Greetings:

Just joined the forum...

I have a 2001 A6 2.7T with about 50k miles. A while ago the 'check engine' light came on and when I took it in I was advised the car needed a new catalytic converter. Turned out also to need a new oxygen sensor, and a few misc pieces of hardware.

The car is under warranty so it didn't cost me but I thought I saw a price of $1500 for the converter, parts only. is this typical of the life of these parts? Sure don't want to do it all over again at 101k miles!


Denton

 

Many years ago I saw cats on many brands go bad, usually from poor fuel mixtures or oil burning (element plugging up) or just vibration (element breaking up). More recently with fuel injection and more concise engine controls, cats seem to last indefinitely. I've run several Audi's and other makes well over 200K with original cats. I did get a hell of a deal on a used Dodge pickup two years ago that didn't run well because its cat element had disintegrated and plugged the muffler.

 

Shouldn't go bad at 50k. Usually a bad cat is caused by fouled plugs, bad exhaust valve, or maybe you can feel the heat through the floor boards. After the reapir, keep an eye on your plugs a but more frequently than you normally would and make sure you replace the O2 sensors at regular intervals, Most of the time they'll be fine between 60,000 and 100,000 miles on newer cars, but you cab drop that mileage if your primary driving is on the highway, constantly at high temps.