Muffler for a 1997 E 300 D
 

I managed to knock the tail pipe off the muffler, when backing onto my ramps. The tail pipe was perforated by rust on top, and was very thin. I would guess the muffler is in a similar state although it looks good. I thought I would see what is available. MB wants more than $800 for the one piece cat back system. I have found an $650 MB unit at m b o e m p a r t s .com. I have not been able to find any aftermarket mufflers or exhaust system for this car. Does anyone know of a reasonable alternative? Thanks

Generally the exhaust rusts out from the outside in so it would be a good risk just to weld in a new tail pipe. Some shops don't weld so you may have to look around for a exhaust shop ( not a chain as they probably won't do that kind of work and want to sell new. )

And, if the muffler rusts away at a later date, they can fit a universal muffler but be aware the tone will likely be different.

You can also look on car-part.com , this is a nation wide salvage search of participating yards.

97 SL320's comments x 2......especially about finding an independent shop that will weld in what you need.

I also found several aftermarket exhaust parts for your car by googling 1997 mercedes Benz e300 muffler. I put a whole exhaust system on one of my 400e's using parts by Bosal for a fraction of the OEM parts. That was 10 years ago and they're still on there.

Thanks for the comments. My google searches showed a wild assortment of mufflers, many of which I feel sure would never fit. The only one specifically for this car is the Mercedes original. I'll see if I can find a shop that will weld a tail pipe on. The one I approached refused. He wanted to put on a new muffler. I got so irritated I didn't ask what muffler he would use. He reminded me of the guys that run the transmission shops in this area. Paying the big money for the MB exhaust system, and installing it myself, is looking better all the time.

I just checked the shipping for the $650 mercedes muffler. They want $139 for shipping. I'll keep looking for a muffler shop with options.

Straight pipe. Or hood stack if you want to go redneck.

Resolution?
 

Nelbur, what did you decide to do for a replacement? I have the same problem on my 1996 E300. The Bosal part currently available appears to fit only the '98-99 (turbo) model (though I'm not sure what the difference is), and the OEM part for the '96-97 model (2104902521) is about $600.

I checked the muffler over and only saw a problem with the short pipe after the muffler, so I had a Midas muffler shop weld a new exhaust pipe on, after the muffler. So far so good. I feel sure a good shop could fabricate a system to replace the factory muffler assembly if necessary.

Any competent custom exhaust shop ought to be able to handle this and for not a lot of money....that's what I'll do with my 98 when the time comes.

My 97 E300 cat/trap oxidizer/whatever you want to call it is rusted out to hell. The rest of the exhaust is fine. I'll probably have an exhaust shop cut it out and straight pipe it at some point.
http://i.imgur.com/yu9gch0.jpg?1

I have the factory muffler off my 87 190D with dual exit pipes I would let go of for $20.
It is 2 3/8 pipe, I upgraded to 2.5" mandrel bent from the flex pipe back.
I'm in Atlant though... Also not sure what the n/a om606 exhaust diameter is, want to say it should be about the same

I installed an aftermarket catalytic converter and Bosal exhaust on my '95 E300, and it pretty much sounds like crap. Magnaflow made the cat. A new catalytic converter from dealer is about $1700, last I checked. This situation stinks.

you can remove that cat if you wish - put a small resonator in its place. Make sure your exhaust fabricator does a good job in making the convergent V for the custom setup.

The exhaust already has a resonator behind the cat, it seems over kill to add yet another one. In most of the world this engine was sold without a cat.

Make that more than $600
 

Thanks all for the helpful suggestions. It's now looking like the OE assembly is well in excess of $600, plus shipping. So I think I'll get a couple of local quotes for something aftermarket.

In my case the problem is the rear muffler, plus the tailpipe and the curved section of pipe immediately in front of the muffler. The resonator is okay (well, as good as can be expected for 207K miles). I suppose I could ask about cutting the pipe between the resonator and muffler and welding a new section of pipe there. I'm no welding expert, but I always thought that even a bit of surface rust on the old pipe is bad for the weld.

Seems, but it isn't.......

Sold without a cat..yes, but the entire rest of the exhaust was a different design to prevent the inherent L6 rasp.

Simply removing the cat on a stock exhaust will give an extremely raspy exhaust note from 2300 - 3200rpm. It sounds terrible until you get over 3200rpm.

It's highly recommended to use a small straight thru resonator in place of the cat to mitigate the rasp. I've got a 97 E300 sitting around right now with a straight pipe in place of the cat and can literally demonstrate how **** it sounds.