Ford F250 Catalytic Converter Scrap Price. How Much For A Truck’s Cat?

Catalytic converters are essential parts of the exhaust system of your vehicle. They are aimed at reducing the amount of harmful gasses your car emits into the air when you drive it. Well, the catalyzation of exhaust gasses is quite a complicated process, so your catalytic converter will need to have some chemical elements to turn harmful gasses into simple oxygen and water.

Ford F250 may have different configurations of the exhaust system with one or two converters. But usually, you are going to have two cats. On the one hand, it’s pretty good because today we are talking about the scrap value of your converters and you will be able to get more money for those parts.

But on the other hand, you will have to buy two new cats that may be too expensive.

So, today we are going to discuss the following:

1. What are the scrap prices for Ford F250 stock catalytic converters?
2. How are these scrap cats gaining so much value?
3. What are the signs you should replace the old cats?
4. How much is a new converter for your Ford F250?

Let’s get started!

At what price can you sell a scrap cat on your F250 truck?

Ford trucks have quite big converters and they can be sold at a decent price. The bottom price for a full old cat (it means that it has the honeycomb inside without visible damage) is around $120. The maximum price is $350 for some types of catalytic converters.

But the average scrap price for an F250 scrap cat will be around $200. The final offer depends much on many factors that we’ll speak below about.

Here are some factors that will make your old cat cost more:

• it is not rusty as hell and looks quite good;
• it has a serial number on it (this makes it easier to evaluate);
• it’s a stock catalytic converter installed by Ford in your car;
• it is not damaged inside, the honeycomb is absolutely intact.

Please pay attention that any aftermarket cat will cost much less as a scrap part. Some companies will be glad to give you $30 to $60 for an aftermarket catalytic converter from your Ford F250.

Of course, to sell a converter at a decent price, you will need to follow a certain procedure. Once you do something wrong, you may just lose the chance to get at least some money for your converter.

By the way, we have a large article explaining the price questions of cat converters in the US - read it to learn more!

How to sell your F250 converter at a good price?

First, forget about local scrapyards and scrap metal dealers. They don’t tend to appreciate all the best things that a converter hides in it, so they will probably offer you a 50-dollar bill for the old cat. Pretty the same price you can get at local car parts shops and auto repair shops. They may buy your converter but at a very low price.

The best offers you will get from people who buy scrap converters and do it as their business. For example, you can find a middleman who buys old converters and then resells them to companies mining precious metals from such things. This way you may get more than $100 for your old part. But it’s still not the best option.

You may consider finding some companies online that will buy your Ford F250 scrap converter at a much better price. Just take some pictures of the cat and send them emails with those pictures attached. You will get a couple of offers and will be able to choose the best option. In such a way, you can sell your old cat for $250 and sometimes even more expensive.

Why are they buying these old metals scrap parts?

You may wonder why these people don’t buy old mufflers or old engine blocks but they buy converters. The reason is that the catalytic converter has three kinds of precious metals inside: rhodium, palladium, and platinum. Each of these metals is pretty rare in nature and quite needed in industries.

So, here’s how they are going to take the precious metals out:

• they will gather hundreds of old converters;
• then they will “peel” the parts taking away metal covers;
• after that they will place the honeycomb in a special kind of furnace;
• the basic materials will melt but the precious metals won’t;
• they will gather the metals they need, sort them, and sell them to companies.

Usually, a scrap catalytic converter from your Ford F250 will have up to 2 grams of rhodium, around 6 to 7 grams of platinum, and 7 grams of palladium. This is going to compensate for all losses the company had on the way to mining these metals.

The most expensive part of the cat is rhodium – it costs almost $600 per one gram which is amazing.

How much is a new cat for your Ford F250?

Here comes the most interesting part. Up until this point, you may have thought that it’s cool that your F250 pickup truck has two converters. But if both of the cats are failing and malfunctioning, you will not be very happy. The price of a single catalytic converter for the F250 is around $2,400 if you want an original part made by Ford.

If you are OK with the aftermarket parts, they will cost around $1,200 for a set of two converters. Of course, the final price will depend much on the manufacturer you choose and also on other important factors like the year of your vehicle and the type of engine. But the prices will be approximately on the same level.

Also, be prepared to pay at least $150 to $250 for labor to replace the converters. This is not as easy and quick as it may seem. The bolts and nuts on old converters are pretty hard and even impossible to operate, they are stuck and need to be cut carefully. So your old cats will highly likely compensate for the labor cost only.

What’s the lifespan of a stock converter in Ford F250?

Nearly all generations of F250 that have been made within the recent 25 years have pretty much the same converter systems. They include rhodium, palladium, and platinum in decent quantities and they are quite big and heavy. These catalytic converters can survive around 100,000 to 120,000 miles, but the final mileage depends on the way you use your vehicle.

Your cat will die faster if your truck experiences such cases:

• the malfunctioning ignition system that causes gasoline to get to the catalytic converter and explode or burn there;
• problems that lead to thin or rich fuel mixture resulting in the higher temperature of the catalytic converter and other exhaust system parts;
• mechanical damages of the catalytic converter (for example, bumping it over some obstacle on the road);
• driving through deep puddles – this will cause excessive rust on the catalytic converter body and will destroy it faster;
• rust issues caused by different factors like climate conditions or chemicals on the road in winter;
• poor fuel quality – converters don’t live long if you use bad gasoline with the wrong octane number in it.

These factors will destroy the catalytic converter much sooner than you can expect. Some of them will not even last as long as 50,000 miles. Make sure you know how to prolong the life of your catalytic converter. Because if it starts malfunctioning, you will have to spend quite a lot of money.

By the way, just taking it off is not an option because you will not pass a fog test.

Can you take precious metals out of your F250 catalytic converter?

Some guys are now reading our article and thinking why they should just sell their converters for $100 - $300 if a single gram of rhodium costs much more than that. You can count that all the precious metals that are stored in your converter will cost around $1000.

But the problem is that to take the metals out you will need professional equipment and some skills. Even if somehow you will do it, selling 1 gram of rhodium is close to impossible. Industries will want at least 500 grams, so you will need to take apart 300-400 old cats.

This is why it makes sense to sell the converters to some companies that deal with scrap cats.

Final words

Selling your scrap catalytic converter that you have just taken off your F250 truck is not a big deal. You can do it through a scrapyard, a middleman, or through a specialized website. The quickest option is a scrapyard but you will only get a couple of bucks. Middlemen are also not the best friends for you in such a case. They will only offer a little better price than your local scrapyards.

We recommend you selling your old scrap cat to a specialized company. Just google some companies and send them pictures of your cat where they can see the condition and the serial number of the catalytic converter. Then see which company offers a better price for you.