removing a cat

z71MudDog · February 18, 2012

if i were to remove my catalytic converter would anything go wrong or not run right??

kstruckcountry · February 18, 2012

My 1990 has no cats, and runs fine.

z71MudDog · February 18, 2012

i tried takin off but it died soon as i put it in gear

GMstrong · February 18, 2012

How do you know its from removing the cat?OBD1 cars could give a ratass for cats,OBD2 is WAYYY different.both of your trucks are obd1 do your good.Sounds like avacuum leak,Bad tps sensor,map sensor,cap and rotor,timing off,dirty or beat iac valve.

Gurrzt · February 18, 2012

I see that you live in Calfornia, if you remove the Catalytic Converter from your vehcile, how would you pass the state mandated smog test?

With your vehicle age, you would be required to go to a state run "test only facility" in which one of the first things is a visual inspection.

These circumstances would not apply if it were a "off road vehicle".

z71MudDog · February 19, 2012

ya ca sucks and my k5 is an off road vehicle

jimlem · February 22, 2012

ya ca sucks and my k5 is an off road vehicle

A few years ago, someone stole the cat off my wife's '95 4-Runner V6 in the "High Security" parking lot at her work. I got it home finally but it was a chore. It barely ran and exhibited every symptom I've ever seen in a problem engine (and some I'd only read about). If yours dies then I doubt you'd enjoy re-tuning it to run w/o a cat. Seems like it would be easier and cheaper to put a cheap aftermarket cat back on.

Oh Faith says to tell you "hey." Had to shake her several times to wake up though.

z71MudDog · February 22, 2012

well it souned like a monster truck ralloey really cool but i put it back on

did her 4runner have more fuel consumption

jimlem · February 22, 2012

well it souned like a monster truck ralloey really cool but i put it back on

did her 4runner have more fuel consumption

I imagine it had a huge increase in fuel use. I only had to drive it 6 miles to get home but it took about half an hour with our other car following with the flashers on because it kept dying. I had to constantly shift to neutral, rev to 4 - 5K RPM, shift to drive, then on and off throttle to keep RPMs up and speed down. At anything above 25 MPH, the thing sounded like it was near death- literally. The guy at Toyota said I was lucky to get it home at all. He also told me to be careful that the thieves knew where it was parked and that it would have a new expensive Toyota cat on it when they saw it again. He said they had several customers suffer the same fate and several were hit a second time within one month (one guy lost 3 cats in a 2 month period). At $990 total, it was a scary thing to have happen more than once. I solved that by tacking a weld bead across the flanges on both sides. No one was getting that cat off period.

z71MudDog · February 22, 2012

nobodys stolen anything off my trucks.but is the scrap price that high that they stel them? what do they give at scrap yards i mean thats crazy

txab · February 22, 2012

nobodys stolen anything off my trucks.but is the scrap price that high that they stel them? what do they give at scrap yards i mean thats crazy

They steal them for the platinum that is used in their construction. Platinum is very valuable. There are other metals of some value in them too,

z71MudDog · February 22, 2012

i know they stel them for the marerial but is the used cat price that valuable?

or i should say is the material that valuable

txab · February 22, 2012

i know they stel them for the marerial but is the used cat price that valuable?

or i should say is the material that valuable

If people are stealing them, then they have value. They can be very valuable. Some newer cats apparently are using much less of the expensive materials

jimlem · February 22, 2012

nobodys stolen anything off my trucks.but is the scrap price that high that they stel them? what do they give at scrap yards i mean thats crazy

Yeah tell me about it. I had heard that for the "better" models guys could get a couple hundred for each- no questions asked. (Like so you want to sell all 15 of your old cats? All from different cars?) There was a big deal about it a few years ago. The History Channel had a special on "precious metals" and about 20 min. of it was dedicated to how this local business in Santa Fe Springs could reclaim almost 100% of the platinum and palladium and iridium and unobtanium or whatever it was they used inside these things. I guess different car companies use different formulas to obtain the results from their cats and Toyotas were famous for having as much precious metal inside as some decent jewelry.

I have a friend who owns a big pull-a-part / wrecking yard down by Palm Springs and he was telling me around the same time, that they were just getting raped with overnight thefts from the yard. They'd cut his fence, hit 10 or 15 cars if they had them and all they took were the cats. It got so bad he had to pay his guys to pull all of them and move them inside with the new parts. They even went so far as to weld their "brand" on each one. He found out later most of his stolen ones were being bought by a competitor down the street.

I think it's better regulated now and some companies are using different materials that make them less valuable as scrap. When Ford and Chevy released their new 2011 diesel trucks, they started using that urea injection to clean up the exhaust. Dodge did not use it and I read it was because Dodge decided that people would pay more for their precious metal cats to avoid the hassle of having another fluid to watch and fill. Ford and Chevy wanted to save the money but had to come up with a new system. So I read.