Catalytic converter bad?

So i live in BS California where they require "yearly smog's" for older vehicles. Particularly my 2007 tacoma.

Now i bought the truck used and it was a wreck, long story short my catalytic converter went bad 4-monthish after I purchased it. Either way, i took it to a mechanic and he basically took the current (bad converter) and banged it on the ground as it was clogged most likely.

I paid someone to pirate the smog last year, but this year a notice came in again, and im going to probably bite the bullet. HOWEVER, what are the chances that my 2ND Cat went bad since the first one is no longer existent? Do you think it was affected?

LMK your opinions please, if it went bad I'll probably just pirate smog it again.

 

@whatstcp nope, I thought it was "every 2 years" as well which i figured hey im good for 2-years once I pirated it. But I just got a notice from the DMV stating that a smog check is due AGAIN, and I literally did it last year. SO im just biting the bullet and buying the stupid expensive catalytic converter. But I'm looking to see what you guys think, if it ruined my 2nd cat as well. PLUS my check engine light IS on.

 

Sounds like they saw the illegal smog you did and flagged your truck again. Smog is every 2 years.

What code is being thrown? FYI there cant be codes thrown from the secondary (more reward) cats as there is no sensor behind them. So if its throwing a cat efficiency code its either o2 sensors or the exhaust manifold/primary cat itself - your options for the exhaust manifold/primary cat are limited to CARB approved ones, which is OEM and i believe magnaflow... OEM being "cheaper" but harder to find.

 

I was under the impression that CA Smog Check was annually to get the tags annually
Having an active CEL will fail the SC
Having a non CARB approved Cats will fail the SC if the person doing the visual inspection is paying attention
Having air intake mod(s) and/or an oil catch can will fail the visual inspection
If the CEL is Cat related it is because the downstream O2 sensor is seeing no change from the Upstream O2 sensor
Yes, your Secondary Cat is probably not doing much from overwork trying to do the primary's job but the only way to tell would be if they put the sniffer on the tailpipe

Given what you have said I'm going to assume you have an I4 (1 primary and 1 secondary Cat) and not the V6 (2 primary and 2 secondary, one set per bank)

 

@nd4spdbh ok, that makes me feel a little better. I got a quote, since I'm planning on selling the vehicle this year anyways. I got quoted $700... OTD. (including taxes & install) which isn't bad. But i figure since I'm planning on selling I might as well bite the bullet like I said and get it over with. I spoke to another person not online & they said in CA the older vehicles get the more often they will require the smog. But there's also the possibility that perhaps it did throw off a certain type of code which gave them the notion to require a smog within the 1-year period. Who knows, either way im going to get it fixed

@CraigF My truck has a K&N air intake installed, I thought that was CA approved. Are they not?

 

my understanding was not, but it may vary by county or I'm wrong
if you look up the model it should have a CARB approved something or other if it is

 

@CraigF ok, got it... just wanted to make sure. As when I talked to my mechanic he told me that the new CAT would in fact pass CA smog (hoping to get it smogged their and then after getting it installed. Hopefully, he'll pass it for my reg renewal.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it!