Hi folks,
I purchased an 02 3.0 Quattro this weekend and had a question. The next day I got a engine check light and took it back to the dealer who told me it was a "catalytic converter" thing. It was fine for a day but the light came back on, I'm going to take it to Autozone to get the code tomorrow. The thing is, I noticed that my coolant gauge is no longer working (sitting on C) and my outside temp moves up about 10 degrees or more everytime I stop now. I drover this car for more than an hour before I purchased it and it did not have these problems. Is there any possibility that they switched plugs to the two gauges? I know that it is unlikely-but I don't know much about Audi's. I did read somewhere else that the coolant gauge was a common fault and a replacement temp sensor could be purchased for $20. Is there any truth to this. Thank for your time.

 

Did you get some warranty, or was it 'as is ' ? If it was a dealer, not private sale, they should fix the "catalytic converter thing ". I don't think there is any way to switch the plugs to these two gauges.
The coolant temp sensor should be easy to change, not sure about the price, $ 20 seems a little low, especially for an Audi.
Good luck with the new Audi.

 

it was "as is" and they said that they fixed the cat. problem. I think I'm on my own. thanks for the help.

 

Check with your state as dealer's have certain defined responsibilities even if a car is sold "as-is". These responsibilities vary by state, but should cover the "catalytic converter thing" if this was emissions related and known by the dealer before the sale.

Bob

 

Thank you for the information, I will check into it. I had the codes read today at autozone, p0421 and 0431, which appear to be O2 sensors somewhere near the cat. I know that Honda had to warranty the emissions up to 100K but I'm not sure about Audi...If anyone has any info on that, I'd appreciate it. I'm also going to spend some time on here looking at others who had the same problem and codes. Thanks for the help so far guys!

 

Cances are they sold you the car because of the cat coverters. The converters cost $1,000 a piece and the dealer charges 4+ hours of labor to change them out. There is hope however, if you have less than 80 thousand miles then it might be covered by federal emmisions warranty. Since you have an 02 i wouldn't keep my hopes up though, i believe there is a 5 year restriction on that law.

 

Auditech, there is a 8 year 80K mile warranty on the cat. I used it on mine.

Crazyguy, there is also a TSB on cat efficiency threshold set too sensitive on ECU. If your car is out of warranty, I would ask the dealer to update the ECU prior to changing the cat. The dealer changed my catalytic converter under warranty and the same codes, P0421 and P0431 still came back. They flashed my ECU with the latest update, then they never came back. I believe if your software version is less than 50, then you need the update.

 

Ok they changed the law then, there isn't an update for the 3.0L ECM. Only for the 1.8T, 2.8L, 2.7T and 4.2L. I have no idea why the 3.0L doesn't have a reflash.

 

Thanks for the information guys, it looks like the same information I was finding. I'm out of warranty so I'm not sure what I will do next. Another tidbit of information, I noticed a little bit of rough idle just when I start....any chance that this is 2 bad O2 sensors? I've contacted the dealer about selling me a car with a known problem and hiding it from me, not surprisingly I haven't heard anything back. Florida does not have a used car lemon law or the like, so I'm probably going to get stuck. I've seen posts by others on magnaflow cats being installed....is that possible with a 3.0? I was under the impression that cats were just an emissions thing, if so, why would we not just rip them out and not have cats?

 

AH yes! You are in florida my friend! You don't have emmisions. Yes you can just remove the cats or what i would do is just gut them out because its part of the entire down pipe from the back of the cylinder head all the way down to the exhaust, so i would have someone pull the cats out, gut the inards, then re-install them. You will however have a check engine light from the rear O2 sensors, although there is a fix. You could either use non fouler O2 sensors or buy something to space the sensors away from the exhaust, keeping it from throwing a fault code. HELP is the company volkswagen guys use when they install catless downpipes. Check out the vortex forums for the correct part numbers. Thats what i would do.

P.S if the cats are bad it could cause a harder start concern and a power loss.