I own a 2001 A6 2.7 t the car drives great, and I love it when it isin't in the shop which is quite often. This was fine and only bothered me a little when the warranty would take care of it. I have 87k miles on the car and now the repairs are coming out of pocket.

The most recent problem is a rattling noise that is coming from the exhaust system. The mechanic thought it was the right cat and replaced it, the noise is still there(at least I don't have to pay for the cat. He has now pinpointed the noise using some (doctor hearing contraption) to the manifold. There seems to be something loose in there (perhaps a fallen off weld or so). He says that in order to remove the manifold and find the source of the noise he has to remove the engine. That is about 25 hours of work and will cost about $2100 US without any parts. Does this seem like the right procedure-does the engine really need to come out, and is the cost excessive.I have never posted before. I wish I knew about this site when I bought the car.

I had a catalyst substrate disintigrate on me with a non-Audi car a while back. While it sounded like hell sometimes, I just decided to live with it until the ceramic finally turned to dust. Your noise will likely take a long time to fade, but the hours and diagnosis seem correct. Everything about these cars is expensive and they are not designed for cheap and easy repairs...hopefully someone else will give you a different answer, but the time and cost sounds like correct "book" values. No way to get the manifold off with engine in the car.

because that may not be the problem and it sounds like the guy doesn't know what he is doing...