04A43

The dealer wants $$$ for the cats on my 04' A4 3.0

I'm wondering if there are any good aftermarket options for this.

A4Driver

I take it you have more than 80k miles on your car? If not, the dealer has to replace it for free.

A4AdMan

How much $$$$ does the dealer want?

04A43

Unfortunately, yes - there are 90k miles on the car now.

I found out about the extended emissions warranty too late.

04A43

The dealer quote is in the $5,000 range. They claim the labor is extensive due to the way the car is built.

According to them, they have to drop the engine to access the exhaust manifold, where the pre-cats and cats are attached.

donnyt

I put a Labree hfc on my 1.8 ,it was $300, but had to get a software upgrade from apr so the ecu wouldn't throw an emissions code. The car performs great now. But I dunno bout the 3.0 engine

Ill 3.0

I highly recommend you never go back to that dealer, that is outrageous and totally false. There are no good high flow options for the 3.0, just find an exhaust shop to weld in some quality universal high flow cats. You might need to put in spacers on the post cat O2 sensors as well to avoid a CEL.

04A43

I thought it was a high quote as well.

But I wasn't sure as the labor involved in replacing turbos on my B5 2001 S4 was rather involved. I thought maybe the B6 3.0 cat replacement is similar.

I've searched for the part itself, and it seems the catalytic converters are in the $900 - $1,200 price range from discount auto part shops.

Even if the dealer is charging 2x the discount part store prices, that puts their labor around $2,500.

NeimanTT29

I would not be suprised if the "BOOK" said for them to drop the subframe. I don't see droping the motor, but it might.

04A43

With the 2001 S4, the book said the motor & subframe needed to be dropped to replace turbos, but the dealership said it was rare for anyone to actually do that.

So they just dropped the subframe and lowered the motor a few inches in order to get access.

I would imagine the cats on the A4 3.0 could be done for much less time, regardless of what the "book" says.