Cats stolen. Options? (1 Viewer)

[arbetrader]

Hi all, my sister in law has a 2003 Toyota Sequoia and one of her cats was stolen last night. There's an o2 sensor in it. She's hesitant to install a new one due to the chance it could happen again. Has anyone here just welded a straight pipe on, and left the engine light on - has it actually reduced fuel mileage like everyone says it can? What about long term ramifications beyond that?

Any other options? We can go through insurance and get a new one put on, but it could just get stolen again....

It's an old vehicle, not in the greatest shape, but runs like a top (hey, it's a toyota!)

 

[gnob]

straight pipe and sensor trick ftw
you need the front sensor for the truck to run correctly.the rear sensor is what im referring to tricking

 

[arbetrader]

straight pipe and sensor trick ftw
you need the front sensor for the truck to run correctly.the rear sensor is what im referring to tricking

Not sure which sensor was on the cat - do you know if it's the front or rear? All I know is the cat was stolen, so whatever was on it also likely went with it. What kind of "trick" are you referring to? How do you do that?

 

[cruiserpilot]

Weld a skid plate onto the bottom. I've got 2 tundras. The bottom with crossmembers are like fence posts. I plan
to skid plate the whole bottom of mine.

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Dang, I had some tweaker try and steal my 03's catalytic converters over the course of 2 months... I came out and started it up thinking they got it...close but no meth. That thing had over 300k on it, so he was working hard for the carcass of a dead catalytic converter.

Went home after work that week and welded it back up....kept going on until I came out and they had broken off 2 exhaust manifold studs, stripped the nut of the 3rd, broke 1 stud at the cat and rounded the remaining nut. I repaired everything and added heavy wall pipe where I could. Came out of the hotel to find a pile of toothless hacksaw blades, Lol. I wanted to hire the dude...that's some hard work and dedication, better work ethic than 80% of the young guys I work with, Lol.

You can straight pipe it, but you should make sure to add a bung for the missing O2 sensor.

 

[Surf123]

Skid plate is the solution with some light welding so it can be removed if necessary for service.