Full new exhaust/cat for a 206 - guide price?

TouchingVirus

My car failed the NCT last month but nothing was said about the exhaust at all, everything it failed on was brakes related. Brought the car to the mechanic who fixed up the brakes and then told me the exhaust was in bits and that I'd be needing a full new exhaust and cat. Needless to say an eyebrow was raised at how if it was so bad the NCT folks missed it. The cost quoted as €530 which for a '00 with 94k on the clock that just cost €800 to put through the NCT was a little too much to swallow. So a week or two passes, the car passed the re-test / visual re inspection which saw it up on the lift again.

Tonight a motorcyclist flashed me down to say the exhaust is hanging off, the tailpipe being a whole lot closer to the ground than it's meant to be. So we do have a problem all right and now I'm trying to reduce the cost of this fix.

I've read it's very rare the cat needs to be replaced - often outlasting the rest of the exhaust. There are no engine management lights and emissions passed in the NCT (1.02 out of max 1.03 at high revs) so does this really need to be thrown out? Would it be worthwhile to try buy spurious parts and find a mechanic to fit them or would it be a waste of time?

colm_mcm

Micksgarage looking

Cat €133
Silencer €72
They don't do the mid section.

TouchingVirus

colm_mcm wrote: »

Micksgarage looking
Cat €133
Silencer €72
They don't do the mid section.

Cheers for that - how many parts are we talking? From some small use of google-fu I think I need a front-pipe from the engine down to the cat, the new cat, mid-pipe leading into the silencer - is this right? Can I ask the difference between the €133 cat and the one on MicksGarage for €211? Finally to figure out if it's all worthwhile are labour costs - how long should a job like this take roughly?

colm_mcm

Did your mechanic actually say you needed down pipes (bit between engine and cat)?

Do you actually need a cat

Get a second opinion

rat_race

Kind of ridiculous that the NCT people didn't notice. Same thing happened to me with a DOE for my van. It passed and two months later the exhaust fell off due to rust, so it had been happening for ages.

A dodgy exhaust can cause engine problems (exhausts create backdraft, which an engine expects)...If I were you I'd get it sorted.

That said, I drove a van before with a hanging exhaust for 8 months without getting it fixed, and the engine is still top notch!

TouchingVirus

Yeah, it's pretty mental all right. They'll catch your bulbs but there's no way they should have let it pass with the exhaust (apparently) rusted to bits. I'll be getting it fixed, but €530 for a car I spent €800 getting through the NCT and that's worth maybe €1000 at a push is a little much

TouchingVirus

So I finally got the finger out and got a second opinion today; does look like a new exhaust.

It's leaking at the cat up near the manifold (close cat). The front pipe is rotten and will break away, the same for the centre pipe and the back box is leaking and has taken some damage since it's been on the ground. All the mounts are rusted away and pretty much the only thing holding the whole exhaust on was the link from the cat to the front pipe. It's held up with cable ties now and sounds a bit like an M3 at full tilt. So yeah, front to back exhaust with all gaskets/mounts/fittings.

Worth getting a second hand cat or just go spurious? I can source all the big bits myself it's the fixtures/fittings that are giving me a headache as I'm not quite sure what I should be looking at - should I just get the big bits and leave this to the mechanic who's fitting it?

Stheno

TouchingVirus wrote: »

So I finally got the finger out and got a second opinion today; does look like a new exhaust.

It's leaking at the cat up near the manifold (close cat). The front pipe is rotten and will break away, the same for the centre pipe and the back box is leaking and has taken some damage since it's been on the ground. All the mounts are rusted away and pretty much the only thing holding the whole exhaust on was the link from the cat to the front pipe. It's held up with cable ties now and sounds a bit like an M3 at full tilt. So yeah, front to back exhaust with all gaskets/mounts/fittings.

Worth getting a second hand cat or just go spurious? I can source all the big bits myself it's the fixtures/fittings that are giving me a headache as I'm not quite sure what I should be looking at - should I just get the big bits and leave this to the mechanic who's fitting it?

Try Souhans in Trim for a quote, they might be less expensive.

dharn

there must be a crashed 206 out there with a better exhaust system than your own so i would try a breakers yard for the full exhaust system