Ford E450 Catalytic Converter Scrap Value – Big Vehicle’s Cat Prices

Ford E450 van is a pretty popular vehicle in America. It has been a really wonderful heavy-duty vehicle that has been manufactured in numerous types and formats. You can buy chassis or a van, or you may prefer a box truck. Whatever you choose, the E450 is a reliable and durable vehicle that is going to make it to 500,000 miles or even more.

But today, we'll concentrate on a certain thing called a catalytic converter. Did you know that Ford E450 had one of the most expensive cat converters among all Ford vehicles? And this can be both good and bad news for owners. We'll explain how you can sell the cat converter from your E450 and how you can prevent cat theft in your vehicle.

Here are some key questions we'll be talking about:

1. What types of cat converters are there in a Ford E450?
2. How much should a Ford E450 cat converter cost as scrap?
3. Where should you sell the converter from your E450?
4. How to prevent cat converter theft in your Ford E450?

Let's get started!

Type of Ford E450 converter and where you can find it

You may know that the type of a catalytic converter depends mainly on the engine. The E450 has been in production for decades now and it's still available new. The vehicle is big and heavy and it was always powered by big engines. For example, now it's powered by a 7.3-liter Godzilla engine, before that it was also powered by a legendary Ford V10 engine. Also, diesel versions with Power Stroke engines were available.

So, the cats are usually quite big in these vehicles and they are hard to overlook. Also, these cat converters are not always alone in the system. In modern-day chassis, for example, the exhaust systems have 3 cat converters - two pre-cats near each of the engine heads, right after the exhaust manifolds, and also 1 main cat.

Here's what you will need to know about the E450 cat converter:

• quite often, Ford used famous torpedo catalytic converters in these vehicles - they are big and resemble a torpedo in appearance;
• but sometimes, other types were also used, they were always big and quite heavy;
• the main value comes from the main catalytic converter that is situated near the muffler, this is the biggest converter in the assembly;
• in diesel engines, you could also have DPFs which are worth some money;
• all OEM Ford catalytic converters have serial numbers on them and most of them will have the Ford logo;
• some older cats are quite rusty, so to get the serial number, you will need to clean it a little and scratch some places;
• these cat converters are integrated into the exhaust pipes when manufactured, they come without visible welding lines on the sides;
• the main valuable part of all Ford E450 cat converters is the ceramic honeycomb that forms the main revenue during recycling.

Inside the ceramic honeycomb, you can find platinum and palladium. Also, most of the big Ford converters have a little rhodium inside. This is an important part of understanding the price of the cat, so the serial number will help much. If you don't know the serial number, the vehicle's VIN code will probably help.

But the problem is that you probably don't have a clue how much these cat converters from your E450 may cost. That's why we sometimes see people on eBay trying to sell their old cats for $1K and even more expensive. While some advertise their OEM Ford cats for $150 and just lose their money. So, let's see how much they should cost!

What should be the fair scrap price of a Ford E450 cat converter?

The eventual price of your Ford E450 cat will depend on too many factors and we can't say a precise price that you should target. But we can talk about average prices and we can also tell you what exactly will influence the prices.

So, the short answer: the Ford E450 scrap cat converter will cost approximately $250 to $600 for the main cat. If it's a torpedo cat converter of a big size, it can even be more expensive. The average price is considered to be about $400 now, as of June 2022.

But not all Ford E450 owners will get that much money. Some of them will only be able to get about $200. What does it depend on? Here are some of the main factors:

• The condition of the cat. Rusty cats are OK, but if they have holes in their bodies or if they are damaged completely, they will not cost that much.
• The year of the vehicle. The year and engine are very important, these factors can be easily calculated with the help of the serial number.
• The precious metals prices. For example, rhodium is thought to be one of the most volatile metals on the market. Its price may go up and down 30% in just one or two months.
• The buyer of the converter. Sometimes, tricky buyers just want to resell your converter to earn some money. They will not offer a good price but will try to get the cat as cheap as possible.

Check out these factors and see that you can barely control each of them. The only factor that is fully under your control is the choice of the buyer. You decide where and how you want to sell the Ford E450 catalytic converter.

Still not sure how to get more money for a cat? In the next part of the article, we'll be talking about how to know the actual price of the converter and how to find a person or a company ready to pay more for the Ford cat.

Who can you sell the Ford E450 catalytic converter to?

Selling a catalytic converter is not that hard. Many companies and private buyers want to buy it, especially if it is an OEM cat converter from the Ford E450. This thing contains some precious metals and recycling companies may make some money after getting these metals out.

But the most popular way of selling a cat converter is to take it to scrapyards. Unfortunately, this is also one of the worst ways of selling the cat because it offers just a low price. We know cases when the OEM cat was sold just for $25-30 because its owner didn't know about possible options.

Here we give you some options:

• private buyers - these are usually middlemen who want to get money for your catalytic converter from some other company, but they still won't give you a lot of money;
• eBay - this is probably the most expensive way of selling the Ford E450 cat converter but it's also one of the longest ones, so you'll spend a lot of time on this;
• small local companies - they aren't usually recycling companies but resellers, and still, they can offer good prices sometimes, you need to quote;
• licensed recycling companies - these are wonderful options because they pay the most and won't make you waste your time.

To sell a converter to a recycling company, you will only need to find its website and then quote. Just send them pictures of your catalytic converter to make sure they understand which model you have in your hands. Then, these guys will offer you a certain price.

You may also find three or four recycling companies and get their price offers for comparing them and choosing the best one. This is also one of the best methods to learn more about the potential price of the cat.

What can you do to prevent catalytic converter theft?

Stealing a catalytic converter is insane because the thief will never sell it at a good price. The maximum they can do is to take the stolen cat to one of the half-legal scrapyards and get $20 or something for it.

But still, there are a lot of thieves who specialize in cat converters. And the Ford E450 is one of the main targets. You may ask why. Because it has a great ride height and it offers plenty of space for a thief to work under the vehicle. So, it will take a thief 2 to 5 minutes to cut off the cat converter.

One thing you can do is purchase a special cage for the catalytic converter. You may probably do it in any exhaust shop. This cage doesn't guarantee that the cat will be always there and the thief will give up once seeing it. But this thing will obviously make it much longer for a thief to cut off the cat.

Final words

If you have a Ford E450 catalytic converter that is not working anymore, you may want to sell it. The best idea, in our opinion, is to offer it to recycling companies. Let them offer you a certain price for the catalytic converter you have and see how much you can earn. But remember that driving your E450 without a cat is not legal, you will need a replacement that will allow your vehicle to pass the fog test.