You CAN drive a gen 3 Prius with a stolen catalytic converter…probably. Watch for an explanation.

[@reneedewire]

Gen 3 cat on our 2012 Prius was stolen 2 nights ago in L.A. - Venice area. Camera (low res) caught the event as it happened. It took them LESS THAN 5 MINUTES from start to finish! Thank you for this series of videos. It really helped explain things to someone with no car knowledge.

[@elleepiphany1]

Just had mine stolen last week too. It's so upsetting. It's not just paying a deductible or coming out of pocket for the replacement cost. Now with the national backorder, it's a harrowing situation to wait 6 months.

[@angleturner]

Ok, a question. If those coolant lines are cut, couldn't you just connect them back together, to loop the fluid back into the system, so none is lost/dumped on the ground ? Until you get it fixed properly, that is.

[@teferabahiru5140]

That’s exactly what I did, I drove it to the shop even though it was so loud. Thank you for the info!

[@mufflertech]

😎

[@hondoman454]

Thank you for making this video. My cat armor devices cover the exhaust manifold bolts and the section between the secondary cat and the resonator so I hope that will discourage theft. But a thief could cut after the resonator and bypass it. I hope a smart thief will just say it's not worth the trouble and move on. And I am so sad for all the people who experience this kind of theft!

[@frankiehands]

Just had my stolen today in Los Angeles. Never getting a Prius again as much as I love them

[@oaka7616]

A cat shield with install is like $200. What happened to your Prius by the way?

[@frankiehands]

@@oaka7616 I just traded it in and got a new car.

[@LZ_Mobile_Tint]

@@frankiehandssame thing happened to me in LA at X Lanes did the insurance not cover it ?

[@frankiehands]

@@LZ_Mobile_Tint Sorry to hear that. I had minimal insurance on it so no coverage.

[@hampoon]

I bet when they cut the coolant line some hot coolant came out and burned them... Hopefully lol

[@wayman10]

My gen 3 Prius just got the cat stolen. I check to see if the coolant lines were cut or not. They were not cut so I was able to move the car to my garage to work on it. Thank you for the video.

[@johnjkizer6399]

Thank you very much for the info., very helpful, unfortunately now I have to buy the upper and lower cat, I was hoping that they just took the one, thanks again

[@stoneblue1795]

Great video as always. I wish they would make crime a crime again.... be careful what you vote for people. 💩

[@frankiehands]

Also the converters are on back order in California for 4 months

[@xcjprestox6320]

Can you go over on how to replace the coolant lines if they were cut as well?

[@hapakii]

Why are more Honda and Prius Cats stolen versus American made cars?

[@mufflertech]

A lot of the Honda and Toyota cars are rated for low emissions. The manufacturers were able to do this by putting more precious metals in the cats which made them have higher conversion rates, the byproduct is they are more valuable to recycle so they are targets for theft.

[@canadianguy2612]

I’m having some exhaust smell in the cabin on my 2010 Gen three - it hasn’t had the converter stolen , do you know any spots to check where it might be leaking and causing the smell in the cabin? Thank you very much 👍

[@mufflertech]

You will almost always hear an exhaust leak before you smell one. Usually if a leak is prominent enough to actually get inside the vehicle it will be large enough to make a fair amount of noise. Exhaust leaks are not common on these cars unless there was a theft attempt.

[@canadianguy2612]

@@mufflertech Thank you for your response another person suggested check the rubber grommets under the spare tire which I think I was messing with this summer... but at some points to there was a burning coolant smell as well -- knowing that the two systems are related in someway makes me wonder... The car has 400,000 miles lol The other repair on the muffler system I had to do was where the heat shield burnt out the Mount and was rattling.. .

[@canadianguy2612]

@@mufflertech and so funny just as I’m writing this - I get a notification from Reddit , Calgary sub , that their catalytic converter was just stolen with a photo lol go check it out. Cc theft is so big here in Alberta, they got my 99 E350 shuttle bus 🚎 I just have it straight piped now, thankfully they don’t have emissions here

[@mozzwigan88]

So how much are people getting at a scrap price for the Gen 3 cat cons with regard to the 2nd that have had an all time high of just over £1000 GBP. I thought it was only the 2nd gens (2004-09) that was being stolen as they are the only cats worth stealing and taking to a scrap dealer. Now I'm worried as I just got a 2012 Prius

[@Buildingthecraziestliving]

Beautiful

[@Sb129]

I think someone might have attempted to steal mine, there's a black crossbar thing that goes across the underside 'channel' and all but one bolt was missing on it. It must have taken too long for them to undo those I guess cuz it was just hanging there but I got more bolts on it and it is secure. Should I put anything else under there? Do you think this was an attempted theft? Seems like unbolting 6 bolts under the car wouldn't be that hard, unless I parked really close to another car or the curb on one side.

[@mufflertech]

We rarely see that small cross support messed with. We believe they do all the quiet stuff first and then cut with a sawsall last. It’s like if they were trying to steal it they would’ve started on the front bolts that hold the cat to the manifold

[@neamaalsalman8260]

Can i use 2016 prius v coolent exhaust heat exchange for 2010 prius

[@neamaalsalman8260]

?

[@travisnewhouse1665]

My cat was stolen off of my gen 3 in October 2022. The Toyota dealer still doesn't have parts and thus I'm still waiting. 6 months without a car. Is this normal?

[@isnowyazn]

Yes…. The number of stolen Prius cats is still up there, and the backorder of parts has probably gotten even WORSE…

[@seekluv]

Hi do you know if it’s safe to separately jack up the right and then the left side of the front of a Prius if you dont have a hydraulic lift?

[@isnowyazn]

Yes, why wouldn’t it be? You would just need to make sure that you chock off the rear wheels, have the parking/emergency brake on, and the car in park of course. Aside from those basic tips, you primarily want to have a jack stand on each front jack point (on the frame rails?), and make sure that the car isn’t going to literally be TOO high to tip over.

[@geraldjr1000]

They got me 😢😢2 days ago

[@mufflertech]

Call us if you need some help or advice, even if you’re not local to Sacramento, we’re happy to help. 916-421-0399

[@miguelangelchapa2678]

I have a question. My catalytic converter was stolen and one of the coolant lines was cut as well as the O2 sensor. Can the coolant lines affect other parts of the car such as the electric water pump? I was told that I could still drive my car (I did not watch your video before :( ) and while I was going uphill the CHANGE HYBRID SYSTEM appeared on my screen. Suddenly the red wheel emergency light came on and I was not able to put my car on drive. I was not able to drive it for the rest of the day. The next day, I drive it to a repair shop near me since they were able to install a d-193-152 catalytic converter. When I left the shop my engine light was still on. I kept driving my car for 15 min. and the same problem occurred (Check the hybrid system) . Lastly, I took it to the same shop and running diagnostics they said it was due to a problem with the electric water pump. My insurance does not want to cover this damage because apparently is not related to the damage of the missing catalytic converter. I do think now though that the electric water pump and other parts of the car can get damaged if the coolant line was cut. I would greatly appreciate your reply as this could help me with my claim. Thanks, Coby! Liked and Subscribed 🙏

[@mufflertech]

Oh Miguel! Operating these cars with a leak in the coolant system is a really bad thing. We had a customer that overheated his engine doing this and it totaled the car. It makes sense that your electric water pump has failed. Water pumps need coolant as part of their lubrication and without it they can certainly fail. I would argue that the cat being stolen is what caused this and push hard on the insurance company to cover it. Know that they are going to likely fight back on that you should not have been driving the cat post theft. I wish you luck. This is a good example of why I said you can drive the car "probably". Everyone check those coolant lines before operating these cars.

[@miguelangelchapa2678]

Thanks Coby, insurance was able to cover it thanks to your feedback and video! You are the best!

[@rynee]

I’m so pissed that the idiot thieves that stole mine made it undriveable. If only they had taken the cats without severing the coolant lines :(

[@jasondominguez8434]

They got me a couple weeks ago on my 2011 Prius, Cut the water pipe , Only Cost me about $150 to fix everything but it still sucked

[@mufflertech]

I am glad you are back on the road, however, at $150 that doesn't fix it properly. Did you delete the cat?

[@jasondominguez8434]

@@mufflertech ordered a new cat on eBay

[@mufflertech]

@@jasondominguez8434 you will likely get a PO420 code. The cheap cats don’t have enough precious metal in them to do the proper conversion.

[@jasondominguez8434]

@@mufflertech put about 5k miles on it so far…..it’s working perfectly with 0 codes

[@wajirasheed]

I have a 3rd gen and the same way you showed us how they are stealing it on the white prius that was towed into your shop, my catalytic converter was stolen the exact same way, Ive got it replaced W/o heat exchanger, only because the heat exchanger is still intact but I still need to install oxygen sensor but I have no heat, AC works but no heat. Changed the thermostat but still no luck. Checked if any coolant line are cut but nope still intact. Could the missing oxygen cause no heat? Or maybe something else I should start looking into

[@mufflertech]

Interesting. We have not seen this. It’s possible the coolant pump failed. Do you have any warning lights on the dash besides the check engine?

[@wajirasheed]

@@mufflertech yes sir starting today it started over heating still has coolant in vehicle and also now just started maybe an hr ago got the check hybrid system, stop vehicle in a safe place. Turned the car off, waited two min turned the car back n boom back to normal, after maybe 5 min of driving, same error message. Had to do that for 2 hrs just to get home.

[@mufflertech]

@@wajirasheed sounds like a pump failure. I would not operate any more until it is properly diagnosed

[@smms5056]

👍

[@si6664]

how much is cat OEM prius 2014?

[@raidermatt8398]

3-4 k

[@wuvgl]

can i buy cat converter from u?

[@mufflertech]

Sure. Call the shop so we can give you the details. 916-421-0399

[@angleturner]

Such nice thieves, .. nowadays.

[@dorianr8829]

Unbelievable these mfs

[@dorianr8829]

Just had mine stolen in Los Angeles 3rd gen... Coolant is still filled up so they didn't cut any lines ...I'm pretty sure,

[@ToweringCrane]

Question, any way I could attach some flexible exhaust tubing between the exhaust manifold flange and the rest of the remaining catalytic converter, just to survive in the interim until Toyota can replace my catalytic converter? (they are on a 2 month back order). Thieves stole my cat EXACTLY as shown in your video of the white Prius. There is some pipe protruding out of the surviving cat assembly, wondering if I got some coupler pipe to insert into both that end and the flange/exhaust, then attached flexible exhaust tubing over that. Just a temp solution until parts arrive. I'm in Los Angeles and have to have OEM cat to pass smog. Very similar to what this guy did: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i2O1aIWbqbCBfpo

[@raidermatt8398]

Hey man. I have the same exact question and I am in the exact same situation as you. What have you found out?

[@ToweringCrane]

@@raidermatt8398 Nada, they finally got a cat in at the dealer. I would recommend finding a mechanic willing to install a straight pipe or after market if you're looking at too long a wait time.

[@raidermatt8398]

@@ToweringCrane thank you man. Do you think it’s worth trying to install a straight pipe like he did in that video himself? My only question is, do you know the inlet and outlet measurements of the Prius? I can’t seem to find them anywhere

[@ToweringCrane]

@@raidermatt8398 I had same problem. The hookup to the engine is a flange too. I think best bet is to have a mechanic do it.

[@lonniegarner4716]

I am in the same situation in Los Angeles. Where did you get your cat installed and how long did it take to get the part? I called a dealer parts guy and he said if I come in and pay for the part ahead of time I would get top priority when a cat comes in. But he did not say how long it would take to get the next one in. Any ideas would be appreciated.