catalytic converter valie

I know how to spell valUE! I missed the typo and the site won't let me correct the title.
s.crums inquiry about the scrap metal price inspired me to post this one.
I bought a new '79 Dodge naturally in 1979, drove it about a hundred miles and decided I'd like to burn the cheaper leaded fuel in it rather than the unleaded. I cut the converter out of it and welded in a straight pipe. I didn't notice much difference in mileage, but the first hundred miles on it really wasn't a test. At least I was using the cheaper gas!
I'm cleaning out the shop and there lays that converter. What's a fair offer for it at the recycling yard? For just one?
The pickup is gone for a few years already, it was a good D200 with a 360 automatic.

It is probably considered a hazardous waste by now.

they contain minute amounts of precious metels. The salvage yard will never have one, its the first thing they turn into cash. They are valuable waste, not hazardous waste. gobble btw I don't know its value

Junk yards like the catalytic converters. They are filled with a platinum based material that breaks down the carbon chain when the exhaust material hits it under high temperature. This is the same things that happens when making gasoline with the catalytic cracking process.

I have read news reports about thieves stealing cat converters from parked vehicles and selling them to recyclers for cash, so they obviously have some value. To replace a stolen converter it might cost hundreds of dollars for an exact match or a bit over $100 for a generic.

The wrecking yards told me that it was against Federal law to sell used cat converters off wrecked vehicles to consumers, with a HUGE fine. So it was just about impossible to cheaply replace a bad converter. With one older, low value car I had, I ended up breaking up the plugged ceramic inside the converter case, removing the ceramic and then replacing the case in the exhaust system. I live outside the area that requires inspection, so I didn"t worry about the fact that it probably would not pass. Legal? Nope, but that car only ran about 10k more miles anyway.

A catalytic converter does have a small amount of platinum and maybe other rare expensive metal in it. That metal can be recovered and reused whatever it is needed, but I would guess the recovery process is quite involved, and only practical on a large scale. So it probably should go to a recycler that can sell it to a company that has a system to recover the rare metal. There is only so much of those rare metals available, so it probably should be recovered rather than just sending it to a landfill somewhere.

I would suggest trying to sell the converter to a wrecking yard or recycling center. I would not expect to get a lot for it--maybe $10-$20. Or maybe they would not give me anything. If so, I would just leave it there and hope that it would eventually be properly processed.

I try to recycle things I don"t need or want, just to get rid of them. Newspapers, magazines, old batteries and whatnot. It just seems like the right thing to do. I do keep a bunch of scrap metal, since sometimes I have found uses for it.

But I don"t think I would ever need an old catalytic converter! Good luck!

Scraper love catalytic converters Had one tell me he gets over $100.00 at the scrape yard. Thieves like them to but, they don't like working to saw them off very often. They go for easier things unless the auto is sitting some were for a long time.

last one I sold for scrap was $35.00 for the flat pan one and $45.00 for the newer honey comb ones , that's in Canada .before the markets went in 2008 they were over $100.00 each

They recently caught two guys at a car lot with a sawsall and a bunch of converters in there pickup.

Call your local scrap yard and ask what they are paying.

I sell converters off cars im scrapping and what i've found is the older bead style are in the $40 dollar range the newer ones dopending on make and size range from $60 to $100 some import ones are a little more

They can be big bucks..Paladium ,platinum and some other metals. Thieves hit one of the fleets I service . 12 truck. battery sawzall makes it quick work. 6 of them were NPR's my cost on converters ,$1500 ea other 6 Ford f350's roughly 500-700 for those . Not to mention labor and what not to straighten out the exhaust they wrecked cutting them off .

Depends on size. Could range from 20 bucks to 100 bucks with the average around 40.

Rod

Here is what my local scrap yard pays.
Price List

Thank you for the price list. Wow! There's a lot of different prices. I'll take mine in and get (probably) yet a different price! I appreciate each answer to my inquiry. You guys are great!