Merry Christmas you piece of crap!

Today I took my mother out for dinner and a movie. After watching Tron Legacy I went to my Toyota 4runner and started it. Sounded like a harley starting. My mother and I looked around wondering if a Harley pulled up next to us. NOPE! Revved the engine a bit and we are the source of the sound. I got out and looked under the vehicle and the catalytic converter was missing.

Anyone have this happen to you? It was an interesting drive home 60 miles without that piece of equipment. I had to let the vehicle cool down and restart it over and over to slowly cool it down to keep from the cold air warping my headers.

Anyways Merry Christmas you jack ***!

There are threads on ATS that sugges the CAT is not needed in a car and actually hurts perfomance and fuel mileage.

Are you trying to say someone stole your CAT on christmas? If so, sorry to hear that bro.

reply to post by v1rtu0s0


I thought I made it clear that the Cat.. converter was stolen from my vehicle while I was in the movie theatre treating my mother to a movie.

Huge theatre.. Imax 3D and and regular theatre and at least a few hundred cars in the lot.

I'm going to take it to an auto place and ask if they can bypass the cat converter and install a pipe instead.

I have to add that the sub-human needing a bullet to the head did a good job cutting it cleanly.

I was warned by some scrap guys on what my catalytic converter was worth on my car once. They are worth money at the scrap yards they say. Sorry to hear this happened to you. And they are not actually needed but are needed by law if your car was manufactured with one. They do cost a good chunk of change as well to replace one.

yeah. they go under car to car on one of those things mechanics use....i remember this happening at a car dealership

reply to post by Connman


Looking at 500+ bucks from my research online to have it replaced. They get 50-100 bucks for stealing a cat.. converter.

what you think they used to cut the pipe and metal hanger...
a battery powered saw-zall or something else ?

best to see if the theater complex had a camera on the area where you parked...
if not to identify the culprits , then at least to show your insurance provider
that you yourself didn't salvage it for cash & claim a thief got it.


best to ya

reply to post by St Udio


I did think about calling the police but this was one massive parking lot and I was close to the street.

How in the hell can someone pull this off in a massive parking lot. Wow kudos to the crackhead that pulled it off. May he burn in hell!

Edit to add. I'm not sure St Udio. It was at a theatre in a massive lot. Perfectly cut out btw.

Sorry to hear you were a victim of scavengers. People stealing catalytic converters is not really anything new. They are valuable for scrap,as you probably know. Unfortunately,I don't think you'll be able to run around without a converter if you're state requires one for operation and inspection. As long as you drive a decent car,you're pretty much a perpetual target for looters.

Might I suggest parking the 4Runner someplace safe and driving a 'beater' instead? Something weird no one would touch like an AMC Pacer or a Pontiac Sunbird?

I'm not sure if that's even a solution however with the American economy tanking. This sort of thing is only going to get worse. AND,thanks to the ignorant Cash for Clunkers program,auto and auto parts theft is starting to reach new heights. I posted a thread with video about this earlier if you're interested in knowing more about the mayhem it has caused.

Unintended Consequences

A friend of mine had this done at a large chain grocery store. His Insurance covered it, but he still had a deductible. The grocery store was held liable because the theft occurred in their parking lot. Might be something to check into. At the least you might be able to get the Theater to pay your deductible.

reply to post by FlyingJadeDragon


I should have listened to my mother and left the car at her apartment complex that has only 3 white people living in it. *shakes his head* Tulsa Oklahoma has become a mine field. I am blessed that the failure that took the catalytic converter didn't break into the vehicle. I had a few thousand dollars worth of goodies in it. Including my gun.

I live in another city that's much safer. I am livid and relieved over this. Sign of the times I guess.

reply to post by VeniVidi


I should have called the police. In retrospect I failed.

That's such crap.

We had a guy come in to our shop when I was an exhaust tech trying to sell us a bunch of cats that we suspected were stolen since we has some people come in missing theirs (obviously stolen). We called the cops, but never heard anything more.

Catalytic Converters contain Platinum infused in a ceramic honeycomb. When the substrate reaches operating temps, the Platinum acts as a catalyst, burning off any leftover hydrocarbons, and converting CO2 and O2 into 2CO2. We were required to have paperwork for every used cat we had. We could sell more cats than we returned, but we would get in trouble for returning more than we sold, because it usually meant that a car was running around without a converter. Converters come with paperwork that we would ask for when a customer would bring in his own replacement (usually high-flow upgrade). We would then stuff this paperwork into the old cat before we threw it in the bin.

Also, a cat should cost you no more than about $150-$200. Take it to a Meineke or something and just have a universal cat installed. Some other dumbass probably saw the price for the 4-runner's stainless cat assembly and decided to get his for free. A universal cat also comes with a warranty. Your toy could easily burn through it's 300k mile lifespan on a single cat as long as you keep the O2 sensor replaced when it needs.

OT, but since you own a Toy, and we're on the subject of Catalytic Converters... common misdiagnosis on toyotas is a bad cat... you floor it, but it has no power. It'll sputter like it's got a clogged cat. BUT, a plugged cat will still let the engine rap up... a TPS (Throttle Position Sensor), on the other hand, will make it rap up fine under partial throttle, and then it will stumble when you try to rap it up. Toyotas are the only vehicles we came across that the TPS acted like a bad cat (without throwing a code, even!) Just a quick tip for Toy owners (I love Toyotas, btw).

reply to post by Earthscum


270k mileage on this 96 Toyota. Its a tank. Thanks for your reply Earthscum. Out of curiousity would it be ok to install just a test pipe and skip installing a cat.. converter? Will it mess up my MPG?

Edit to add: Did they cut off an o2 sensor?




Edit to add more. My old Hyundai Tiburon had 2 O2 sensors. I had a busted O2 sensor on the low end of the exaust and it bucked like crazy. This Toyota ran fine but LOUD!

reply to post by madmangunradio


Merry Christmas you piece of crap!!

I learned these lessons long ago.

Holidays? Special cultural events?

Stay home! Celebrate with family and close community.

Because lowlife thiefs and azzwipes pretty much come out of the sewers.

Stay home, show some love to your family, and eventually, maybe all businesses will close, so no employees must be away from family and friends, and we get a break from the almighty dollar.

I recall a day when I worked at a restaurant on Christmas Day. Tips weren't bigger that day. I think I actually got less money that day than on a usual day. God bless you, Merry Christmas! If I hadn't spent so much money on gifts for my azzhole relatives, I might have been more willing to give you a few more dimes,while you were lef t out of your family's celebrations, so I could get a ready coooked meal, instead of doing something cool and personal with my family members and friends.

reply to post by kyred


People have had their catalytic converters stolen in the front yards while chilling with family on the holiday.

Just trying to keep your post on topic.


Older post however If I'm going to say front yard. Might as well link something..
www.yotatech.com...

reply to post by madmangunradio


Hey, it could be worse. You could have had almost $4,000 stolen and your bank account wiped clean, like I did just a few days ago. Merry Christmas? Not this year.

Originally posted by virraszto
reply to post by madmangunradio

 

Hey, it could be worse. You could have had almost $4,000 stolen and your bank account wiped clean, like I did just a few days ago. Merry Christmas? Not this year.

OUCH. I'm sorry to hear that virrazsto. I suggest you make a post about that with all the details. I'm sorry to hear that happen to you.

I'm sorry that happened to you, man. People just don't have any respect for other people's property any more.