2006 Volkswagen Beetle 2 mechanics 2 opinions?

LVSTARA3

MEMBER
2006 VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
49,500 MILES

I recently took my 2006 convertible beetle into vw service to get a oil change. The man looking at my car pulled me aside and said I may have a bigger problem but he was not supposed to say anything due to the fact that he could get in trouble because the part is covered under emissions and if I was not experiencing any problems with it he could not say anything about it. He showed me, while the car was lifted up, a metal hose looking thing in between the front 2 wheels that attached to some metal part and in the middle of the hose it was constricted. He also said that the reason why the metal was blue was because it must have gotten really hot at one point which is why the metal is now blue. He said that the car will soon start to not pick up speed on the highway and I need to eventually I need to get it fixed or I am going to have a big problem. So, I took the car back today to get the problem fixed but the other mechanic that looked at it said that there was absolutley no problem? Im slightly confused.

1 Reply

MIKE H R

MECHANIC
3,094 POSTS

With out seeing the car what I think they are refering to is the catalytic converter. When they go bad they break up inside cutting down on the amount of exhaust flow causing back pressure causing lose of power. When driving on a highway the engine produces more exhaust causing more back pressure and keeps the amount of exhaust so the car will loose even more power. Most of the time you can see it after it is driven at night, the converter could get red hot. If you hear any rattling and the car looses power the catalytic converter would have to be replaced.