Can driving with a catalytic converter damage the engine?

1. Got stolen over the weekend.

2. Was trying to call around dealerships and scrapyards to find new or used OEM. No luck.

3. Thinking of just welding a straight pipe and calling it good...

4. Was also considering driving the truck with the cat cut off to go find a pipe section and a weld shop (probably 1 hour of driving). Safe?

 

Only thing it’s gonna hurt is your MPG and your ears

 

I'm guessing that you DO NOT live in California?

 

My location is classified.

 

I have earplugs. Is the MPG loss for driving without a cat converter (but a straight pipe) or with a cut off exhaust system?

 

Probably will affect it either way. Do you have O2 sensors before or after the cats location? If after, you’ll have a check engine light

 

I don't want to know where you live; I'm just saying that if you live in California, your truck won't be able to pass a smog test, and thus you won't be able to register it. I live in Pennsylvania, which is nowhere near as bad as California, but requires an annual emissions test in 25 out of 67 counties. Massachusetts, New York, the DC metro areas of Virginia and Maryland, parts of Texas, the Vegas metro area...

Unless you live in Florida or somewhere in the Midwest, not replacing the cat will essentially make your truck illegal to drive, as stupid as it is. That said, I once met a guy from Kentucky with a mid-1990s GMC Sonoma who straight-piped the truck and removed the cats; The truck actually sounded awesome, but it was registered in Kentucky which has no stupid emisisons tests.

My buddy recently straight-piped his 2004 Tacoma 3.4L, but he left the cats; The truck has no muffler and sounds awesome, but it will still get through PA emissions because it has the cat.

 

no annual emissions tests where i live

 

You're lucky; Still, I think you should consider what the other members are saying about loss of MPG, your CEL coming on, and your truck being loud as hell. I'm guessing you only have liability coverage on your truck and not comprehensive? I always though that the catalytic converter thefts would be covered under insurance...?

 

As long as your truck still has it’s front most o2/afr sensor in tact it will still run fine with out a hit to your mpg. You will get a catalytic efficiency code which there is solutions for if you do not plan on putting another one in the truck. In the case of going catless I would recommend having the pipe welded and adding another muffler or resonator to the exhaust system to help quiet it down since even if you get the pipe welded you will notice your exhaust note being louder with your cats being taken out.

Hope that helps.

 

Just checked. It's after the cat.

 

I wouldn't drive it much with nothing there as you risk burning or melting things under the truck from the direct exhaust heat, as far as replacing it with a pipe other than the legality issues and higher noise levels your not gona hurt the truck doing that.

 

Something's wrong with your ears

OP you're fine as long as the front O2 sensor is still there

 

Well, he put it in neutral and revved the engine at a car meet where everyone else was revving the engine while hundreds of people were trying to talk over said engine-revving...

About the best sounding muffler-deleted vehicle I've ever heard was a Dodge Ram 1500 with a HEMI!

 

I made the poor college kid decision to straight pipe mine and thought I was the biggest douche bag in the city for those 3 days. Sounded worse than a cherry bombed Honda... sounded like I loaded the gas tank with those little ground poppers. A good quality hybrid muffler is much, much more tasteful

 

I wouldn't do that to my truck, or any vehicle; However, my exhaust is pretty rusty and I have a feeling that if I plan on keeping my truck another five years I should plan on replacing it...

 

I kinda miss my quiet factory one ngl lol
But I'm an old man in a 26 year old body

 

I don't get why thieves go for cat converters on old trucks like ours, most of them are probably nearly shot anyway. Around here, it's a rampant problem but you always hear about it with newer trucks/SUVs and Priuses

btw a cat-less Prius sounds like a straight piped Harley, neighbor got theirs jacked and I looked out the window at 6am expecting to see some asshole on a bike blaring it down the street but it was a Prius haha.

 

No driving without the cat installed won’t harm the engine. Illegal in my area to drive without one installed.