A few possibly 'Noob' but important questions...

[sgtbob]

Hi,

I have recently had a rattling noise from my exhaust on my 1999 C230K Sport, and took it to ATS and they said it was my baffles and it would be £705 to replace as they would have to replace the whole system. Then took it to a local MB Independant specialist place (MB Tech in warrington). They said it was my catalytic converter and put it on the ramps. There were 2 of the 'cats' side by side, as he said he couldnt see any CO2 monitor so that was why there were 2. He said that they would be about £400 per 'cat' and i didnt really need 2 of them. He said that he could just replace the cat and therefore no need to replace the whole system as per ATS said. Alternativly he said that i could have a stainless steel straight through exhaust system with a new backbox and a nice exhaust piece for roughly the same price. I questioned that i thought you needed a catalytic converter to pass an MOT and he said that you didnt???

I am unsure which option to go for. Get the cat and be on the safe side, or go for the new exhaust system which will make it sound nicer and sportier but possibly fail an MOT???

What do you guys think???

Also on a side note; with all this hot weather recently my car has been extremely hot and when i bought it i was told that it did have air con, but tbh i can honestly say that its either not working or i dont have it with how hot ive been. I have messed around with all the fan settings etc, and looked at the manual but not joy. Anything you can suggest? How can i find out if it has or not?

Sorry for the long post, but i am sure the infinite pot of wisdom on here will bring me some answers?!?!?!!

Thanks in advance,

Rob.

 

[Dieselman]

Hi.

Technically you don't need a Cat to pass an MOT, but it's unlikely to pass without them working.

Regarding the aircon you should have three buttons between the fan speed and direction dials. One should be EC with a red light.
If the light is on the aircon is off.

 

[Leemc2008]

You will need a cat to pass the MOT, but you wont need two cats..

My previous car, Mondeo ST24 had 3 Cats! two pre-cats in the manifolds, and one in the pipework under the car.. I removed two of them and the car passed the emmisions on just one of them.

My other toy car, Citroen Saxo VTS, has no cat fitted, and failed MOT on emmisions last week..

 

[Ted]

I would go for the cat.
Happenned exactly the same on my E-Class.

 

[recycled]

you do not need a CAT to pass any MOT, but your car may not pass due to higher emmisions without a CAT.

No tester will go under the car and say, hey you have no CAT you have failed. probe in, exhaust analysed, end off.
cars pre emmisons laws and CATS , still pass MOT's.

As for the AC if you have an EC button in the middle, and it is off, then your AC should work

 

[janner]

You could replace the Merc cats with a Magnaflow one.
I bought two high flow cats from the states for £70 each and had an exhaust company fabricate this.
You would only need one and it wouldn't have to be a high flow type. You could then sell the Merc cats (worth good money scrap) so the whole thing costs almost nothing.

Edit. I bought from here

 

[sgtbob]

Thanks for the response folks. I think im going to take the safe route and get the 'cat' fitted.

On the Air Con side of things im glad you have all confirmed im not going mad. I do have the set up you described with the EC button, and yes the red light is off, yet there is still no cooling, so me thinks that will be another thing to get fixed soon?!!!

Thanks again!

Rob

 

[whitenemesis]

Re the aircon, just to be sure, press the a/c button so the light is on and see if you get cold air. MB had fun by changing the meaning of the light on / light off over the models and years!

 

[Adam230K]

I actually have the exact part your looking for, i just removed it from my car (C230K) because i'm upgrading to a larger diammeter exhaust. If you're interested pm me and maybe we can come to an agreement.

 

[recycled]

Re the aircon, just to be sure, press the a/c button so the light is on and see if you get cold air. MB had fun by changing the meaning of the light on / light off over the models and years!

I don't think his has an AC button. when you turn on the fan speed the AC comes on. the EC button switches it off and leaves fan running

 

[whitenemesis]

I don't think his has an AC button. when you turn on the fan speed the AC comes on. the EC button switches it off and leaves fan running

Ooops! dyslexic fingers, meant to type e/c....

(did I get away with that?...)

 

[sgtbob]

Thought id let you folks know about my catalytic converter. I got it replaced after a highly annoying trip to the local merc dealer, where they told me it would be £991 plus labour to replace it....(and charged me £65 for the advice!) So i took it to the MB specialist and got a single cat put in at a cost of just under £400, (inc lab).

The car definatly sounds different now; a bit more throaty and raw, but i guess thats because of the single cat rather than a double. They said that i had waited a bit too long to replace it tho, and some parts of the old cat had come through to the back box area and eventually that would have to be replaced. So all in all an expensive exercise, and the car still doesnt sound as quiet as it used to originally.