Tonight while driving home I bottomed out on a pretty bad dip causing what I thought was another tear in the flex pipe sectionof the exhaust. Car drove extremely horrible as the exhaust sounded as bad as a fart-canned honda civic. WhenI got home to inspect the damage I opened my hood to finda clean break in thedownpipe about an inch behind the 3-bolt flange to the turbo housing bracket!! So basically I have nofunctional exhaust after the turbo, unbelievable. I have read in a previous post about this section of the down pipe being extremely sensitive and prone to fractures due to thermal breakdown. Now, I am pretty familiar with the PITA removal of those 3 boltsto the flangeof the turbo (turbo swap install) but I do not know how accessible the three bolts are to back of theconverter/ down pipe; I can visibly seeaccess to two of the bolts.I was going to attempt the repair myselfbut after a thorough analysis I think I will drop it off at my local Audi/VW mechanic it let him slap on a usedpiece and worry about the hassle. What do you guys think, what would you do?

 

Those bolts are usually rusted/heated in place really good. Getting them out can be a hassle. They might not be worth the hassle, especially if its cold where your at.

On a serperate note, did you notice any power gains with your new found freeflowing exhaust?

 

the last bolt your talking about is accessibleafter you've removed the other 2, just swing that sucker around. i believe someone posted pix on it.
dankhound: i doubt he was drive it very hard after he bottomed out lol. i doubt he can answer that question.

 

Lol! I'll tell you what, other than the bad sounding exhaust tone, my turbo sounded sick!! Talk about hearing it spool up...Holy Sh*t!! Due tono back pressure, I think that made it drive and respond like crap. HopefullyI can drive it to the garage without screwing anything up......?? Thanks for the response...Hey Hiwords I did a search but could not find anything related to down pipe removal/ installation.

 

You are right, those bolts looked extremely rusted beyond removal, hopefully the mechanic will be able to salvage this piece instead of replacing the whole section.

 

Come to think of it you cant really do a cat vs no cat comparison with the oxygen sensor not reading the exhaust properly. Thats probably why it runs like crap tho. I wouldnt be surprised to see the cel pop on.

 

https://www.audiforums.com/m_669244/tm.htm
there's also 2 links on that thread that i believe are pretty helpful

 

Thanks for the quick response and references highwords, you're always of awesome assistance to this site.

 

lol i think you something brown on your nose. and no problem for the help. i'm a post ***** and a searching master hehe

 

yeah, if you aren't in garage with a lift or in a warm climate with high jackstands and lotst of beer,ratchet extensionsand patience, don't even bother trying to do it yourself. It will take 2 hours on a lift compared to 5-6 hours on jackstands in a driveway, if you're that lucky.