I apologize in advance, I'm sure y'all get a ton of these questions. I can't find a diagram or the correct info online. I appreciate any links, diagrams or info you can provide! 2014 Prius cat stolen, do I need just a front cat assembly or the whole assembly? the heat recirculator(?) is kinda confusing me. The car is in CA but it will be moving to a non-smog state, I definitely don't have $5k to spend on a new catalytic converter. Any ideas? Here is a photo of the stolen cat area, I can get more/better pics if need be. Can I just get the $100 cat off of eBay and weld it in? The coolant lines appear to not be disturbed, just that green wire on the right side of the photo. If this is the wrong forum I do apologize, thank you in advance.
Unfortunately for you, CA is a state where you cannot buy an aftermarket CAT off Ebay or other online marketplace. You would need to find this part elsewhere (offerup, craigslist, a friend from another state). All you should need is the front half that's been cut off If your car is insured, the insurance company should pay for it.
I appreciate the reply! I found one on Offerup so that's good! Any idea what the green wire is? Is it an 02 sensor?
If you get the part forwarded to you from outside of CA do the welding yourself* get the car out of California before your next smog is due ...you should be golden. Much cheaper than the OEM part. *You don't have to do the welding yourself, but you are likely to have a hard time hiring an automotive shop in California willing to do it. But that doesn't account for every welder available...
The OP is fortunate that the cat was stolen by a "professional" thief. Fortunately, the exhaust pre-heater has not been destroyed. There is no apparent coolant leak.
You would need just the front assembly You said you will move to another state so save your money and buy a non CARB compliant one and yes just weld it in.
... only if you have Comprehensive. This coverage is not legally required, and many drivers of older cars drop it.
There is no reason to drop on old car, the coverage is really cheap since the car is so old. And the replacement prius parts are well worth insuring
...for some people. It's also possible that the OP is required to carry comp and collision if there's a loan against the car. I do carry comp/collision on my cars because it is cheap, but I also have a $1000 deductible. My policy is that insurance is 'supposed to' indemnify a person against an unsustainable loss, therefore my policy is to drive carefully, and pay low monthly premiums.......for decades. I figure that with a clean claims and traffic record I can save in the long run by paying substantially less every month for coverage....and for ME it's working. But then....I also drive paid-for hoopdis and keep an emergency fund handy for things like this, so I also get to mostly not make monthly payments. I am (grudgingly) still making payments for a '20 GMC but only because my CFO doesn't want to pay it off, and in '20 interest rates for new cars was still less than 4%. MY mileage. Your mileage may vary. Just remember..... In the real world, the main purpose of n insurance company is NOT to indemnify you against an unsustainable loss. That's simply what you hire them to do. Insurance's main purpose is to make a profit and generate returns for their investors. They write down EVERYTHING and share a common database, which is why you don't have to give them much in the way of info when you call that 800 number after seeing some zany lizard or ostrich commercial. I've seen more than one person with no accidents and a spotless driving record get dropped and have to go high risk for excessive comp claims. So... As for the OP, no. I personally would NOT file a $1500 theft claim for a 9 year old car, unless you're already carrying full coverage and you KNOW you know that 'stuff' is not going to keep happening. The wire is almost certainly for the O2 sensor. Whoever replaces the cat will know what to do with it.
2014 Prius here, also now cat-less. Long time lurker, first time posting. The thieves got my Prius and my neighbors, also Gen 3. I had read about these thefts months ago, but thought Gen 2s were the target. Boy am I wrong. Also thought my car was secure enough. Early morning they cut through the parking gate bars to get access, it wasn’t even out in the open! So doing a lot of reading up on the threads. I am not car-savvy, but it looks like the thieves knew what they were doing and didn’t cut coolant lines? So should be safe to drive to the shop if they ever get cats in stock? Also like the OP I just need the front assembly? It sucks that I can’t get an out of state cat installed to give the car to my brother in TX. I’d feel like an a-hole calling around asking if a shop would do it illegally. Also I really like my car and would like to keep. Just don’t know if I can go 3-6+ months without it! Thanks for any replies!
Yes, it is safe to drive it to the shop. Check out this video. Because the exhaust pre-heater is intact, you can use the aftermarket Magnaflow 5631455 as member Azusa Prius, who posted these photos of his install.
Thanks so much for the reply. Priuschat has been so helpful since my first Prius, 2011 year. After 150k effortless miles it was gifted to my nieces as they started to learn to drive. I picked up a beautiful low mileage used 2014 - sea glass pearl with the solar roof pkg. It was 2017 and I was on the fence with the look of the Gen 4…still am, lol… Anyhow after this incident my sister has quickly cleaned out the other half of the garage and now that initial Prius is parked safely. Lessons learned the hard way from me.
Very familiar CAT pipe cut with some reddish brown paint spots from harbor freight Bauer cutting wheel. Are you from Bay Area SJ? We have one serial cat thief in SJ with similar pipe cut pattern, he takes few Prius cats almost daily ..i mean nightly. and he is seem like unstoppable... Around my block he took 4 Prius cats including mine, it was a safe Prius parking spot for nearly 6 years but not anymore. Our SJPD folks always busy and no resources available for this king of staff but you can find them in a coffee shops cracking jokes and laughing their asses all day long.
The roundness and nearly 90 degrees squareness of the cut leads me to believe that the pipe right before the entry point of the exhaust preheater was cut with an exhaust pipe chain cutter readily available at any auto parts store.
