'95 GTI VR6

Was wondering why there was a small amount of exhaust coming out under the
car by the drivers car on those nice cold days.....there's a small hole in
my cataylitic converter, doh. Got 'bout 110K on the car. Guess I got to
replace it soon, any ideas where to get one or is this a dealer item ?
Maybe put a Jetex exhaust at the same time.

--
Paul Meier-Wang

If the hole is only in the external housing for the cat, I'd try
repairing it with muffler sealer (like Permatex or Miracle Patch). With
any luck that will hold you over until the actual catalytic converter
fails.

Paul Meier-Wang wrote:

I have the same problem as well. Mine is a 2000 Jetta GLX, and it has
around 82k miles on the car. The MIL came on, and my local mechanic
said that the catalytic converter needed to be replaced.

I checked with the dealer, and apparently the OEM cat for the VR6 is
pretty expensive, and in back order as well. Is there a good
substitute cat for the VR6 engine that I could buy online? Or should I
stick with the OEM one?

Thanks,
Irene

"Paul Meier-Wang" <pmwang (AT) nospamaccucoatinc (DOT) com> wrote

"Irene" <ms_irene_chang (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

TT has some high-flow cats. http://www.tttuning.com.

"Matt B." <noway (AT) hellno (DOT) com> wrote

Matt,
thanks for the info. I checked the site out, but it does not seem that
they have any catalytic converter for Jetta VR6 above year 1999 (Jetta
IV). Should I go with the universal/generic one? Would they last? And
if yes, which one?

Also, since I wouldn't be able to replace it myself, would any shop be
able to do the replacement job? Or should I find a shop that
specializes in German cars?

Thanks.

You might want to check with your local VW dealer and see if it is covered
by the emissions warranty...I have seen a few cats fail and they have been
covered....check with VW for more information...

- Pete

"Irene" <ms_irene_chang (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

"Irene" <ms_irene_chang (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

As far as I know, cats are pretty simple in that I don't know of any reason
why they'd be "specific" to a vehicle. Pretty much the only thing to worry
about is the physical fitment (size of inlet and outlet pipes) and if your
car is designed to have an O2 sensor in the cat or not. Any shop should be
able to do the job but if you're buying the cat yourself and bringing it in,
you might want to make sure the shop you're thinking about is OK w/the idea
of a customer bringing in their own parts or not...some are OK with it, some
aren't.

However as Peter mentioined, doublecheck that your old cat is or isn't
covered by an emissions warranty. Emissions warranties are usually federal
or state mandated and are separate from the car's powertrain warranty.

Pete/Matt,

thanks for the advise.

The emission warranty is 8 years/80k. Since my mileage has passed the
80k mark, it did not qualify.

I'll check with the shop then.

Thanks.

"Matt B." <noway (AT) hellno (DOT) com> wrote

"Irene" <ms_irene_chang (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote

Cool. Y'know at least I think that cats don't really matter apart from
inlet and outlet size and a hole for the O2 sensor. If I'm wrong, someone
please chime in. I think maybe the only other thing that matters is that
diesels with cats I think are made from different metals because of the
sulfur content in the diesel fuel, but otherwise I'm pretty sure a cat is a
cat is a cat.