Cats for Tin Tops?
MikeCapon - 26/8/10 at 11:53 AM
The flexy joint on my tin top's cat has just broken
So off I go to the local exhaust place to get a price...
Fitted they want nearly 1000 Euros. Around £950 in real money
At least Dick Turpin wore a mask.
Onto t'internet and found a french on line parts outfit (Oscaro) doing them for 479€.
Then over to UK suppliers and found one (Cats Direct) doing the cat without the gaskets etc for £130....
My question is though what are the decent makes for aftermarket cats? I don't necessarily want to buy the cheapest available only to have it fail
early. Particularly if I buy it from the UK warranty and stuff is a pain at this distance.
So, any recommended makes or suppliers? By the way, the car is an 04 A6 1.9TDI.
Thanks in advance.
Mike
snapper - 26/8/10 at 11:57 AM
Can't you get a new flexible pipe Tig'd on to the cat?
I had cat welded up a few years back and it did another 3 years, still OK
MikeCapon - 26/8/10 at 01:05 PM
quote:
Originally posted by snapper
Can't you get a new flexible pipe Tig'd on to the cat?
I had cat welded up a few years back and it did another 3 years, still OK
Thanks Snapper,
I'd love to but over here that sort of thing is pretty difficult. Finding a flexy would not be easy and then finding a friendly TIG pilot would
be equally hard.
The car's done nearly 200,000 kms so I guess replacing the cat would be wise. I just need to find a sensible priced unit.
Peteff - 26/8/10 at 01:12 PM
I mig mine on and the last flexible pipe was about £7 for 2 metres to fit a Merc Sprinter
StrikerChris - 26/8/10 at 05:36 PM
Cheap cats fail early,the old man's an mot tester,fail a car on emissions,well it can't be the cat I had that changed last year is a regular
conversation.and his mot station don't do repairs so they ain't touting for work!
britishtrident - 26/8/10 at 06:16 PM
Cheap cats, non-type approved cats, type approved cats, OEM cats it is a real jungle.
Very cheap cats are usually junk.
Non type approved cats can be exactly the same as type approved replacements but the law prohibits selling them or fitting them to newish vehicles,
the law in main land europe is stricter on this than in the UK.
Type approved cats are as good as OEM cats.
In the UK type approved cats are twice the price of non-type approved . OEM cats are at least half as dear again.
No reputable garage will fit a new cat without replacing the pre-cat lambda sensor. Often the cat takes the rap for an out of spec upstream Lambda
sensor as EOBD diagnostics especially those with no downstream diagnostics have trouble detecting an upstream lambda that is out of calibration.