Aftermarket Catalytic converter in California

I have a 2006 Tacoma with 345K miles. I am seeing some cheap prices on ebay and I am wondering if anyone in California has purchased one of these. After doing some reading, it looks like I'm ok to buy and install one since I'm over 7 years and 70K miles. I can't stand California's smog requirements but I don't want to waste money and time.

Thanks,
Adolfo

 

I thought CA has to be CARB approved

if 7/70 is exempt from that then this is great news because non CARB is significantly cheaper. I would check RockAuto

so long as it doesn’t throw a CEL catalyst inefficiency code

 

Has to be CARB stamped to pass visual. Your options are OEM toyota, or MAYBE magnaflow (at a similar or greater price to OEM)

 

You can't even buy a non CARB converter in Ca., nor can you have one shipped from out of state. There are, however legal non OEM converters out there but they won't last nearly as long as the factory ones do.

 

The only way they would remove it is if BAR finds it. I do not think the regular smog shop even looks under the hood. They just plug in the machine and run the program. No reason for any officer to suspect I am running a non compliant CAT. As long as it passes smog for several years I think it would be good.

 

Lol, don’t count on it. Your choices are shit in a blue or red package, but still shit

I think that OEM price you quoted is for one side only. You’ll need two. I would get OEM if they freaking lasted you 18 years and 345K miles!!

 

Pick a flyover state, move there, and then cut off the cat…problem solved.

 

i mean not saying this is right, but why not buy aftermarket, and then slap the carb heat shields on the aftermarket ones? i mean im not from California, but are they marked some special way?

 

If you get a catalytic converter repair outside CA, they're not going to use a CARB converter... So how does it even make sense that they could fail you for that?

 

CA smog makes no sense.

How close they look depends on the shop. My last test he didn't open the hood. Only sniffer & treadmill tested.

I had a bolt in resonator, one time while sitting in the waiting room, I realized I left it in & didn't put the cat in. Oh well, expecting to fail, it passed, I'm standing there with my passed paper dumbfounded, took a moment before I realized I'm good to go.

 

What exactly are you looking for?

I have removed the 2nd cats and y-pipe off my 2015 - they have about 30K miles on them (I have to check to be sure.)

Not sure what postage will be to Cali, but might be worth it to you.

 

The 2nd set of cats in the y-pipe aren’t monitored by any sensors of the truck, so I’m guessing he needs the ones that are welded to the end of the manifold. The y-pipe ones are the ones that get stolen, and in CA you need them to pass visual inspection.
That said, if OP doesn’t need it, I’m interested in your stock y-pipe but shipping to WA will probably be killer. Would appreciate if you could check though

 

I haven't found a box large enough to hold the big half (with the crossover pipe). Would you be interested if I cut the crossover pipe?

 

The OEM cats for the V6 aren't that expensive...right around $500 IIRC...I have one to put in the wife's 4 runner.

The aftermarket ones are not far off the OEM prices.

Look at the construction. Walker/AP/Magnaflow are the brands available, and since it's a manifold cat, they just holesaw a piece of pipe, shove 3 short pieces through their holes, add a flange and weld it all together. The OEM use formed top and bottom halves so it has a chance of actually flowing decent.

For the $100 or so you'll save on an aftermarket CARB approved unit, I don't think it's worth it.

 

No, thx anyway