I am currently in LA County for school and I live in the Bay Area, my catalytic converter got stolen a while ago and I have been trying to get it fixed before Thanksgiving but the autobody shop I was talking to was very unhelpful. I know it’s possible to drive without a catalytic converter, but could I drive from LA to the Bay without one? I haven’t been able to find anything online about how FAR is okay to drive without a cat.
The drive won’t be bad, but in California they would probably seize the car for modifications. I couldn’t ever imagine
if you don’t mind a check engine light, you can effectively drive forever. but the Laws in California are pretty clear. you will need to get a new converter installed.
until your car needs to pass a state emissions test
Cars ran for many years before catalytic converters. You will pollute bit more, but the car will run just fine.
And no pipe ? Loud AF?
Must make a lot of noise if you get get a pipe to fill the void of the stolen part you be fine but if you don’t mind the noise of the missing converter you should be good
u/AndysNico - You do realize a lot of performance cars remove the cats on the cars and install a straight pipe instead and these cars run perfectly fine for 100’s of thousands of miles IN CALIFORNIA… just saying…
If a cop pulls you over, just say,“Yes the car is loud, someone stole my cat. This is not a performance car, I am trying to get it fixed properly but it is hard to get parts still and correctly repaired. But I am working on it. It will certainly be done before my next registration smog check”.
Until you need to pass a smog test lol
You can drive as far as you like without one.