After a nice country lane spirited drive my car has decided to blow from around the top of the down pipe area, haven't had a chance to have a proper look yet but at a glance it all looks in good nick.

Seen a post where the down pipe bolts had come loose due to worn rubbers, is there a chance it could be my problem? I do have a saggy exhaust. Anything around there that are prone to cracking/metal fatigue? As I said everything looks in good condition with no sign of corrosion what so ever

How hard is it to fit a 200cell sports cat to a decat down pipe? I'm tempted to get a decat then fit a 200cell sports cat near mot time if the down pipe's the problem lol

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Do you have the standard down pipe/cat? My car had saggy exhaust syndrome and the front flexi had gone completely soft and allowed loads of movement. It also started to blow a little through the flexi it's self.

Yeh it's standard, noticed a ticking on start up a few weeks back but now it's really rasping under load. Wonder if it's the reason I'm getting better mpg lol

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I think your idea of a bhp releasing decat/sports cat and a new set down pipe gasket will sort the issue out. My decat made a very noticeable positive difference of turbo spool up.

My flexi started to go by blowing a little. Then it blew some more. The turbo spooling up started to sound like a hammer drill till eventually it snapped off

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Ive repaired a couple of broken flexi's before on some octavias. Take it to an exhuast centre and say could they weld in a new flexi. Is alot cheaper than replacing with a new cat. And will last years

Edited 17 May, 201313 yr by Mattyd8551

Yeh it's standard, noticed a ticking on start up a few weeks back but now it's really rasping under load. Wonder if it's the reason I'm getting better mpg lol

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My guess is that it's the turbo to manifold gasket leaking. I need to change mine at some point...

Just a note of caution when i changed my downpipe cat it decided to munch the threads on the downpipe studs as they are lock nuts and not really designed to come back off again especially after years,

You can buy the studs and nuts seperate from skoda and they do come out of turbo with alot of heat and a stud remover but its not a laid on your back job on drive

Just a note of caution when i changed my downpipe cat it decided to munch the threads on the downpipe studs as they are lock nuts and not really designed to come back off again especially after years,

You can buy the studs and nuts seperate from skoda and they do come out of turbo with alot of heat and a stud remover but its not a laid on your back job on drive

yeah that happened to me before. Wot ive found is the best way to do it is make sure the exhaust is stone cold. No heat at all in it. Then spray a wee bit of wd40 round them and give take them off. Will b tight but will come loose

Edited 17 May, 201313 yr by Mattyd8551

Now it's gone quiet again just a very slight rasp and inaudible from the driver's seat, so it's not bothering me. Now do I leave it be for now or inspect it which may open a can of worms lol

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I had this - was the bolts between the turbo and downpipe working loose, and the gasket had cracked. Takes about half an hour and costs about £20 for the 3 bolts and the gasket from Skoda to replace. I had been tightening the bolts down every couple of weeks for months until I got fed up with it. Not had a problem in months.