My catalytic converter was stolen today

[Knight]

stolen catalytic converters are NOT something new, are they? car makers need to make them more difficult to even get to.

the heat generated to reduce emissions is quite high.
Normal operating temperatures of a converter are 500-800°F, and up to 1200°F when the vehicle is under heavy load. To melt the catalytic converter's substrate, the temperature inside the converter would have to exceed 2000°F.

the open air & shield between the converter & floor of a vehicle is needed.

No theft isn't new but the increase in theft seems to be.

 

[Jace]

How unfortunate!
Does your car insurance company have a compensation provision?
For the loss?
Look into it?
Good Luck!

 

[Alligatorob]

the heat generated to reduce emissions is quite high.
Normal operating temperatures of a converter are 500-800°F, and up to 1200°F when the vehicle is under heavy load. To melt the catalytic converter's substrate, the temperature inside the converter would have to exceed 2000°F.

the open air & shield between the converter & floor of a vehicle is needed.

Yep, I had a GMC Jimmy catch fire from the converter. Somehow transmission fluid got onto it, and it takes a lot of heat to ignite transmission fluid... We put the fire out, but it was too late to save the Jimmy.

 

[StarSong]

Catalytic converter thefts are absolutely rife here.. not only on the drive, but in the supermarket car park.. everywhere... takes literally seconds for these scumbags to remove it

They're happening everywhere. A friend in a sleepy upstate town NY had his jacked in a Costco parking lot.

 

[Happy Heart]

as I said..we drive on the 'correct' side of the road.. as do...all of these countries..

Oceania

• Australia
• Christmas Island
• Cocos (Keeling) Islands
• Cook Islands
• Fiji
• Kiribati
• Nauru
• New Zealand
• Niue
• Norfolk Island
• Papua New Guinea
• Pitcairn Islands
• Solomon Islands
• Samoa
• Tokelau
• Tonga
• Tuvalu

Asia

• Bangladesh
• Bhutan
• Brunei
• East Timor
• Hong Kong
• Indonesia
• India
• Japan
• Macao
• Malaysia
• Nepal
• Pakistan
• Singapore
• Sri Lanka
• Thailand

Africa

• Botswana
• Kenya
• Lesotho
• Malawi
• Mauritius
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • South Africa
  • Swaziland
  • Tanzania
  • Uganda
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe
• Europe
  • Akrotiri and Dhekelia
  • Cyprus
  • Guernsey
  • Ireland
  • Isle of Man
  • Jersey
  • Malta
  • United Kingdom
• South America
  • Guyana
  • Suriname
• Caribbean Basin
  • Anguilla
  • Antigua and Barbados
  • Bahamas
  • Barbados
  • British Virgin Islands
  • Cayman Islands
  • Dominica
  • Grenada
  • Jamaica
  • Montserrat
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis
  • Saint Lucia
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Turks and Caicos Islands
  • U.S. Virgin Islands
• Other Islands
  • Bermuda
  • Falkland Islands
  • Maldives
  • Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan de Cunha
  • Seychelles
  • South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands

Did you know we are the rebellious sort? We drive on which ever side we darn well please!

 

[Been There]

Did you know we are the rebellious sort? We drive on which ever side we darn well please!

Yeah, I’ve been known to drive on both sides, depending on traffic conditions.

 

[Murrmurr]

stolen catalytic converters are NOT something new, are they? car makers need to make them more difficult to even get to.

Yeah, that's a good idea, too.

The muffler guy just told me the KIA cat-cons are among the most popular with thieves.

 

[Murrmurr]

If your son is mechanically inclined he should be able to clamp in a replacement fairly easily. Depending on how the removal took place [probably with a reciprocal saw with a hacksaw blade] . That would make replacing the converter using clamps & probably clampable sleeves easier & hopefully less costly. For clamps & sleeves measuring the OD of the exhaust pipes will be needed. You might even be able to reduce the cost if a generic version is available for your van. When you look under your van see if the metal shield that is a heat barrier between the converter & the floor of your van is still in place. If not you will need that too & you have to take notice of how it was attached.

For only the converter it's not a lot of work except for laying on your back in a driveway. Probably a box end 1/2 wrench would be all the tools needed.

The thieves probably have a junk yard source for getting jacks for next to nothing in cost. So cost wise leaving the jack under your van takes more time than cutting off the converter.

Hope you are able to minimize the cost of replacement & don't experience another theft.

He is. He's an engineer and welder by profession. But he said cat-con installment in my car's model requires a lift, and he doesn't have one.

He's going to make an anti-theft contraption. He's working on a design that will be easy for me to use but extremely difficult for thieves to get past....or time-consuming, at least.

 

[Jules]

After years of theft here, this is what the government did.

The British Columbia government has moved to prevent thefts of catalytic converters, a crime that costs millions every year. The province has changed the regulations for metal dealers and recyclers to require them to report each transaction, including seller information, to police.

That’ll really help. The metal dealers have known that they’re buying stolen products for years. Guess they’ll stop now that there’s a law to report them.

 

[Murrmurr]

So sorry this happened to you! In your new house too!

Just yesterday in my FB group, Scanner Nerds, someone shared a home security video of a guy that has been stealing catalytic converters. The car lots in our area have had a problem with this also. Maybe there is some kind of an alarm system for vehicles that would go off and make a lot of noise. Not so they can see it in advance to disable it though.

I've looked at an alarm system that makes a really loud noise when your car is touched. There's a cat in the neighborhood that comes to lounge on the hood of my van nearly every night. I don't know how sensitive that system is, but if the patter of little cat feet can trigger it, we'd have a problem.

 

[Murrmurr]

After years of theft here, this is what the government did.



That’ll really help. The metal dealers have known that they’re buying stolen products for years. Guess they’ll stop now that there’s a law to report them.

My son told me that just last night Elk Grove police busted a cat-con theft ring. EGPD is recording the model numbers of the dozens of cat-cons found in an apartment. Elk Grove is a city just south of us, no more than 10 minutes away, so mine could be among them.

 

[Murrmurr]

The dog we had when I was a teen had no problem at all waking the entire house up when a stray dog or cat come down the driveway or, even worse, I came in at midnight from a date, but let my dad get his car stolen in the middle of the night from the driveway only feet from the back door.....not a yip out of her.

The tuition for guard-dog training school is worth it.

 

[Happy Heart]

My son told me that just last night Elk Grove police busted a cat-con theft ring. EGPD is recording the model numbers of the dozens of cat-cons found in an apartment. Elk Grove is a city just south of us, no more than 10 minutes away, so mine could be among them.

Wanting to get out of the Bay Area, we looked at Sacramento for a while. Your posts are making me glad we decided to go further north but there is too much crime everywhere.