2 days and counting to fit a 3" DP

S3 Hilife

S3 Hilife

It's an addiction
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My car has been on the ramp at a local garage for 2 days now, it only went in to have a 3" DP fitted which I supplied. DP was shipped from Germany and looks alot like the Relentless one.

I first got a call yesterday to say the driveshaft boot had split when they took it off do I want them to change it,,,,, umm YES.

Then the O2 sensor needs replacing because the threads had been stripped removing it,,,, OK, fair enough I guess

Then the DP is tight to the bulkhead, they said we cant leave it like that, do I want them to fit the old DP,,,,,, ummmm NO,

Then they phoned to say they snapped a brand new bolt in the turbo housing when they went to take it off again to dimple the pipe to create clearance,,,, WTF :(

Didn't hear anything all day today until I got so pi**ed off and called them to find out they had to call someone in to drill and retap the broken bolt

Still no closer to being ready and still not heared anything, looks like it's going to go into a third day now, whish I'd just done the effin thing myself, I know it's a PITA of a job but surely it cant be that difficult to fit on a ramp, not 2 days+ difficult and how the hell can you snap a brand new bolt after already removing the old one about an hour before unless it was WELL over torqued or they had been trying to bend the pipe out whilst attached to the turbo,,, hmmm, I'm getting pi**ed off again.

Just needed to have a good moan about it but has anyone else had this much trouble getting theirs done?
 
what garage is fitting this? I know downpipes are a ******* of a job but that does take the **** especially if its going for a third day
 
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I dont want to name and shame until I know they did something wrong, it may be just a case of a poorly made pipe and lots of bad luck but i'm so annoyed just not knowing whats going on
 
Unlucky bud, unfortunate Amur of problems. Hope it ends well :)
 
Sounds like a load of stress! Have you used this garage before?

I thought was a little strange they had to get someone in to drill tap a snapped bolt.
 
Yeah they have done bits in the past for me, its a friend of the family.
I got a call at about 5:30 this aft to go collect it, feel like i've been robbed, was charged £418 just for fitting and parts which broke doing it.
I really dont like the pipe aswell, it sits really low and scrapes just getting on the drive, the pipe blows at the coupling after the cat due to being a slightly different diameter and the car doesn't seem as responsive.
I'm seriously thinking about putting the standard one back on which seemed much better.

Soo not happy :(
 
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I'm really sorry to hear about your bad luck with this downpipe & garage. I couldn't be more happy with my Pipewerx downpipe, sports cat & Jetex system. Haven't had any scraping with it but it is still sitting on standard ride height so could well be a factor. That does sound very steep on the labour cost though. The Audi Indy I used charged £600 for fitting complete exhaust, cam belt kit with water pump, Badger TIP, new plugs & new discs & pads all round, & bleeding system before doing a test drive & fault code check as well. They had to replace a ball joint as well that was included in price. They had to drop subframe as well for exhaust, so I ended up going to get 4 wheel alignment afterwards.
I really hope you can get sorted & be happy again soon with your car, I know how it feels when things don't go as they should. We've all been there, ****** cars :audibash:
 
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Thanks Steve, yep we all get problems at times and it is ****** annoying, i'll sort it one way or another, might even cut the flange and turn the cat slightly so it doesn't sit so low.
Thats alot of work you got done there for £600, sounds well worth it. Wish i'd found someone like that to do this DP.

Steve
 
Hi all, really need some advice on this guys, I didn't want to start a new thread for it.

Since the DP was fitted a week or so ago my EGT's have been much higher (around 20-30%) but cant figure out why, any ideas?

I took the car back to the garage today as the exhaust kept scraping on everything so they raised the mid section which made no difference whatsoever, anyway since they pi$$ed around with it the smell of exhaust fumes in the car is so strong (comming through the heater vents) and you can hear it blowing. I scanned for faults which showed:
892fda149bd4252de69ed2443e414c1d.jpg


I know one of the faults is due to a leak pre cat somewhere but not sure why the EGT sensor is showing intermittant implausible signal since DP was fitted or why my liquid gauge is showing my EGT's being much higher (upto 900*c just running around town), is it possible they could have damaged my turbo when they snapped the new bolts (somehow?)

Any help will be greatly appreciated as I'm tearing my hair out with this one, literally

Steve
 
badger5 said:
disturbed sensor may account for it now being deceased.
Click to expand...
Thanks Bill looks like I'll need to get a new one (another fun job). I really do wish I'd gone to you for this work doing but I'll save the rods and fun bits for ya instead Bill ;) I've just had the car on the ramps at home this aft and I couldn't see anything physically wrong although I couldn't get to the probe, i took the cat off to make some adjustments and seal where it was leaking, reset fault codes and now see what happens,
Thanks everyone for the help

Steve
 
I got a Toyosport one fitted (my car has a k03s) and got charged £120, that was with a new o2 sensor as well because one was seized solid into the standard dp. They did say it was a ******* of a job though
 
Lavis89 said:
I got a Toyosport one fitted (my car has a k03s) and got charged £120, that was with a new o2 sensor as well because one was seized solid into the standard dp. They did say it was a ******* of a job though
Click to expand...
Hi mate, That aint bad at all, is that on a quattro aswell? Thats cheap considering the cost of the O2 sensor, the NGK one I had was £90 +VAT and I think the bosch ones are even more
How are you getting on with your DP, you seen much improvement?

Steve
 
I still cant find where all the exhaust leaks are :( think my turbo or mani could be cracked somewhere.
is it possible that I can use my home made smoke tester to check for exhaust leaks instead of boost leaks with the engine running? I was thinking of just connecting it to the TIP and run the engine with smoke pumping, should work right?
 
took me and my dad about 4 hours on a ramp. My dads old and im a downer. So that garage are something else.
it shouldn't be hitting the bulkhead at all. Why didn't you opt for a tried and tested downpipe like a relentless or pipeworx??
 
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superkarl said:
took me and my dad about 4 hours on a ramp. My dads old and im a downer. So that garage are something else.
it shouldn't be hitting the bulkhead at all. Why didn't you opt for a tried and tested downpipe like a relentless or pipeworx??
Click to expand...
I was going to buy a pipewerx Karl but at last minute stupidity took over and I decided to put a bid in for this one and ended up with it, got it cheap and regretted it ever since, so it actually ended up costing much more and i'm sure there's more expense to come.
The moral of this story is dont buy cheap sh!t, you WILL regret it.

Steve
 
superkarl said:
id be going back with a bit of a temper demanding a solution and threatening small claims court, they charge YOU for things THEY broke?! Holy ****
Click to expand...
Yeap I should really but its awkward with him being a friend of the family and I dont think i'd have a leg to stand on as I cant prove what they broke was their fault, I did try and suggest that they must have put excessive force on the turbo flange bolts but all all I got was "well they must have been weak" this pi$$ed me off as they were strengthened bolts which i'd bought from Audi (I didn't want to use the aftermarket gaskets and bolts) the DP and cat actually looked decent quality with good solid welds, I think the main problem was the way they fitted it imho. Needless to say I wont be going back but still wish I'd gone to B5 for a pipewerx as I had intended to do itfp.
 
superkarl said:
took me and my dad about 4 hours on a ramp. My dads old and im a downer. So that garage are something else.
it shouldn't be hitting the bulkhead at all. Why didn't you opt for a tried and tested downpipe like a relentless or pipeworx??
Click to expand...

the relentless DP also have these issues of hanging low
 
I'm going to have billet or stainless spacer fabricated to go between the DP and cat to change the angle of it and raise it up slightly. This pipe is very similar to the relentless one, the Pipewerx has more of an angle at the lower flange so it fits much better (higher)

Steve
 
crazyhilife said:
Hi mate, That aint bad at all, is that on a quattro aswell? Thats cheap considering the cost of the O2 sensor, the NGK one I had was £90 +VAT and I think the bosch ones are even more
How are you getting on with your DP, you seen much improvement?

Steve
Click to expand...

Yea mine was a quattro, i think they said they dropped the subframe, thankfully they quoted me in advance so when it flew over the initial cost they met me half way on all the extra labour :D. I noticed a lot more torque at lower revs and the turbo seems to spool quicker, sounds nicer as well, get a little bit of a growl when you open her up. i made the mistake of using the supplied gasket though so now i have a massive leak from the downpipe, hopefully sorting that this week
 
Lavis89 said:
Yea mine was a quattro, i think they said they dropped the subframe, thankfully they quoted me in advance so when it flew over the initial cost they met me half way on all the extra labour :D. I noticed a lot more torque at lower revs and the turbo seems to spool quicker, sounds nicer as well, get a little bit of a growl when you open her up. i made the mistake of using the supplied gasket though so now i have a massive leak from the downpipe, hopefully sorting that this week
Click to expand...
That was lucky on the labour charge, wonder if they knew exactly what they were getting into when they quoted you, thats a PITA having to change the gasket again tho, hope you get it sorted ok mate.

Mine sounds quite a bit louder now, much deeper even on idle and has a great tone when you give it some, slightly overboosts now though, noticed it peaks at just over 1.5bar when requesting 1.4bar so i'll have to keep an eye on that
 
mine has started overboosting a lot since the gasket leak, peaks at 1.5bar now, before the leak it used to peak at 1.2bar. providing none of the studs snap it should be a easy swap, new nuts & gasket from audi and hopefully that will sort it out
 
gabin said:
Hi mate, sorry for the troubles you got into. I was just wondering, is this the DP you bought: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Downpipe-...4HP-Turbocharger-Turbo-exhaust-/331391439575?

I was looking at this one as well :)
Click to expand...
Yeah thats the decat one, I bought this one with the 200cel cat.
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/231338464061?nav=SEARCH
Seems decent quality and lots of S3 owners heve fitted these with minimal problems but there's definatly fitment issues, I paid much less though as it was on auction, I do think with the spacer I am getting fabricated it will sit as it should but in all honesty my advice would definatly be spend a bit more an go for Pipewerx.
 
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