[s-cars] bad vibrations update

[Tom Green]

Aaron,

You are correct that the Samco sets do not include the intake hose.   
It's almost $200 for the OEM replacement.  There is a silicone  
replacement but it is
made for a larger turbo or MAF or perhaps both - 034 carries it  
IIRC.  The original gets damaged from either ham-fisted jerking when  
working around the
intake to change air filter, etc, or from oil deteriorating the  
rubber, or both.  It is likely part of the power loss problem,  
perhaps all of it, but you want to inspect
the hoses in the boost tract to determine that.

The problem with cats is that there are 2 of them each connected to a  
length of unique exhaust pipe which means $1100 each for genuine  
parts.  You
can have aftermarket replacements with the correct pipe size welded  
in which would make more sense to me.  My thoughts are it's time for  
Stromung
if you have to replace cats.

The cat honeycomb substrate could have melted from excess heat when  
reacting to the unburned fuel and partially plugged the cats or  
caused it to fracture
and the internals will rattle.  You might find a muffler shop that  
can pressure/flow test them without a predetermined result - "you  
need new cats".    Or, just
rely on the vehicle performance to tell you if there is a problem.   
If the cats are plugged, you will have some indication.   There are  
shops that have the
ability to analyze exhaust gases, but if you have corrected the  
engine performance problems, there may not be enough change in  
emissions to determine a
cat failure unless it is restricting the exhaust flow.   There are  
some people that have the tailpipe sniffed even where the feds don't  
force them to have an inspection.  :-)

Change the oil, of course, since you suspect fuel may have diluted  
it.  Otherwise, I would just move on and not worry about things you  
can't fix.  The O2
sensor could have leaned out the other cylinders trying to compensate  
for the dead cylinder as well. You could pull plugs to see how they  
look and check
and clear fault codes, otherwise,  just see how things perform after  
repairs.

Tom

-----Original Message-----
> Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:43:43 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Aaron Ryba <aaronryba at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] bad vibrations update
> To: Jerry Scott <jerryscott at wispertel.net>
> Cc: s-car-list <s-car-list at audifans.com>
> Message-ID: <480603.67914.qm at web51407.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> What would be symptoms of a burned out cat?
> There are no emissions here in SC!
> Bad smell? Pollution?
> Any performance issues?
>
> I know cats are typically mucho expensivo to replace.
>
> Aaron
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Jerry Scott <jerryscott at wispertel.net>
> To: Aaron Ryba <aaronryba at yahoo.com>; s-car-list <s-car- 
> list at audifans.com>
> Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 1:52:28 PM
> Subject: Re: [s-cars] bad vibrations update
>
> Another problem to be concerned about, is whether or not the cat
> converter was destroyed due to the unburned fuel and excess heat.  If
> you drove the car 5000 miles this way, you will likely need a new one.
> Jerry
>
> Aaron Ryba wrote:
>
>> So,....the problem was a bad cyl # 5 POS channel! All I had to do  
>> was jump to the functioning empty 6th cyl. POS channel and all is  
>> well. Needless to say there is quite a difference. Now I know why  
>> I bought this car.
>>
>> I have driven the car 5k miles since I got it almost a year ago  
>> and have been running on 4 cylinders the whole time. I was  
>> thinking about any damage that may have occurred as the fuel  
>> injector was working the whole time that there was no spark. I  
>> have read about cylinder wash where the unburned fuel essentially  
>> washes the oil away and causes premature wear. Will do a  
>> compression test soon and see if there is any damage but I did  
>> quickly check the compression while the engine was cold and the  
>> plugs where out and it looked good.
>>
>> I still have the boost leak/ jerky power loss at WOT and will sort  
>> that out soon. There is a tear in the intake boot between the MAP  
>> and the turbo, perhaps part of the problem? Anyone have a good  
>> source for a new boot. I believe the $300 samco set does not  
>> include that one.
>>
>> Thanks to all who pitched in their ideas to troubleshoot.
>>
>> Aaron Ryba
>> 95 S6

>>