catalytic converter for 2000 jetta need help

[stondroopy]

hi all,the cat went out on my wifes jetta the shop told her 600 hundred dollars to replace it?!?!?! any one know where i could find a better deal?gota be cali legal

[RetroEclipseMan]

That sounds pretty high to me. Especially since you can get a full exhaust with cat for under that. Hop onto the vortex, www.vwvortex.com and someone there in your area should be able to stear you in the right direction. I'm assuming you're looking for a shop to do the work and not buying it yourself and putting it on otherwise you could go and pick one up for pretty cheap and do it yourself.

[stondroopy]

im unable to do it myself i said the same thing to my wife about being able to get a new system for that

[PyRo]

It isn't cheap to do it yourself. You need the cat which is probably $120 or so, then you need to buy a torch (unless your cat is completly bolt on) to get the thing loose. The cheapest torch i've seen is $270 at home depot then probably $30 to fill it and $20 in taxes. You should be able to find a shop to do it for less than all that stuff will cost. Usually they are about $300 installed, just call around.
When I had mine done I bought a "high flow" cat off ebay for $70 (much cheaper than the NAPA ones which are $120 and it came with a clamp) then I bought all new hardware (bolts) for about $8, took everything to a shop and had them put it in. I got charged for an hour of labor $80, so I got the whole thing done for $158 as opposed to the $250 they wanted for parts and labor.

[Lohman446]

The emmissions warranty on that car should have been 8yrs and 80K miles - are you over 80K miles?

[mcveighr]

Probably, its four years old.

[Destructo6]

http://www.performance-cafe.com/product_info.php?products_id=1172

Part only is $130. It looks to be secured on both ends by 3 bolts, like on the end of a header collector.

[PyRo]

Alot of the time they use a picture that isn't of the actual thing, just any old cat so maybie it is just three bolts, maybie it isn't. If thats all their is to changing it $600 is insane.

[stondroopy]

those are for the older jettas that use obd 1 i believe.ive been looking around on the net and 470-570 seems to be the going price

[skife]

if you wern't in cali, i'd say use a peice of stright pipe.
better performance....

[mcveighr]

Mother Nature will love him morre with the cat though.

[TMAXXKING1]

get a cat from a autoparts store

get a cat from a autoparts store... or go out and get a complete exhaust system... go to a
http://www.meineke.com/ find a shop by you ... or midas... and get them to do it for under 150.. i had a 1990 vw fox .. went out got a nice exhaust system and went to meineke and had them put it on for me ...

[Fatjon]

Find some old bubba joe with a welder and buy the parts and have him put it on for you

[PyRo]

Guys it isn't the labor that is killing him (although they are overchargine, find a cheaper place) it is the $450 part. Search some VW forums and see if someone has found a cheaper alternative, although Cali probably won't settle for anything less than OEM.

[Destructo6]

Just a thought:

http://www.goapr.com/VW/products/apr_exhaust_jetta.html

The $300 downpipe includes the converter.

It's a 1.8T, right?