Not really sure, will have to check tonight or drop it off at a shop tomorrow. Really hoping it’s something that came loose. And not another crack
Are you sure you don’t have broken motor mounts?
he put in new 034 ones at the same time as the pipes.
Are you sure your 034 mounts aren’t shaking the exhaust to pieces?
Huh? The original problem happened with stock motor mounts. Now I have an exhaust leak. What do the 034 motor mounts have to do with this? This happened while driving 75 mph to work in 7th gear.
Yeah, but lomg did it take with the stock mounts? And now u have stiffer mounts… not saying its cracked, just saying.
My guess is one of the upper gaskets blew out of a downpipe from not being clamped down strong enough, gets super hot closer to engine and stronger vibrations from no flex pipe.
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It took nearly 2 years with the stock cats. The JHM test pipes have broken in the exact same spot, same side. Pretty disappointed. Figured this solution would make the car less likely to have this issue and it happened again in 1 month, 800 street miles and 1 track event. Was so bummed that I didn’t try to wrench last night to confirm. But it’s pretty obvious that I have a massive leak due to the same sound as before, and you can see the passenger side test pipe rotate in the engine bay when you kick the downpipe from below. At a loss for words.
Wow I wonder what is causing so much stress on the pipes. In sure JHM will take care of you for the pipe, but that really sucks you have to have it swapped out. Hopefully it’s much easier to swap since its smaller than the catted pipes.
Were you able to grab the photos?
There is definitely something causing this, as I have never seen an OEM pipe fail like that or one of ours.
I’ll try to get underneath the car this afternoon and grab some pics. But it is definitely broken. Was too tired to do it last night.
Are you running any other crazy parts that remove drive line dampening like the aluminum transmission insert?
Wow, that sucks and I’m sorry to hear what is going on. I’m at a loss. The only thing you are running that is not on 1000’s of other cars is the Nuespeed exhaust. I’m just wondering if it is pushing back on the cat/test pipes or something similar.
I mean it’s happened with two different motor mounts and cat/test pipes where those would be the two most likely culprits, and anything else you are running is being run by literally 1000’s of people with no know similar issues. To West’s point, I could see how stiffening everything up could have an impact, but at the same time, I’d expect to see issues on more than one car. I only know of a few other cars with the Nuespeed exhaust, and I doubt they have all the same mods or track the car like you do. Either way, strange stuff.
The milltek exhaust came in like 60 pieces that all hand be hand fitted, heat cycled, and retightened. It looked like quite a bit of work. They retail for $2650, plus or minus $100 depending on what tips you pick.
Does the neuspeed have the flexible section like this?
http://i58.tinypic.com/2r5ukhy.jpg
Here’s some other pics of the area Rob is having trouble with, from when I had my tranny out at JHM to do clutch/flywheel:
I do have the 034 trans insert, would be very surprised if this was the reason.
Yea it’s pretty unfortunate. I understand that the factory cat failed a few years with 8 track events (APR stg 2 on all)…but I’m just really surprised that the JHM test pipes failed after 800 miles and 1 event. This happened during just plain old hwy driving.
My plan now is to get a different exhaust. Probably Milltek because I don’t want something that is untested and doesn’t have any value on the second hand market. I’ll stick with the test pips so I can try to DIY the install.
I think the Milltek resonated version is probably a good match for the DSG and test pipes.
West, yes, the Nuespeed does have flex sections in the same or similar locations.
If you want details of the neuspeed, check out my install thread on AZ, there are pics showing the flex joint
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/583814-3-0T-Neuspeed-Catback-Install-and-Impressions
Mike, Man that sucks… I’m with Kris there has to be something causing this via stress from load on it or rattling or something… No way this should happen…
Hi Mike
How are the mid-section exhaust hangers with your exhaust when it’s cold? Are they sort of maxed out as if the forward section is too long?
Wondering if as things heat up it tries to expand and puts more stress on the joint than it should. When first got my AWE installed I had things shifted such that that mid-section hangar was kind of stretched - was able to adjust the slip-joints to get it centered.
Maybe a Go-Pro mounted so that you can see what happens during a heat cycle?
Hope you get it all sorted…
Confirmed that the test pipes failed at the exact same spot. Saw with the bore scope. Had a little trouble holding the scope, screen and phone to get a shot. But it looks the same as before. Gonna take the ak off and see if I can remove the test pipe.
Thanks for the help guys.
The upside of catless pipes is you can run leaded fuel.