Just for info - had the Cat stolen from my 2009 RX400h last week too... in North London... very easy to spot - the car sounds like an old tractor, and obviously there is a big section of the exhaust missing on inspection. There are 2 cats on the RX400h... The main one is up near the engine, and can't be stolen, the second one is underneath the drivers seat. Both are platinum based, and thus have a scrap value. The one under the drivers seat is very vulnerable to theft. I am told the second one (the one that gets stolen) does about 15% of the emissions work, and the main one that can't be accessed easily does the vast majority of catalytic conversion. In other words, you are looking at the second stage of a 2-stage catalytic converter system.
Phoned up Lexus, and they had had 6 others done that week, and the parts were on back-order from Japan, unavailable until end of September. Quotation was £1300 for replacement of entire exhaust section - that's a lot, but it's comparable to other platinum-based systems that the Japanese manufacturers use.
What do you do if you don't want to pay £1300 and wait 3 weeks? Fit a universal replacement... won't be as good as the Lexus OEM part I would suppose, but I got mine for under £300 and welded in for another £50... so not as bad as I was expecting... certainly not worth an insurance claim. I could have got a used part for about £600, but its a 10-year old part as a minimum... with unknown mileage, so I was happy to try the universal option. I painted the welds and new piping with some high temp black paint to protect from any corrosion too.
What have I got now... a ceramic universal replacement - it doesn't have any scrap value as no platinum in it.
Obvious concerns:
Will it pass an MOT? - well, as I was told by an MOT tester, Hybrids are exempt from emissions testing, so there won't be an issue there (you can verify this info online).
Will it affect a warranty? - well probably, as its not OEM - but the car is 10 years old and its not under warranty anyway.
Will it last like the original part? - I bet it won't, but I can replace it three more times and still be ahead financially... so I don't care.
Does the car sound any different with a replacement cat? - Nope, sounds exactly the same as before in every way.
Could it throw a malfunction indicator light? - Nope, the lambda and O2 sensors are on the first Cat, and there are no sensors past it, so it can't lead to any OBD issues.
Will it effect power or fuel consumption? No idea, initial fuel economy figures are identical to before, and there is no noticeable difference to throttle response - I don't drive the car hard anyway, not the way I drive, and not what this car is for.
When I took the car to have the new Cat put in, there was another RX identical to mine having the same replacement part put in... so I am not alone, neither are the 1000s of Prius owners using similar universal replacements.
Use these guys: https://www.catman.co.uk/ Mike was a great help, and knows what he is doing - he told me he's supplied 40 RX400h cats this week... epidemic.
There are no other universal exhaust sections available (that I could find... and I looked extensively)... its Lexus or a universal one welded in. The only other option would be to get a stainless section fabricated... but they would still use the cat off the old system... which you don't have because it's been harvested by some degenerate already.
Hope this info is useful to those that need it... No idea about the 450, but I've been told they are targeting the entire Lexus range at the moment.
You can secure your Cats using a Cat Lock, of which there are several on the market... Costs about £150 and would take about an hour to install I think... certainly worth doing if you don't want the pain in the butt headache. https://www.catlocks.co.uk - ill get round to doing this shortly.
Cat thefts are rife at the moment, and it's simply a matter of time if you live in certain areas... so I wouldn't assume it won't happen to you.
