Hacker News Reader

Comment by doodlebugging | Hacker News Reader

How would one go about legally selling a catalytic converter?

I removed the exhaust from one of my vehicles about 15 years ago when I replaced the worn out engine and have had the old catalytic converter sitting around in my shop ever since.

The catalytic converter came from a 1992 model vehicle. The whole exhaust was replaced with a custom stainless steel exhaust front to back with a 50-state compliant catalytic converter in line from a well-known California supplier.

I intended to run it by the metal recycler several times but never made it and now that theft is such a huge problem I can see where just showing up with one to sell could be a problem.

I still own and drive the vehicle and could probably dig up documentation for the replacement exhaust system.

I'm glad to see a federal effort to stop these thefts. I had to install a cage around my kid's catalytic converter since there were thefts occurring from vehicles on their college campus.

View on HN

I've sold lots, some of which were obviously chopped out of vehicles with a sawzall (vehicles that I legally owned, btw). They've always scanned my ID, took my thumb print, and mailed me the check after a couple of days.

This will probably be what I do. The metal scrap yards are in a town nearby where there has been a lot of meth lab activity so I think just the fact that I'm not one of those guys will help.

Any scrapyard will offer you cash for it, just call. OEM are worth much more, hence the rise of cat thefts.

I wonder what the difference between the OEM converter from 1992 and the replacement from 2007 would be. The OEM converter is easily twice as large but the replacement is certified 50 state compliant and CARB approved from a manufacturer in California. I guess the technology improved or the ceramic composition changed.

Ford bet big on palladium in the 90s, so any Ford cat from an engine introduced before ~2002 is likely to have a relatively large amount of palladium in it. Some of their larger trucks have nearly 1/2 an oz, which was worth about $40 in 1992 and nearly $700 today (there was a palladium shortage during COVID and palladium briefly was over $3k/oz).

My Ford was federally licensed rather than CARB, so I'm required to replace it with an OEM converter. There is no ETA on when one will be available.

Wow. I should see whether there is a way to determine how much this catalytic converter is worth before selling it off to the scrapyard so I don't get ripped off.

If there is no ETA on when a new converter for your vehicle will be available are you not able to drive the vehicle at all? Is there no temporary option that can make it road-legal until the replacement arrives?

It seems like an exception should be federally issued for those caught up in this who have lost use of their vehicle. Dealers should be allowed to install a suitable replacement, non-OEM unit until an OEM is available. A note can be placed on the VIN with the state registrar that it has a temporary part so that it can be registered. I'd bet that if you did that and most vehicles showed to pass emissions with non-OEM parts in place that there would be a push to allow replacement with non-OEM parts.

Good luck.

Indeed, I can't (legally) drive it at all. The registration has expired and it is due for a smog check, which automatically fails with no cat.

Mine is an E450; There are a several companies that make an after-market cat for an E350 with the same engine. I contacted them and got roughly the same response from each:

> Unfortunately we do not have a catalytic converter for your vehicle. Although it may seem that the vehicles are similar, in reality they could be completely different when it comes to emissions. We've seen some cars that are the same year, same make, and even engine size, that use completely different catalytic converters. It has to do with the manufacturer and which emissions tier they are registering that vehicle for. That being said, although the E-350 maybe similar to the E-450, in reality the converters and emissions level could be completely different and that's probably why we don't have the certification for it. Sorry I couldn't help you out. Take care.

This is probably the reason for all the fleet vehicles available in auctions that have no catalytic converter because theirs was stolen. The municipality or company that owned them found out that replacements would be nearly impossible to get so they opted to sell at a loss to someone who could afford to wait or who operated in a different state where OE replacement catalytic converters are okay for use. I believe that California and Colorado have banned converters that do not come from the manufacturer, effectively preventing anyone who had theirs stolen from using the vehicle legally even though aftermarket units are available that meet 50-state requirements.

Good luck. It may be an option for you to sell the E450 to an out-of-state buyer and replace it with a used or new vehicle. I don't know whether you can make that work for yourself.

I looked into this a year ago when I bought a house and the previous owner had left two catalytic converters in the garage from old project cars.

The conclusion I came to was that if I didn't look shady, the cats still had their mounting flanges on them (not sawed off), and no problem giving the recycling yard my contact info, I'd have no problems.

This is probably what I'll do with mine. I knew at the time that the catalytic converter should be recycled so I kept it. I just never got around to finding a place to take it. When I looked around, most of the places for metals are in the part of the county where we have all the meth-heads. I typically avoid that area. Some of them tried to steal my utility trailer from my driveway a couple years after I moved here. Luckily I heard them outside and ran them off.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com