Hi. I took my ‘05 XC90 in today due to muffler noise. I’m being told that the “converter pipe that connects from the turbo to the muffler resonator” needs to be replaced. Granted, this is from the front desk person who is new, but she’s telling me that this piece has to be custom made and is going to cost just a hair under C$1000. Is this right? It apparently contains the catalytic converter but it’s a one-piece item. My catalytic converter appears to be fine, or at least my engine isn’t throwing codes. It’s just noisy, especially when cold.

I looked around some this afternoon but couldn’t actually find this part for my car, so maybe it really isn’t available any more. I’m also not sure why I really need to replace it, other than the noise. The car has <400k km on it so it doesn’t owe us anything, but I’d like to defer the replacement cost as long as possible.

 

Your flex pipe might be leaking and causing the noise. Yes it is part of the " catalytic converter" in that it is welded in as part of that part. - But if you find the right person/shop - (any dedicated exhaust shops in your part of the world?) the flex pipe can be replaced by itself, by cutting out the old one and welding the new one in place. Sample Flex pipe and sample cheopo aftermarket complete converter showing where the flex pipe is pictured below - Or you can purchase a factory converter for $1200 -$1600.