My 97 E420 appears to be in need of a new catalytic converter. I believe there are cheaper generic/universal options. Any recommendations? I would rather not spend $1000 on this repair.

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2008 S550
2010 GLK350
1997 E420 (retired)
2005 CLK500 (retired)

Most likely $$$ spent will equal longevity!

We find most aftermarket cats last less than a year.

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MERCEDES Benz Master Guild Technician (6 TIMES)
ASE Master Technician
Mercedes Benz Star Technician (2 times)
44 years foreign automotive repair
27 Years M.B. Shop foreman (dealer)
MB technical information Specialist (15 years)
190E 2.3 16V ITS SCCA race car (sold)
1986 190E 2.3 16V 2.5 (sold)
Retired Moderator

In my actual experience, there are some good after market cats that can be procured locally at a muffler shop of solid repute! Had a couple of them installed on ML320 and my 300CE, which are performing very well after several years. There are some cheapies out there which will not last; you just have to check out the shops and their cat quality. These items cost $300 or so, not the high dealer figure you mentioned.

Ben Carter

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Ben Harrison Carter
1999 Mercedes ML320 87K
1992 Mercedes 300CE 89K
1995 Corvette 29K -- Sold Dec 09
1989 Mercedes 420SEL 99K -- (Sold 4/08)
1968 Mercedes 230S (106K) (Sold 9/06))
1976 Mercedes 450SEL 130K (Just sold - 06)
1961 Mercedes 220Sb (sold years ago)

If you do a Search, you will find my experience with a generic cat on my 96 SL500.

My advice - forget about having one welded in. It's very hard to get to get it right without removing the cat and pipe, and then with the labor, you might as well get the right part. If they try to weld it in without removing it, there is a good probability you will get air leaks, which will drive the ECU nuts.

There may be one-piece replacements for your car, as there were for mine. The cost was $713 vs $860 for the genuine MB part (including ground shipping).

I put my money on the genuine MB part because that's what the ECU is calibrated for. "Failure" of the generic cat is likely to be an unsolvable P0133/0153.

The Meineke guy told me he "sees that all the time" and that "replacement cats don't work on Mercedes." He refused to weld another one it or even to try to re-weld the existing one.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

Ben,
Do you recall the brand you installed on your 300ce?

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87 300e (white/black; amg body kit)
88 300ce (red/cream; amg body kit)
93 300ce cabrio (white/blue/blue top)
93 300ce cabrio (black/grey/black top)
98 ml 320 (totaled @ 137,000 miles)
99 clk320 (black/grey/black top)

I used this place:

http://www.catalyticconverterwarehouse.com/

At $300 instead of $3000, it was no-brainer.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma