California Legal Catalytic Converter? (Aftermarket)

Hi Everyone,
I am brand new to the forum, so forgive me if this topic has already been covered. I am limited in time, so I'm just gonna through this out there. I have a 2006, V6 Tacoma, 4.0, 4x4. I need a new catalytic converter to pass California's hideous smog test. I have been looking on line for an aftermarket one as Toyota charges over $2000! The one's I'm coming up with say they are not CA or NY legal. Can anyone direct me in the right direction, hopefully not back to the dealer?
Thanks in advance!

 

Sorry to inform you, but as far as I can tell the only "legal" catalytic converters in Californication are dealer OEM catalytic converters.

It sucks, but there ya go.

 

Pick and pulls would be your best bet.

 

for my european cars (mercedes, volvos), Magnaflow has replacement cats that meet the Calif. BAR specs. you might see if they have tacoma cats too.

wow, 10 years is a short time to burn through a cat, I've only ever had to replace them on cars with way over 250000 miles. O2 sensors typically need replacing every 60-100k miles.

 

The cat on my old 05 frontier stopped working at about 80K. Luckily the emissions system warranties last much longer. Not sure if it was bad luck or typical first model year problems.

 

From the Magnaflow Web Site:

2006 Toyota Tacoma Pre Runner V6 4.0L GAS

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We're sorry, none of these products fit your vehicle.

Magnaflow is constantly developing products to exacting vehicle specs. If you'd like to be notified when new parts are available, you can join our Consumer Development Program.

 

California sucks for the most part, but some of it's perks help to balance the scales just a tad (i.e. off-road parks and environmental diversity.....shit, that's really about it).

It's a shame because geographically speaking, California's a very beautiful and uniquely diverse state. But it's politics shit all over that.


To answer your question OP, I agree with the above poster in that your best bet is to head to your local salvage yard or pick-a-part and see if you can find an OEM cat there.

 

Have you tried their development program. I was going to help them out, but they are far away from me and they want your truck for a week or more and doing all kinds of dyno testing. It wasn't worth it to me given you giving them your vehicle for a week or more and all you get is a freebie item. The time without a truck and the stress they do with dyno testing day in and out is not worth it for me. I thought they would do some development and they require a test fit and data point for a day. 1 week+ is a lot to ask.

 

I spent a few years there back in the early 1970's around San Francisco, Vallejo area. Nice weather and things to do, but the politics just screwed that up. They can keep it.

 

My cat actually went out on me over 4 years ago. The last two smog tests, I had my mechanic reset the check engine light, I drove around for 50 miles, the light stayed off and I drove straight to the smog check without turning the engine off and it passed both times. I might try my luck at that again before throwing a bunch of $ at it.
Thanks for the comments guy's

 

Wow, I'm surprised it passed right after having a CEL light...I thought smog stations could tell if a code was recently thrown and it would cause an automatic fail if it was reset without resolving the issue? Anyway if it worked once maybe it'll work again, let us know how it goes

 

Can't have an active CEL. That's all.

 

yeah, if your car threw a code that lit the CEL, and you fix the problem (for instance, the classic gas cap leaking vacuum, or there's a bad coil, or temp sensor or whatever), you clear the error, and drive enough to clear the buffers, it will pass. they won't pass it right after you've cleared a CEL, you have to drive it a dozen or two miles so it can record some engine emissions data.

 

Thanks, I'm trying that tonight. Will let everyone know what happens. Fingers crossed

 

Many muffler shops will carry CA approved cats for this very reason. I can recommend a really good shop in the bay area if you're from there.

 

So Cal. Thanks though!

 

I have a magnaflow and it passes smog fine. They don't check numbers or anything. They just see if you have one

 

Go on yelp and find a good local muffler shop. If they don't have any, they can probably point you to a shop that does. I'd be surprised if you could find a shop that didn't carry catalytic converters.

 

Depending on your ARB district, it just has to have one and pass emissions and a visual. Also, some ARB districts are just doing OBDII plug in and the computer will tell if all is well. No need to sniff, new to CA testing. Also note: dealers/manufacturers are suppose to warranty smog related equipment for 10yr/100,000mi so you may want to look at that as well.

 

I thought it was 8 yr/80k miles.