4 motion Exhaust question

[FULLYLOADEDVR6]

I have a 2001 Passat 4 motion are the exhaust interchangeable for the b.5 ?

[koidragon1980]

I have a 2002 Passat b5.5 4 motion. I already replaced the Cats a year and a half ago with after market Cats at a cost of 1700.00 a far cry from the stealership that wanted 2900.00 as they say a dicounted rate. So of course a check engine light came on 6 months ago wich had no affect on the performance of the car so I ignored it. The car has 196,000 and still runs great. As I brought my car to get inspected I was told i failed inspection because my cat is bad and needs to be replaced. Are there any cheap alternitives to replace the Cat or is there a flash/chip after market that i could install to bypass this error code?

i'm not positive, but i think you can gut the cats and add a spacer to the o2 sensors that will avert getting a CEL for the cats.

it's not legal, but the only way an inspector would know is if he scopes inside the cats... otherwise, it looks oem and the ecu is happy.

[koidragon1980]

So i would have to cut the cats off and then then bang the snot out of the cats to hollow them and weld them back on? Also where do i get a spacer?

i'm not sure of the proper process for gutting the cats, but here's the spacer:

http://store.42draftdesigns.com/O2-S...cer_p_306.html

there's a group buy on passatworld that i think is still active:

http://www.passatworld.com/forums/54...o2-spacer.html

[koidragon1980]

i think aftermarket and "high flow" cats can cause issues with a CEL when there is actually nothing wrong. this is the intended purpose for the spacer, so you may want to try just installing the spacers (1 on the post-cat sensor for each side) and clear your codes. if the codes do not return, then your cats are probably fine, just the sensors are too sensitive and threw a code.

[afawal]

There was a TSB for reprogramming the ECU for the sensitivity of the O2 sensors. I did it on my B5, and it helped. Not sure if this is something that is available for your car, or whether it would help with aftermarket cats though.... Good luck.