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So to cut a long story short the cats are on their way out on the car. Had the fault code come up a couple of times now and a while ago I saw it throw out a whole load of white powder from the exhaust. It is an engine out job on the RS5. Spoke to a tech at my local Audi and he said they should last around 100,000 miles. Mine has done around 49,000. Price from the dealership to replace both was £5100. I did a bit of research online through a number of forums and found a few references to other cars needing this at around the same mileage so decided to challenge it, with that I went to Audi UK customer services and they agreed to cover 50% of all the costs so it comes in around £2600.

Not sure if the RS4 has the same set up but it is something to keep in mind for other forum members on here and they can use this as an example to get money off like I did if this should happen.

So the wheels I was saving up for will have to wait a good while longer now

Has happened to a few on the A5OC forums - they seem to go quite early

Noyjatat wrote:So to cut a long story short the cats are on their way out on the car. Had the fault code come up a couple of times now and a while ago I saw it throw out a whole load of white powder from the exhaust. It is an engine out job on the RS5. Spoke to a tech at my local Audi and he said they should last around 100,000 miles. Mine has done around 49,000. Price from the dealership to replace both was £5100. I did a bit of research online through a number of forums and found a few references to other cars needing this at around the same mileage so decided to challenge it, with that I went to Audi UK customer services and they agreed to cover 50% of all the costs so it comes in around £2600.

Not sure if the RS4 has the same set up but it is something to keep in mind for other forum members on here and they can use this as an example to get money off like I did if this should happen.

So the wheels I was saving up for will have to wait a good while longer now

If you are not in warranty anymore than why not just de-cat the car? Is it all 4 Cats that are letting go or primary/secondary? Personally I’ve had my car completely de-catted… but if you are worried about emissions you can buy 2.5” sports cats from reputable companies and just have an exhaust shop weld them in, that’s Audi blatantly ripping your eyes out as the cats themselves are worth nothing (I tried weighing them in)
Just a thought! Unless you know a friendly MOT’r then you could get all cats removed and a remap (to account for the pre-cat delete) would cost you a hell of a lot less than £2600 and you get some added power.

Yeah I did think about it and the honest answer is I managed to get the exhaust sounding exactly like I wanted. No pops or rasps until it spat half the cat out. Most of the cost is the 28 hours labour to remove and fit the engine.

Cuppa, yeah it was one of the forums I collated my info from before approaching Audi.

Milltek hi flow cats FTW

PM little Glen for a special price


Glenn

All fixed now and back to sounding like she should, no rasp, crackle or pops just V8 grumble. Very happy

Revolution wrote:Milltek hi flow cats FTW

PM little Glen for a special price


Glenn

I did not know they did sports cats for RS5s ? Do you have to drop the engine to fit them? How much for a full system?

Interesting you say it's engine out (that's what I thought also). I had a cat replacement done on my RS4 under warranty a few months ago - done with engine in situ however.

Fair enough buddy. How many hours labour?

How come you needed it replacing?

Noyjatat wrote:Fair enough buddy. How many hours labour?

How come you needed it replacing?

I don't remember now - 4 rings a bell. I just dropped it off and got it back the same day - it was done under warranty.

It was Bedford Audi - when I took it in for the DRC knock they tried telling me it was the cat rattling I could hear. Utter tosh of course, but they were insistent it needed doing before they could further diagnose the DRC issues. So they replaced it. Of course, they then washed their hands of the DRC problem too, but that's another story

Wow. Mine took 28 to change both. I did have a look at doing it myself but you cant even get to the manifold bolts in situ from the top or bottom. Went to a couple of indies but was told by all out was an engine out job. Spoke to Audi Customers Service and they agreed to pay half so it came in at £2600. The next cheapest was £4600.

It's concerning so many are having troubles how many miles had you done before needing it changed?

I would advise anyone needing it doing in the future to use the Bedford one that Ross has. If I had known it would have saved me a lot of money.

Noyjatat wrote:Wow. Mine took 28 to change both. I did have a look at doing it myself but you cant even get to the manifold bolts in situ from the top or bottom. Went to a couple of indies but was told by all out was an engine out job. Spoke to Audi Customers Service and they agreed to pay half so it came in at £2600. The next cheapest was £4600.

It's concerning so many are having troubles how many miles had you done before needing it changed?

I would advise anyone needing it doing in the future to use the Bedford one that Ross has. If I had known it would have saved me a lot of money.

I'm sorry to tell you that - wasn't my intention to give you bad news wrapped up like that

My car had around 4k miles on it at the time.

I also spoke to MRC and JC Weldfab and they also thought it was an engine out job, but Bedford apparently did it in situ (well they must have done - I got the car back the same day). However, as much as it's tempting to be led by price, I'd urge anyone NOT to go to Bedford for servicing/warranty work. I've unfortunately had years of very poor experience from them. Hitchin Audi if you're in the area is the place to go 100%. Incredible service throughout.

It's no worries buddy I had both replaced and the old girl is back to sounding right again. It had picked up a horrible rasp under acceleration due to the cats breakdown. It's currently in having the last of the exterior plastics painted high gloss back

I own a 2011 RS5. Having done just 40,000, almost all motorway miles, the Cats have apparently failed. Cats should last 10+ years/life of the car and manage in excess of 100,000 miles. Audi have quoted 4K+ for the repair. This comes after replacing the Cam Shaft sensors which failed 2 weeks prior. Has anyone one else experienced anything similar? Audi have been less than impressive so my advice is stay well clear.