Hi!
So happy this forum is here! Thank you in adavance for any feedback or suggestions.
I just bought a 2001 A6 Wagon and my brother in law suggested I join an Audi forum to learn about my car. Over the years I have learned it's good to listen to feedback from people who have more experience than me so here I am...

I have a bunch of what you all may think are abrudly ignorant question for anyone that's willing to jump in and help me out. The really pressing issue for me is with regard to replacing the catalytic converts on my car so I can pass emissions in Oregon ( recently moved from CA ).

Here is what the mechanic I took it to said
"Thanks for giving us the opportunity to take a look at your Audi. The guys put together an estimate that includes everything you will eventually need to pass DEQ. I’m sorry to say that you will need to replace the Catalytic Converters. The Cats on the estimate are dealer only. Based on our experience it would be in your best interest to do the dealer Cats. They should last the time you plan on owning the car. We are concerned the after-market catalytic converters won’t be good enough to pass the DEQ test, they also end up failing after about a year. If you do the oxygen sensor at the same time as the Cats, there will be no additional labor. If you decide to do the jobs separately, there is an hour of labor to install the sensor."

He's saying each one if about $1300...
Any feedback?

 

Hiya

I am just about to by a A6 2001 Wagon (2.8L) and thought I could share some advice with you.

Where did you get your CAT install quote from? Audi dealer, or a exhaust shop

For my wagon, I looked on ebay and the average price for each cat is $240 bucks CDN. So lets say $500 for the pair. And each O2 sensor (walker brand) goes for ~$60 each A good muffler/exhaust shop will not charge you another $600-800 to install it.

A portion of the cat/piping is direct bolt on, the other might require some welding. Whoop-de-doo.

Do you have a good exhaust/muffler shop in your town? Most decent shops that specialize in exhausts can do the job in a couple of hours for around $200-$300 I ask because I've realized over the years, that spreading out the car work to different shops is smarter than having one shop do EVERYTHING. There are good dealers out there, but the markup on the parts is very high. Do your own shopping for the parts, bring it to the place to install.

I've done that with many vehicles and have great success. Hope this helps. Believe it or not, an exhaust isn't that complicated.

Hope that helps!

 

Thank you so much! This is wonderful info!! I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I just moved to Portland from Santa Barbara and don't have a good muffler guy. I'll have to ask around.
Thanks again!
A

 

ps

do you happen to remember the name of the cats you found on e-Bay?
Thanks again!!

 

here is one example for the 2.8L. you didn't mention if you had a 2.8

Audi A6 2 8L Catalytic Converter Flex Pipe 2000 2001 | eBay

If you search on ebay with these words below, and you have eg: a 3.0l

audi a6 catalytic convertor 3.0

Hope it helps!

 

Awesome! Thank you again!! Really appreciated!

 

What basis did they have for telling you that you need new cats? It's not that common a failure on these cars. I'm guessing they scanned the car's ECU and saw low car efficiency codes. More often than not, those are due to failing secondary O2 sensors. Can you give us their reasoning? If they didn't explain why they say you need cats, go somewhere else. Don't just take their word for it.