Exhaust Broken pre-Cat; Downpipe Needed?

Lex4TDI4Life

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Location
NorCal
TDI
2001 Golf-Ute TDI GLS 5spd Manual
While crawling under my car yesterday, I saw that the exhaust pipe has rusted through and broken just before the cat. Do I need a new downpipe, or will I be able to just get a new cat welded into place?

TIA,

-Lex
 

resinguy

Veteran Member
Joined
May 2, 2002
Location
Cleveland, OH
TDI
2002 Golf, Silver
I am in a similar situation. The downpipe on mine is cracked just above the cat. One shop said it might be weldable, but that his welder wasn't good enough to do it. My regular mechanic tells me that the factory part is expensive because the cat contains the proper amount of the precious metals that do the work, whereas aftermarket cats use less of the good stuff, and it would be bad for the environment to use.

I found a genuine VW downpipe/cat from ECS for $980. Aftermarket downpipes can be had for $350 - $450. I am going to try and get the crack on mine welded, but am thinking ahead if it can't be.
 
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