R129 catalyst

[Doodle]

Throwing this one out there, because we've hit a

The catalytic converter on the SL has finally disintegrated, and needs replacement. An MB one is £1500 but we're struggling to turn up something suitable for a more reasonable cost.

Tried an off the shelf Jetex unit, which has turned out to be a disaster (still arguing with them over it, looks like I may have to go through credit card to try and get my money back). Olly's fabricator is struggling to find anything he knows will be big enough to do the job.

Any ideas from the good and connected populus of the forum? It's for a 1995 V8, so the large single cat rather than the twinned pairs of later cars.

 

[drewpasmith]

I'm an Aussie -that is to say, non-native-, so this may be a dumb question to ask, but are you legally required to have a cat on a '95 car?

Or could you simply put in a straight-through and save yourself the expense?

Cheers,

Drew

 

[millo777]

Maybe you could find a good used one from the usual specialist breakers and clean it out before fitting?

 

[BTB 500]

Have you tried somewhere like Longlife? The pair of 200 cell sports cats they put on my 500 were £475 fitted.

 

[BlackC55]

The CAT on this 500 is HUGE and there is only one. Your SL has two from factory IIRC

 

[Doodle]

I'm an Aussie -that is to say, non-native-, so this may be a dumb question to ask, but are you legally required to have a cat on a '95 car?

Yes, from Aug '92 onwards IIRC.

Have you tried somewhere like Longlife? The pair of 200 cell sports cats they put on my 500 were £475 fitted.

I've spoken to the guys at Basingstoke, who did the changeover to the Jetex initially for me. They think they can do something but would probably have to double up in series/parallel, so there's a little doubt over it.

 

[Doodle]

The CAT on this 500 is HUGE and there is only one. Your SL has two from factory IIRC

To give some idea, the old CAT filled this area completely.

 

[WG M-B]

Those kats are generally pretty good.
Why not get a second hand unit???

 

[jaymanek]

Why not just empty it?

 

[Doodle]

Those kats are generally pretty good.
Why not get a second hand unit???

If I could find one. No luck so far. The old one was totally shot, monolith in a thousand pieces.

Why not just empty it?

MoT Emissions failure on a spectacular scale, and I no longer have access to a tame MoT tester to get away with it

 

[Doodle]

Busy month has now passed, so now I can get back to this. My tame MoT tester has returned, so a decat is now a possibility.

However, from my TypeR days we always remapped when the cat was removed as the cars would run lean. I'm not so familiar with how the older injection systems behave in comparison, there's only one O2 sensor mounted in front of the CAT.

 

[kth286]

that sensor will not know anything different whether a cat or nil cat.

It might be a good idea to check the sensor is fully working properly and switching as fast it can, and internal heater working.

The sensors can get lazy over time and a new one might be in order to restore fast switching to get proper feedback signal to ECU in a timely manner to ensure good performance and lowest bad emissions

 

[Doodle]

It's a brand new OE sensor...3 week wait from Germany

It would appear it's the post-Cat sensor that usually causes the CEL - which I don't have.

 

[mabz]

have you tried these guys buddy
BREAKING MERCEDES SL R129 - SL280 - SL300 - SL320 - SL500 | eBay

 

[mabz]

or these they have a 500
BREAKING FOR SPARES PARTS MERCEDES A CLASS SL500 129 | eBay

 

[Doodle]

Possibly, although I'd want to know why the car is being broken in the first place. Don't want to walk straight back into the same issues because their part is also knackered.

However, thinking about it, could always use it as a starting point for emptying and piping through inside.

 

[mabz]

i do agree but sometimes you get some gems on breakers especially consumable parts. you never know there could be a genuine cat under there that's only a few years old? always worth an ask