The catalytic converter from my GD was stolen, anyone have experience on replacing it? Note that they also cut the oxygen sensor (downstream?) and a bit of the next pipe (the one before the muffler).
Aside from avoiding the stealership in general I want the cheapest option to get ride of the check engine light (a good cat or used OEM one will risk getting stolen again). The cats on rockauto range from $291.89 - $657.99 but I see some on ebay for under $100 with some promising reviews.


Might a cat that isn't specifically labeled as being for a manual transmission still clear the CEL for a stick shift?

 

Sorry that this happened to you.

Should we assume that eBay is where thieves sell stolen cats?

 

From what I've read they are either crated up and moved to Mexico and elsewhere, or more commonly they are sold on the black market for the valuable metal elements contained within. Hybrids like the Prius have a particular problem because their cats have a higher amount of valuable metals. There was a recent bust of a salvage business where the two partners and an associate had made $170M in 18 months extracting and selling metals from stolen cats.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-...-made-millions

 

Yup, most of them are sent overseas to be melted down for their precious metals.
The eBay ones are mainly some really aftermarket ones that won't have a long lifespan. Just wondering how long that might be (just looking to get 5k miles out of it).

Oh, the pipe between the cat and muffler is the Resonator. At rockauto that would be WALKER 56228 plus gaskets 31387 and 31383.

 

A friend put a cheap aftermarket Cat on his F150 3 years ago, and its still fine.

 

When cat is cut like this it cannot be used on the car anymore.
For California it has to be CARB certified.
in California you cannot buy a used cat from the wrecking yard (but the rear pipe and erven secondary O2S may worth a try)
Best protection is the comprehensive insurance. Because this theft can take place everywhere.

 

Edit: reread your thread message and revising what I wrote.

I'm not an expert here, but from my experience I only got a CEL when I had an aftermarket O2 sensor installed.

And you should also specify if you have comprehensive theft protection on your insurance or not, if you have welding experience, are planning to fix this yourself, or if you're going to go to a shop to do this. I think the options available for you changes depending on this.

Anyways, I think as long as you have the proper OEM O2 sensor with whatever aftermarket cat installed, you could be ok(?). Good luck though!

 

The CARB certification applies to other states too! Around 15 states so far. So double check before pulling the trigger on a cheap one! Otherwise you might not pass emissions testing, even though the CEL isn't on.
If you just want the car to be quiet again, and for no more exhaust fume smell / exhaust smoke, then a cheap one is fine. It's what I did for my Accord right before I bought my Fit.
(Just wanted the fumes and exhaust smoke to go away for the last few months I owned the car, before I junked it. Luckily mine was only burnt out hollow. So I was able to just bolt on the replacement, no welding / replacing the whole exhaust assembly.)