I need some advice about my situation. On like Christmas Eve someone stole my CAT in the middle of the night and I need to know what to do now. I am a broke college student so I cant get a new part from the dealer (the price in cali is INSANE), and I technically have until next year until I need to renew smog. Would it be worth it to just by a universal CAT and fix it on there (any advice from someone who tried this before would be appreciated), or should I just try to sell/scrap the car (whichever is more profitable lol). As far as the car itself goes, its literally PERFECT, it has like 180k miles and is a top tier model 2006 Prius and I replaced the main battery like a year ago and still have like 2-3 years on the warranty. Any advice is appreciated!
Wow, what a lousy Xmas for you! A cheap aftermarket cat won't ship to California, nor will you be able to find a shop to do it for you. But If you have a friend out of state to ship it to and then you install it yourself or have a friend to do it... That will at least get you back on the road until your next smog inspection and then you'll have to fork over the big bucks, or find a Prius owner outside the state to sell you their OEM cat and they can use an aftermarket one.
The one I got off amazon $125 has been on the car for about 3 months now runs great. be aware many reports of subsequent hits after getting hit once. They know you have to replace it with a the expensive cat in Cali so they will assume and expect it to be a $$$ cat. They just might be stupid enough to not clearly see its a cheapo cat under there and still rip you again. Your going to need a new 02 sensor also as they stole that with the cat or just plug the hole it goes into it will throw a P420 code but the car should still drive ok. A check engine light that stays lit is usually an emissions code no big deal but a check engine code that flashes should be dealt with immediate fyi. A 420 code will be a light that stays on. They know where you live. They got away with it once. Your very low hanging fruit I'm afraid. Where it was cut was it a ragged cut or a super clean and smooth cut? Ragged means they did it with a sawzall and the racket that makes is really really loud. The bastards.
