Sorry to see that :/
I wonder if it was clogged, and thus the extra pressure caused it to break?
Did you bench flash using a tune from reflected/kompressed or something like that?

 

Yeah, I got a stage 1+ tune from VAGautowerks. It should be a 17-18psi tune. I was getting 11-12psi before the cat broke. Without the cat attached, I saw 15psi in 2nd gear.

 

Pulled the down pipe and cat out this evening. I wasn't able to get the DP/cat assembly out the top as I thought I was going to be able to. The cat kept hitting the corner of the turbo oil feed line.

Disconnecting the down pipe from the rest of the exhaust allowed me to drop the assembly down far enough to easily reach the last bolt. After that the DP dropped down from below and I pulled the cat out from the top.

 

Went to the pick n pull today since I saw they just got two A4s in yesterday. In my quest to find a decent junkyard K03 I was looking for a later year 1.8T passat with low miles. Instead I found a 98 A4 with a good looking turbo and decided to go for it. I also snagged a bunch of other parts along the way. Twas a good day of picking and pulling.

Facelift rain trays and cowl





Lower valence for my dad's A4



Instrument cluster with LCD from a 97 A4 with the wiper arm controls and plug. This set will be for sale for someone who wants to do the same cluster swap I did. I also needed a new headlight switch since mine turns on the high beams with the left turn signal, the CC also doesn't work. I'm hoping this new switch fixes both those problems. Also got a leather e brake cover when I already had one. Whoops.



And the K03 turbo I pulled today. Unknown miles.

No axial shaftplay, minimal radial, no evidence of the compressor hitting the housing, no damage to the blades on the compressor or turbine, waste gate looks like it is sealing, WG opens properly with air pressure, and the assembly spins freely.

It was a pain in the *** getting the turbo-manifold bolts out. Those things were in there strong. I ended up breaking one of the bolts on the way out. So I'll have to extract that.







I did find what appears to be a crack in the turbine housing. It is hard to tell if the discoloration is due to a leak or because of its location (in a corner at a high point.)







Waste gate sealing

 

Oh! I forgot to post the video I put together of when the cat separated from the turbo. Couldn't help myself and had to run it once.

This is also the channel I'll be uploading video from my dash camera to.

 

Continuing with the theme of parts I get not fitting my 97…the battery cover/cowl doesn't fit. That's my bad though, it's the wrong part.

I got part number 3B1 819 447. I need part number 8D1819447A.

 

 

Nice!

Now that coolant tank is really looking past its prime

 

Thanks, I went back to the PnP to try and get a few more things and thought why not get the rain tray from the passat and see if it fits? Turns out it does..for the most part. It contacts the brake fluid reservoir at the back edge since this cover was designed for the later more square reservoir. It leaves a 3/4" gap at each edge of the windshield and seems to move a bit when opening the hood. I'll have to play with it some more. Also having trouble getting the secondary firewall gasket to fit into place (partly due to my bent firewall.)

The new rain tray does look cleaner though since it doesn't have any screws to lock it into place.

The coolant tank is well due to be replaced. I'm going to risk it and buy a $16 Uro expansion tank. We'll see how it holds up. Can't pop $65 for an OEM one right now.

In other news I've set up my battle station for the next couple of weeks while I wait for the high flow cat.





Look at those dirty engine covers!

They were spotless when I put them back on a few months ago. Time to find the culprit(s).





Hmmmm...







I also found a little vacuum leak. Looks like coolant residue caused the silicone the crack.



Possibly a more worrisome concern is that my timing marks don't line up anymore. The crank is advanced relative to the cams.





When I set the timing last time I did so with a dowel in piston #1 to get true TDC, I didn't look at the mark on the dampener. The timing was dead on when I set it last time and the car has been running great. Could that be due to belt stretch?

 

Leaky cam seal! Doesn't look like my crank seal is leaking, yay.