Wow, after all these years I found this forum and it answered many of my questions. Took the car in to the dealer for the power steering hose and harmonic balancer recall but they added a whole bunch of stuff that they said needs to be fixed.

I had this annoying metallic rattle or rattling noise that is coming from the passenger side. The dealer said it was the catalytic converter. $1400! I took it to an independent muffler shop hoping that they could weld them but they said the cats were fine. I even looked at both cats in detail but couldn't find any cracks. He knocked and tapped the entire exhaust but couldn't find any rattles. He also suggested I check the exhaust manifold. I'll also check the heat shields and the entire exhaust system again.

The dealer also said I need to update the auxiliary fan wire harness wit 163-540-00-35.. Is there a recall on this item for a 7/98 build 99 model. In searching this site, I found a thread that discussed this and it suggested that my early build would have been affected by the recall since my VIN is 058xxx. However, when I called Mercedes customer service and they pulled the recalls based on my VIN, they were not able to find any recall related to fuse #44 and wiring harness. Has anyone had this recall?

BTW, I find this forum very helpful. Much better than those that discusses 22" wheels!

The aux fan problem isn't a recall but an up-date! Somewhat easy to do & not that $$ for the part.

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Check the threads below. Two deal with Cat problem and repair and other with harness install.


http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=92964
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=93192
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=91035&highlight=harness

Thanks Ron! I had already printed your helpful DIYs in color! For the rattle, the dealer's diagnosis was the passenger cats but I couldn't find or feel any cracks. I will look again in more detail.

It could also be the exhasut manifold. I had a car once where the exhaust manifold failed. It's starting to sound eerily similar. I'll check that too.

As for the harness, I already bougt the harhess at the dealer's gouging price ($50 or so) and will follow your step by step instructions.

Looks like its the right exhaust manifold. It took a while to find it. My trusty mechanic friend had to use a mirror to locate it. It's near cylinder 3 close to the EGR (exhaust gas return) valve. Is the dealer the only source for the manifold?

How does an exhaust manifold make the noise you are having? Is it cracked or something?