I am doing the flex tubes on my 2000 2.8 . undid the coupler sleeves behind the cat and the cat just about fell out .. okay i guess i was due .. i was gonna take to whole thing out of the car but noticed giant pre muffleer things up by the flange an theres no way thats is coming doen through .. thay must put the damn exhaust in then the engine ... so will weld one side while out and might have to clamp the other end but we wil see ....

any who .....

Just above where the cats there is a drain plug and a fill plug and i am thinking that will be near impossible to get to once i put the cats back .. There is also a leak from that area .. i am not gonna worry about the leak too much at theis point as it looks like major work to reapir especially on a car with 350,000km on it . I dodnt think this is the transmision but is it worth hecking/ changing the fluid that goes in this area ? if so what do i need . hopefully not another uber expensive audi fluid.

Thanks

 

okay here is my udate to my own thread ..

turns out the reason the the flex pipes were torn and leaking is because of what i said earlier.. the cats and cat back system were pulling on it. Turns out the middle exhaust hangers had rusted right off the exhaust and were pulling on the flex tube .. totally rusted out , so now i need a cat back system or somehow need to weld on some hangers or make a cradle for the exhaust .

But while all that is off doing the output shaft seal is a must since you are 90% there .. mine was leaking so off i went for a quart of uberexpensive audi gear oil ( 40.00 ) and a seal
the seal was 35.00 .. no freakin way .. so i measuered it and got one from a seal supply store.

it is a vitron double lip 42 by 50 by 7 . 12.00 .. it will be here tomorrow... need to have all 4 wheels off the ground for this job though as you have to turn the prop shaft to undo all the bolts..
Just remember before starting this project make sure you can get the gearbox fill port open ... mine was seized good... but i got it .. round this off and your buggered

turns out i have to pull the exhaust system out anyway now to has to replaced or welded. Well looks like the brackets are welded to some metal skin of some type and of course it coroded and fell off .. chipping that rusted covering away it looks like some cort of stainless underneath .. gonna see if i a can have the brackets welded right to that . it obly has to hold its own weight ..pointless fixing the flex tubes till this is done