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Alright so, my friends 2001 passat wagon 2.8 V6 (beautiful car) has had a light exhaust leak where the flex pipe meets the cat. since the car was purchased, the engine light came and went and the code was for an O2 sensor and lean and all kinds of stuff (i forgot to write down the codes to show you guys) but bottom line was it had to be because of this leak. well, 10,000 miles later (car has 161k mainly highway miles) this leak at the flex pipe has completely cracked open and the car sounds like a rocket ship. CEL now stays on. he took the car to meineke car care and they told him that the car has two bad motor mounts which made the flex pipe on one side break, and that both cats need to be replaced because one code is for the drivers side cat not even working. quoted 2,770 dollars to replace everything. The guy then got really short tempered with me, and would not really let me get a good look at the engine mounts until i finally forced him to give me a lead light and take a look, they looked fine to me (no cracked rubber) etc. Heres my theory. The car doesnt vibrate at idle, it doesnt HEAVE when its put in gear, it vibrates a little under heavy accel but the exhaust leak is wicked loud. upon doing research, i found leaks at the flex pipes on these passats are common and will trip an engine light ASAP no matter what size leak. Do you think this is a bad diagnosis and the guy is full of crap? I have some strange feeling having a new flex pipe welded in will solve the engine light woes so he can have the car inspected, but that wont do any good if the cats are bad. car idles, accelerates, and runs fine. however it had an issue starting in extreme cold the other day and gas mileage is pretty bad (15-17 MPG, but its V6 and about 18 degrees out.) help? we were able to find an entire cat assembly including the flex pipe for the car for about 265 bucks per side but its not an OEM cat and is still more expensive than replacing the flex. do you think the cats are bad? is this guy full of crap?
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Here is a link to a VW forum that talks about your exact problem 2 people have said you should be able to weld in a flex pipe and it is what they had done. Though this does depend on the quality of the existing pipe and the metal to weld to.
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5435553-2-8L-30v-V6-Exhaust-leak-problem-needs-to-be-fixed-asap-*pictures
and here is another one even though it is named the same it is a diff post
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5435552-2.8L-30v-V6-Exhaust-leak-problem-needs-to-be-fixed-asap-*picturesWithout pictures from various angles or videos I cannot tell you whether or not the mounts are bad. But, judging by what you said it sounds like to me someone was trying to get over on you it happens all the time, unfortunately, and gives most technicians/mechanics a bad name. But, there is also the possibility you need to remove them and roll the engine forward and either it is easier and/or cheaper to put new motor mounts in due to accessibility, breaking, etc and he just lied because he gets tired of trying to explain it to people.
Flex pipes tend to go bad well because they flex. Over time constant flexing breaks metal regardless of how its made and add heat cycles, car running car sitting over night, it amplifies this. It is possible motor mounts would exacerbate this but, due to the age of the vehicle and what you described it is unlikely the mounts are currently broken. You can visually inspect a cat and see if it is bad ie metal flakes inside, honey comb is melted warped or distorted. Though how you would do this without pulling it is beyond me. The computer readings won’t mean anything talking about a bad CAT because it is not getting proper flow so of course it will say its bad.
VW in general are stupid complicated and unbelievably expensive to repair. Parts come from across the ocean and they over engineer everything. How do I know that is a fact well I own one and even I do not like working on it. My advice would be to ask to talk to the mechanic if you have some kind of mechanical background and ask why and make sure he explains why for each part. If they don’t let you talk to the mechanic simply tell them you will take your business elsewhere if they don’t. If they still don’t budge go someplace else that will explain it.
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