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THIS DISCUSSION / SOURCE-DERIVED OVERVIEW
Discussion summary
YOUR RESEARCHTOP GEAR UK - 200 CELL X-PIPE - FAILURE
Reported or suspected cause
cats and not something else
Reported cause
No successful repair reported for this finding.
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Identified cause
0
Suspected cause
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Reported fixes
Read evidence and context
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Reported cause · Original poster
I'm thankful it turned out to be the cats and not something else, but they did end up failing my oxygen sensors and has cost me thousands to replace the pipe between the parts and labor to get everything fixed.
Leading evidence: 'cats and not something else' (1 discussions report identifying this cause; no attributable repair resolution). Across 1 matching discussions, the most frequently mentioned possible cause is 'cats and not something else' (1 discussions; 1 report identifying it and 0 suggest it). The most frequently discussed action is 'Install topgear xpipe and the car just never ran properly' (1 discussions). For that action, 0 discussions report a resolution and 0 report an unsuccessful attempt. No action has an explicit, attributable resolution report under the current rules. These are forum reports and suggestions, not a confirmed diagnosis.
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Install topgear xpipe and the car just never ran properly
Performed · outcome unconfirmed
No successful repair reported for this finding.
0
Reported fixes
0
Unsuccessful attempts
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Discussions
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Performed · outcome unconfirmed
Had a friend with a 997 tiptronic and they installed a Topgear xpipe and the car just never ran properly.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that contain suggestions
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Suggestion · Original poster
I'm thankful it turned out to be the cats and not something else, but they did end up failing my oxygen sensors and has cost me thousands to replace the pipe between the parts and labor to get everything fixed.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
Discussions that contain suggestions
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Suggestion
tried all the usual things battery reset, driving x kms to have the DME adapt, nothing worked.
Explicit resolution reports before identified causes, performed actions and suggestions. Within each level, matching component labels precede direct query mentions and inherited thread context; successful versus unsuccessful discussion counts, owner confirmations and independent discussion support determine order. This is not a probability of success.
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Suggestion
Was your friend running an increased diameter and catless?
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Suggestion · Original poster
I'm thankful it turned out to be the cats and not something else, but they did end up failing my oxygen sensors and has cost me thousands to replace the pipe between the parts and labor to get everything fixed.
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cats and not something else
No successful repair reported for this finding.
1
Identified cause
0
Suspected cause
0
Reported fixes
Read evidence and context
Discussions that report identifying a cause
1
0 original-poster resolution reports. Counts can overlap; they are not unique people or a success rate.
0 discussions have direct query context; 0 report a fix in that context. Other evidence may inherit the discussion’s subject.
Reported cause · Original poster
I'm thankful it turned out to be the cats and not something else, but they did end up failing my oxygen sensors and has cost me thousands to replace the pipe between the parts and labor to get everything fixed.
Counts describe captured discussions, not unique people or a diagnosis. Author identities are not reliably stored. Exact duplicate evidence is counted once across matching discussions; one discussion counts at most once per action/state. Multiple repairs reported together remain a combination. Suggestions and failed attempts do not establish a fix. Matches cover whole discussions and can include related faults, model variants and incomplete threads.
19 eligible posts · 0 unverified posts · 1 discussions match the subject in their title or opening post.
Rennlist: 1 discussions
0 evidence records excluded for query context · 0 excluded by outcome qualification · 0 adjusted by outcome qualification.
0 acknowledgements have no verified action link; they do not establish a repair result.
Generation: 20261027T000231Z · outcome-qualification-6. Deterministic extraction; no AI model inference. How we use sources
Wanted to give a heads up to anyone considering this part from Top Gear. The 200 Cell Cat elements of this part failed on the x-pipe.
My 2004 996 Anniversary Edition is my pride and joy, I put about 3k miles a year on it and keep the maintenance up impeccably. About 3 years ago I swapped out the stock crossover pipes for this Top Gear pipe. I spent the extra $$ on the larger diameter piping. Overall I was happy with it until I experienced complete failure of the cat elements. It started off with a light rattle and in about a months time turned into a hideous sound similar to an engine knock. I'm thankful it turned out to be the cats and not something else, but they did end up failing my oxygen sensors and has cost me thousands to replace the pipe between the parts and labor to get everything fixed.
This car has never been tracked. It's usage has been normal driving. I've done 2 mountain runs with the local PCA group, but beyond that nothing excessive.
My recommendation to anyone who is considering this pipe would be to avoid at all costs. They are reasonably priced, but if you think you are getting a deal now, you will be paying later.
I reached out to the manufacturer. I provided my original purchase receipt and diagnosis. They stated there is a 2 year warranty on the part. I asked them to goodwill warranty and they stopped responding, which tells me they aren't interested in saving face.
***After posting this and sending them the video of the failure they have responded*** Will see if they offer a resolution or at least an explanation.
****Top Gear ended up sending me a brand new x-pipe after reaching out to them.**** Even though I was out of warranty they sent me a new catted 200 cell x-pipe. Not sure if the internals are the same as the previous one, but it has the same high quality metal and welds as before. I will run this in order to pass emissions once a year and swap out between this catted and my catless setup for the remainder of the year.
The Company is
https://www.topgear.co.uk
Top Gear (Bridport) Ltd.
Interesting. I have the same x-pipe and it has held up fine for a while with track days and lots of open road rips. I also have friends that run it with similar experiences. It's too bad the service isn't great when you get a defective one. Top Gear has been a popular choice for years because of price point.
OP - Seems odd you got such bad service from TG. They have a stellar rep for service. Chime in on 911uk and see what they say about the current status of affairs at the company. I had a TG 200 cell straight cat brick fail on a unit only 20,000 miles old, but to be fair, I had issues with fouling them due to AOS and injector trouble for a good while. Probably would’ve killed any brick over time in my case.
To be fair, they did finally respond to my request saying they would look into it after about a week of not hearing back from them. I wouldn't say bad service, since they did finally get back to me and I am technically out of warranty on it. Will see what ends up happening, not holding my breath. I was really disappointed because the metalwork/welding etc. was really great on the part and it sounded amazing the past few years. It's just the cat element completely imploded. Somehow it was both cats at the same time, which leads me to believe they are defective. My car runs great otherwise so don't really think it was a contributing factor. I did consider cutting open the pipe and hollowing out the cats, but it's beyond my skill level.
I had put 45k miles and 6 years on mine before I sold my car, that was tracked. It also went through drive thru fast food places.
It is still performing well with the new owner.
Still tracking it BTW.
I am curious why this thread contained "car has never been tracked", like so many on RL. Unless you are the original owner, how do you know.
I always thought that was odd. It has been going on for the 8 years I have been on here.
As I see people beating the S##T out of their NON-TRACKED cars all the time.
Cars that are tracked with PCA also have to go through a rigorous tech Inspection and usually maintained to a very high standard.
I guess folks who post about driving 150 mph on the highways in Texas, should be able to hold their head higher than those of us who track our cars.
Let the fun begin.
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^^^^ ‘Tis a very valid observation. Track or no track, a properly maintained car is just that. Kinda reminds me of the occasional car on the market that’s ‘“never been tracked”, but has serious range 2 over-rev issues, etc.
THIS!!! You hit the nail on the head there. This seems similar to the idea that a car with less miles is automatically in better shape than one with significantly more miles. As if time in service didn't exist and parts like rubber and plastic didn't deteriorate with time, but I digress.
I'm curious to see how this turns out. I know only the basics about CATs but would be curious to learn what causes the actual element to fail.
Eh, **** happens. It always sucks to be on the receiving end of a purchase that goes bad but it was over a year outside of warranty. Obviously, it looks good if a business helps a customer out in a situation like this but where do you draw the line? My wife's Kia has a ten-year warranty, do I say Kia is an awful company if the engine blows up a year outside of warranty and they wont replace it?
Had a friend with a 997 tiptronic and they installed a Topgear xpipe and the car just never ran properly. Flat spots, hesitation etc. tried all the usual things battery reset, driving x kms to have the DME adapt, nothing worked. Contacted Topgear and the customer service was terrible.
The only xpipe i'd recommend is the Cargraphic or even Fabspeed, both use HJS cats.
Exactly
Especially when for sale by someone who has owned it 10% of its existence.
Selling / buying a Porsche is never a sure thing, just do your best trying sift through the BS
Slightly off-topic but one thing that caught me by surprise about driving through western Texas was the long straight roads. Like nothing for miles, then a town with a farm, McDonald's, and a traffic light and it would be either 35 mph or 70 mph speed limits. Guess I just didn't except there to be as much nothing as there was lol.
Yes it's low cost but way lighter than stock. There are issues on this forum with premium brands as well. They look all right on my LN 3.4 to 3.8 Nickies deluxe kit build
Seal, congrats on the engine rebuild. Love to hear about it. Since we are talking exhaust here, would also love to hear what you settled on for your exhaust.
The exhaust is all Top Gear. Top Gear headers. Top Gear X pipe, Unvalved Top Gear "Mild" Mufflers. Fit is difficult compared to Australian made. I have a Holden VF Senator (Aussie Chevy SS - leathered up executive old man trim) with LS9 based transplant yes really. . The Australian made (?China) system Headers exhaust was twice the price of Top Gear but bolt in by Comparison. . If the Top Gear X pipe fails like OP I could recat) or change to a non X pipe approach.
Wanted to update the x-pipe failure. Top Gear ended up being very communicative and ended up quickly sending me a new x-pipe based on the failure. So it's nice that the company stood behind their product enough to send out a new one. Kudos to them and thank you.
I will most likely run the 200 cell catted pipe a month or two every year in order to pass emissions. Visual inspection in my state is required so I need cats even though the catless setup has not thrown a check engine light. However I have been running a catless x-pipe the past 2 weeks and have been loving it. Amazingly you can really feel a power difference by running a setup without them so will probably swap back and forth until 4 years from now when the car reaches "antique" status and no longer needs an emissions test.
This is a source reference. Confirm exact model applicability in the original material.
