Turbo - Downpipe gasket

[Ian W]

Got an exhaust blow and it seems (from what I can tell) that its comes from the turbo / downpipe join.

Any idea how much I should be looking at to get this changed? Looks like a pig of a job

 

[S3KO4]

Hi I just bought one of these yesterday, from Audi for £5.50 but trying to fit it is not easy, so I left it and what I did was to check the three bolts are all tight enough, and the top one was very loose, so I tightened it up and the leak was gone, therefore if I was you I would the same, just get some flexi long wrench etc long 17mm to get to them and you would be fine. she runs much smoother and quiter.

 

[Ian W]

Cheers, thanks for the info.

I take it you accessed it from the top then?

 

[Dazboss]

I have the same problem, im thinking shall i de-cat

 

[quattro1]

its not that bad of a job at all, had exactly the same thing on my old a3, bought the gasket from audi (after the parts guy tried to sell me an oil line to fix the problem!?)

got home jacked the car up and its fairly straight forward really, just dont shear any of the bolts off!! makes a world of difference though!

 

[Dazboss]

Im thinking is it the gasket or the cat thats leaking i cant tell, it does sound like a gasket.

 

[quattro1]

the cat (or cats if you have quattro) is under the car, the gasket in question is right at the back, underside of the engine pretty much, should be fairly easy to distinguish between the two mate

 

[audi_a3_turbo]

How do you know if you have a gasket gone? because It sounds like mine is blowing and when I first set out in the morning it makes a weird noise through the revs and then goes shortly after. Dont know what the hell it is!!!

 

[S3KO4]

firstly a3 is not comparable with the s3, they have different turbo therefore more restrictions between the two on top of this there is the quattro issue and bigger gearbox, etc a3 quattro engine stays a bit lower and more forward compared to the s3 therefore even that is easier than the s3. with the right tools I would say 2 hours. I had to go under the car and do them up, there is no room from the top at all.

 

[Ian W]

Think I might have a crack at this tomorrow. Hangover depending lol

 

[Dazboss]

So how hard is it for a A3 Quattro ? I will get the gasket tomorrow from work but it does look a pain to change. Yes i thought my cats were under floor cats. So im guessing that there is only 1 lambda sensor on my down pipe ?

 

[m8arx]

How do you know the gasket is gone or the bolts are loose? Do you get some sort of noise that you can describe because i might have the same but im trying to diagnose it but getting nowhere. Is it a "chittering" noise when your either coming on boost or actually on boost? Does it do it all the time or only when warm?

 

[audi_a3_turbo]

yeah M8arx thats what i get but when it warms up it goes??? trying to figure this out but getting nowhere!

 

[Ian W]

Hmmm, one bolt was finger tight and hanging out, another appears to be the wrong bolt as it won't go all the way in.

Tightened one bolt and the car sounds much better, only got a slight leak now.

Going to buy new bolts on Monday and hopefully that will cure it all together.

 

[S3KO4]

Nice one what did I tell you mate, the bolts loosen themselves up every now and then. To answer the rest of you the noise is noticeable from cold start I.e in the morning and if the leak is huge then even under acceleration.

It's not the hardest job on the a3 Quattro but. Still tight I would just check loose bolts before changing anything.