Topic: Need Calif. Catalytic converter?

[Capt. Crawler]

So my '93 truck needs new cat. to pass smog. What's so different about a Ca. Cat., and where to get a cheap one?
Found some on Ebay for around $105.00. Local shops want $200.00 to $350.00

[8D3TOY]

I have never heard of a Cali cat, weird.  I replaced the cat on mine, actually I was so sick of smog issues I took it to my trusted Toyota mechanic and told him to make it pass, and he replaced the cat with this cheesy little thing that is only about 2" thick but it has passed twice now so I would not worry too much about it.  I looked up the invoice and he charged me $80 for the cat 4 years ago.

[JDouglas]

I looked into inexpensive cats as well,I bought a universal from Auto Zone for around 60$ a few years ago, called to get the same one for my other yota  and they said the auto parts stores cannot sell the cheap ones anymore because of the smog laws. I was qouted about over $200 for the new style. From what I learned the ebay or universal cats wont work in Cali 
I may have been misinformed though,ya never know.....

[Capt. Crawler [OP]]

OK so as far as I can tell '93 does not have "OBDII"? Truck that is?

[8D3TOY]

I think not 95-96 is when OBDII came in so you should be OK.  I am going to look into the whole CA cat deal that stinks if we have to pay more for a cat. CARB at work!

[Yota4life]

I found the CA legal magnaflow Cat for my 1988 pickup. Its 100$ shipped. Ill get the website for you in a minute

[bigarms23]

summit racing a 69 dollar universal magnaflow cat should work ive run mine for 5yrs and passes smog everytime

[Yota4life]

This site http://www.performancepeddler.com  has them cheapest place around. Once you find the one you need (use magnaflows website to see what part# your truck uses for California) enter this code on performance peddler "bestoffer4em" and it takes another 50 bucks off the price.

[madhunt]

magnaflows are not the new cal cat's,the law changed in jan 09, they will not have the carb numer on the cat.  napa #80104 is cal aproved it costs 163.88 at our napa for your truck. universal only.

[Yota4life]

magnaflows are not the new cal cat's,the law changed in jan 09, they will not have the carb numer on the cat.  napa #80104 is cal aproved it costs 163.88 at our napa for your truck. universal only.

Magnaflow has a separate site just for california cats.........

[Snowtoy]

IIRC the now CA only cats are identical to oem replacement cats.  The oem ones have always been much more expensive than the after market ones(usually 4-6 times), and as w/most oem Toyota parts, you pay more for the better quality.  If you ever compare an oem cat to an after market one, while they don't appear to be that different in overall size, the catalyst chamber is less than half the size and they weigh about a third as much.  Given the size difference it is likely that the universal catalyzing metals burn out quicker and w/age tend to not get hot enough at idle to work properly.
Here is apic of a stock cat from my '90 3.0 and the hi-flow magnaflow one I have.

The "X" represents the size of the burn chamber from screen to screen.

In Jan '05(7 mos. of use) the Magnaflow I have on my '90 passed the smog test,.  The HC's were a little high for both tests, but w/in acceptable amounts.  2yrs later in '07 it passed the 2500rpm test, but failed the idle test by about 20 HC's.  W/an adjustment of the idle to 1050rpms, it passed.  In '09 it failed again at idle even w/the idle speed at the highest allowed.  Looking at the smog reports from years past, and the dramatic increase in '05 I had an idea it was the cat.  Fortunately since I tend to keep anything that can be still be used, I still had the oem cat.  I installed it went back and passed w/only 30HC's at idle.  I was able to set up a w/the tech time to check the cat after the shop was closed to see if the cat worked at all at idle.  I got off the freeway and went to teh shop, w/o having to wait to be tested the cat passed at idle, not as good as the oem one, but still passed.  It appears that the smaller chambers cool down too quickly to be effective under most testing conditions.  I am still running the magnaflow, and will install the oem come test time.

$100+shipping from the site posted isn't bad for a CARB approved one, it is a far cry from the $376 price listed at Magnaflow, and I paid $160 for my universal magnaflow locally in '04.  If suppliers aren't prevented from shipping non-CARB cats to CA and   going to install it yourself, I would just order a universal replacement cat from Summitracing.

[Caboose]

I was told the the new law only prohibited smog shops from selling non OBD II cats, and that if your truck doesnt require one then you dont need an OBD II at the smog shop.  Just a gimmick to get more money. Anyone have any hard facts about this, mine is just hear say.

[Yota4life]

IIRC the now CA only cats are identical to oem replacement cats.  The oem ones have always been much more expensive than the after market ones(usually 4-6 times), and as w/most oem Toyota parts, you pay more for the better quality.  If you ever compare an oem cat to an after market one, while they don't appear to be that different in overall size, the catalyst chamber is less than half the size and they weigh about a third as much.  Given the size difference it is likely that the universal catalyzing metals burn out quicker and w/age tend to not get hot enough at idle to work properly.
Here is apic of a stock cat from my '90 3.0 and the hi-flow magnaflow one I have.

The "X" represents the size of the burn chamber from screen to screen.

In Jan '05(7 mos. of use) the Magnaflow I have on my '90 passed the smog test,.  The HC's were a little high for both tests, but w/in acceptable amounts.  2yrs later in '07 it passed the 2500rpm test, but failed the idle test by about 20 HC's.  W/an adjustment of the idle to 1050rpms, it passed.  In '09 it failed again at idle even w/the idle speed at the highest allowed.  Looking at the smog reports from years past, and the dramatic increase in '05 I had an idea it was the cat.  Fortunately since I tend to keep anything that can be still be used, I still had the oem cat.  I installed it went back and passed w/only 30HC's at idle.  I was able to set up a w/the tech time to check the cat after the shop was closed to see if the cat worked at all at idle.  I got off the freeway and went to teh shop, w/o having to wait to be tested the cat passed at idle, not as good as the oem one, but still passed.  It appears that the smaller chambers cool down too quickly to be effective under most testing conditions.  I am still running the magnaflow, and will install the oem come test time.

$100+shipping from the site posted isn't bad for a CARB approved one, it is a far cry from the $376 price listed at Magnaflow, and I paid $160 for my universal magnaflow locally in '04.  If suppliers aren't prevented from shipping non-CARB cats to CA and   going to install it yourself, I would just order a universal replacement cat from Summitracing.

great write up. I have a new magnaflow cat that is made for 5-6 liter vehicles as a secondary cat... and im pretty sure this is why i keep failing the NOx test. And im pretty sure its not enouph for my older 22re. So i have a carb approved cat made for my truck on the way for my next retest.