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  #1  
Old 03-08-2006, 04:45 AM
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Location: Northumberland, UK
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R129 new catalysts

The dealer has diagnosed the irritating rattle in my drive train as coming from the catalytic converters; apparently the monolith has begun to collapse. He has strongly advised that I fit new ones, they have some experience of bits of the monolith being drawn back up the exhaust and ingested by the engine with catastrophic failure results. The cost is GBP512.53 + tax (17.5% here in the UK) for each of the two cats plus one hour labour. He's giving me 10% on the parts and 20% on the labour. Total bill should be about GBP1,100 + tax, equivalent of US$1,800 at the moment. The work is scheduled for Tuesday next, along with new rear discs and pads (a further GBP200). I have no idea how I am going to pay for all of this...

Mileage is 106k.

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  #2  
Old 03-08-2006, 10:04 AM
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New Cats

Have you considered sourcing aftermarket. I've purchased aftermarket for two of my BMW's and they were direct swap with OEM. I installed myself with minimal effort...crawled under my SL this weekend and they look easy to access as well. They've lasted and passed our vehicle emmission inspections. Purchased mine from BMA Autoparts out of California..they will ship internationally. Think you'll also save on 17% Tax...wow that's high. 8% in Texas but not if I mail order from out of state.

Good luck.

Callen
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  #3  
Old 03-08-2006, 10:49 AM
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Yup -- aftermarket cats will save you a veritable windfall of cash. Of course, you'll probably have to have an indy or a muffler shop do the install (more savings!).
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  #4  
Old 03-08-2006, 12:00 PM
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On our side of the pond, there are many places that have aftermarket cats for our cars. I don't know 100 percent, but do you have emissions testing???

I wouldn't buy the new cats, and run a straight pipe, as my friend works at a smog shop, and we just stick another car up there when I have to smog the bohemoth. A good muffler shop could possibly source a new set of aftermarket cats for your car. I would call around and see if any of them could help you out.
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  #5  
Old 03-08-2006, 12:11 PM
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Having been out of the UK for 20 years now...I am not conversent with the current MOT test criteria....but this I do know...if there is a need for the CEL light to not be on during testing, then the dealer cat' is the only choise.

Reason for this is, the post cat' O2 sensor reporting.
High percentage of test failures are due to poor performance of aftermarket cat's.
These cat's do not operate as efficiently as the ECU programming requires and so the CEL lights up.

If this is not a concern, aftermarket cat's work fine and are much cheaper.


.
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  #6  
Old 03-08-2006, 11:26 PM
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Look at this site...it might help
http://www.catalyticonverters.com/mercedes_benz_600sl_catalytic_converter.html
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  #7  
Old 03-09-2006, 02:55 AM
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Thanks for the suggestions. I could source aftermarket cats here in the UK for about GBP380 ($600) per side, saving me the thick end of GBP500. However, when I searched this forum for info, the feeling was that aftermarket cats would be temperamental, particularly that they would upset the O2 sensors (as per dkveuro's post). So I'm sticking with the dealer. I'm getting new rear discs and pads at the same time and the total agreed labour for cats and brakes is one hour with a 20% discount so I don't feel like I'm being fleeced too much.
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  #8  
Old 03-10-2006, 12:29 PM
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I have had my new cats fitted at the dealers. I negotiated a fairly hefty discount, paying GBP441.68 + tax (approx US$750) per side, plus labour. I am pretty happy with that. My total bill for new cats and new rear discs and pads was GBP1,285.34 + tax (about US$1,850). I'm content with that.

I will recommend the dealer: Mercedes-Benz of Newcastle, in particular the service manager Ian Barclay and Michael Garthwaite, both extremely helpful and patient.
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  #9  
Old 03-10-2006, 01:27 PM
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New Cats

Good discount...and probably would have done the same, peace of mind. Better performance???
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  #10  
Old 03-10-2006, 06:27 PM
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JJ

I've been here - well almost. My cat (only one - dealer cost around 1400GBP) I thought was on the way out due to higher than legal limit test result of 0.9%, however after some serious heating the Cat starts running far more efficiently bringing it back under the limit of 0.3% (for my age of car).

I looked into after-market and found a couple of reputable cats for around 500GBP but in the end decided on an original. Mine is 13 years old so that's pretty good value for money and you have to way up the cost against how long you wish to keep the car. For me it was at least 5 more years and with the thought of after-market cats typically failing within this time!

Here's a post discussing lots of things regarding emissions O2 sensor test and inverse duty cycle

and UK emission limits
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  #11  
Old 03-13-2006, 09:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by callen
Better performance???

Smooooooother! It's altogether better, much smoother which makes it feel stronger. No idea whether it really is stronger, but I'd been feeling that the performance was a bit "off" lately and now it feels new again.
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  #12  
Old 03-13-2006, 07:51 PM
88Black560SL
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by callen
Have you considered sourcing aftermarket. I've purchased aftermarket for two of my BMW's and they were direct swap with OEM. I installed myself with minimal effort...crawled under my SL this weekend and they look easy to access as well. They've lasted and passed our vehicle emmission inspections. Purchased mine from BMA Autoparts out of California..they will ship internationally. Think you'll also save on 17% Tax...wow that's high. 8% in Texas but not if I mail order from out of state.

Good luck.

Callen
For my 560SL. I found there was a night and day difference between the original MB $4000.00 US and an aftermarket DEC $439.00 US. See my post under Tech Help. I am so disappointed with the aftermarket that I am going to weld, re-heatshaild etc the old one and hopefully get back some MB quality. The original cost alot more but there is a very noticable difference.

John Roncallo
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  #13  
Old 03-14-2006, 05:00 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Roncallo
For my 560SL. I found there was a night and day difference between the original MB $4000.00 US and an aftermarket DEC $439.00 US. See my post under Tech Help. I am so disappointed with the aftermarket that I am going to weld, re-heatshaild etc the old one and hopefully get back some MB quality. The original cost alot more but there is a very noticable difference.

John Roncallo
I read that post some time ago and had it in mind when I bought from the dealer. Given (1) the relatively small difference in cost (max $300) and (2) my car is and always has been stock and MB-maintained, I decided to go with factory parts. No regrets.

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