Hi,

I have a 1995 Toyota Pickup, 4x4, extcab, 3.0.

The truck is 100% stock.

I live in San Francisco, last Thursday I went to go move my truck and it started up fine, but it was incredibly loud. Very little power, and generally ran like . I drove immediatly to the mechanic shop, totally confussed.

The mechanic knew right away what the problem was. We looked under the truck, and sure enough my catalytic converter had been sawed off. Along with the cat they also took with them one of my o2 sensors.

To replace the cat converter and the o2 sensor with labor ran me $600.

I was told this is has been happening quite often in our city, in most cases the thiefs take the pipe to a metal recycler where it's melted down and the metals seperated. Apparently there is platinum in these pipes, and recyclers are able to pull about $200 out of the Cat pipe. The thief sells the pipe for $80 to the recyclers.

I just wanted to post my story here and see if anyone else has had anything similar happen to them.

Thanks for reading.

-Stephen

 

sorry to hear about another victim of some oxygen thieving tweeker crackhead.

Yes, I have heard of it, there about 20 threads about stolen catalytic converters....

 

Yeah its happened to alot of us

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/cat-missing-142816/

Thats the last thread about it

 

I'm amazed.. that you could saw off a cat without drawing attention.

I suppose one person keeping lookout... one working. Both on drugs, as you say.

Pathetic.

Maybe they used a benzene handheld torch?

 

A hand held benzene torch wouldn't do it. A pipe cutter would though and it would be silent.

 

Of course... (I learn something "useful" every day...)



Mine has a handle too long, without lifting the vehicle. Can you buy them with short enough of a handle to still do the job effectively?

 

if it happens again get a cheap catco cat ($100 or so ) and have it welded in (maybe 50-75) $600 seems like way to much

http://www.racepages.com/products/?N...94966970+11909

 

Reminds me of the time I took my '85 truck in to repair a broken tailpipe.. about an inch off the back of the muffler.

He quoted me a fairly high price for a new "life-time" Midas muffler.

On an impulse... I asked him if he would just weld in new section from the pipe on the muffler side. Yeah... $25 bucks.

That was 8 years ago. Truck still running great... passes all the tough Smog2 California requirements.

Sometimes you get just fine... for less.

 

Yes. They can be found at your local auto parts store under the "Meth Tools" section.

 

Dude, same thing here. I live in the Mission dist. Friking meth heads.

 

Scrawny, fast, and hard to hit with a Glock. Like rats and rattlesnakes. Although I've had some luck with those.

Probably need a shotgun. Any suggestions?

 

There isn't a whole lot you can do about the tweakers stealing the cats. If you weld stuff to the bottom of your rig, they might just vandalize it instead, or cause even more damage taking the protection off. You'd be surprised how often it's someone who lives just down the street from you, or hangs out near your work. Meth seems like such a wonderful drug, what other drugs give you the uncontrollable urge to go steal a catalytic converter?

 

I dare anyone to answer that last question.....

 

I've gone through 3 cats - all the victims of too many rocks banging them up. I would go to my el-cheapo muffler shop in Van Nuys and they'd weld in a new one for $150 cash and carry. Took like 10 minutes during my lunch hour.

 

Seems like it is a lot easier to do your homework in high school. Then go to college. Then get a job. Am I missing something? (Maybe I better go check.)

 

600 bucks for a cat and o2 sensor? holy schnikes! You got jacked twice buddy

 

Well he is in SF, the mechanic probably has a half million $$ mortgage to pay off, and that would be in a bad area of town.

 

That definitely sucks. Platinum prices have gone through the roof, along with all the other commodities. As the dollar tanks and more people get desperate, there will be an increase of stuff being stolen. I was just talking to a friend the other day that lives in a decent neighborhood and gasoline is being stolen out of vehicles. Watch your stuff, and get some new motion lights for the house.

 

x2!!! I hope you got oem toyota parts for that cost. But then again, if you replace with toyota parts, it is totally liable to happen again.

 

The OEM cats have far more precious metals in them than the aftermarket units. Typically, OEM is 25% more efficient than your over-the-counter, $150 unit from Speedy. I work in a shop, and have scrap guys offer us $40 for an OEM cat, but only $10 for an aftermarket unit.