DON'T BE LAZY :v. I continued the repair, replaced the cat, replaced the O2 sensor, but when I went to turn the car on, all the warning lights went on the dash, no READY popped up, and the whole gas meter was blinking. I did a bit of digging and realized I likely shorted the EFI fuse under the hood. It's a 15A and you can find the position via the diagram under the fuse cover. It was indeed shorted. I replaced the fuse and powered the car on. It now powered on (READY appeared!) and would drive, but all the warning lights were still on. I then FINALLY disconnected and reconnected the battery, and this put me back to just my stupid TPMS light being on, but nothing else.

I didn't find any threads linking shorting the downstream, post cat O2 sensor to the EFI fuse, so I figured I'd post this in addition to the Davico cat review. It's quite a nice unit. I suspect I'll end up buying the rear part of it as well, as the cost to get it welded will probably be more than the $90 shipped the rear piece is, and I suspect that will fit/seal a good bit better than the existing bit left on the resonator.

 

Yes, my wording was incorrect. Thanks for the catch . The fuse was indeed open.