Help! I work for a small contracting firm in California. We have a 1999 Ford F-450 truck that had its catalytic converter damaged in a theft attempt. Unfortunately, Ford no longer makes the part, and I’m striking out at finding a California-compliant aftermarket catalytic converter. Any ideas?
Where have you looked ? It seems any major truck shop can find one. And I did a Google thingy and it seems there are CARB compliant converters available.
I’ve been looking online. I’m getting a lot of places that either a) don’t have catalytic converters for a 1999 F450 or b) don’t have catalytic converters for California. The local Midas shop said they would need the truck brought in, but it’s not driveable.
it might be loud, but you should be able to drive it without the cat…alternatively you could have it towed there instead. It might be your only option
But I would call around ro a few independent muffler shops rather than Midas.
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Yeah, try some independent muffler shops. And if you can’t drive the truck, have it towed. Problem solved.
Sell the truck in Nevada.
Tester
Contact CARB directly. This may be a painful process with lots of waiting on hold, being swapped here and there, but eventually you should get answers to your questions. You might be able to avoid most of the unpleasantness by starting the ball rolling with a letter to CARB , providing them with the basic info and your objective. It’s possible there’s no solution available that keeps the truck in the state of course.
I live in Arizona, and I have noticed a lot of diesel-powered trucks–especially large commercial trucks being offered for sale on the local Craigslist by out-of-state sellers in California. Now I know why, however I am questioning the legality of a law which seeks to compel businesses to get rid of vehicles which they already own, and met all applicable standards when built. I am surprised that no one has attempted to challenge the state on this.
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If you don’t like the law in the state? Move out of the state.
I’ve worked with CARB. And CARB doesn’t mess around when it comes to emissions.
Tester
Lots of people are doing precisely that, and unfortunately most of them are coming here to Arizona, and bringing the same failed political ideology with them. And of course, driving up the cost of housing for longtime residents.
Nevertheless, I am struggling to see how this is not an ex-post-facto law, which would be unconstitutional. Of course, most businesses which are large enough to mount a legal battle challenging the law would apply cost-benefit analysis, and likely determine that buying new work trucks is cheaper than spending half a million dollars or more to litigate against the state.
There was some sort of issue in Calif about 10 years ago where trucks (18 wheeler types in this case) on the road would no longer meet the emissions rules, so new trucks had to be purchased. But the truck owner’s didn’t take to this idea kindly, as you might expect. I can’t remember how it was all resolved, but it probably involved a good deal of money changing hands … lol …
Calif sometimes goes off on a tangent & shoots itself in the foot. 15 years ago or there-a-bouts the Calif politicos passed a law requiring a chemical called MTBE be put into the fuel to lower emissions. Unfortunately some vehicle designs were not compatible w/MTBE, and a lot of damage was done to those vehicles. I think it was mostly Mercedes vehicles that got hit the worst. Again I don’t recall how it was all resolved, but again I expect a lot of money changed hands. The MTBE also polluted lakes and streams, another unexpected event, and that caused the end of the MTBE fiasco for good.
Other than the headache of moving out of state state what good would it do for California emissions if the owner put the new tags in the state they moved & still worked the truck in California?
The reformulated gasoline movement began more than 30 years ago. Oxygenated fuel could be made using ethanol or MTBE. In 2002 the state of California banned the use of MTBE in gasoline. 15 years ago ethanol was the additive used in gasoline.