190E 2.0 (1990) Cat or Not?

[BigMarkie999]

A bit of a silly question this but I have just bought a beautifully looked after
Silver 190E, and I love it. What I can't work out is if it has a Catalyst or not..?
How would I know. I did hear that they didn't come in til K reg, but would love to know for sure. Any advice appreciated.

 

[SUE.]

Have a look under the car and you will see if it has one.

 

[TheJim]

There is a middle box that looks like a cat on the non-cat ones. Which does not help!
But some 1990 190es have cats, I know because I have one. One check you can do is look under the bonnet on the right hand side, if yours is a cat model it should have a dial marked EZL KAT and it will have 2 settings. One marked N for normal petrol and one marked S for superunleaded. This changes the ignition and makes sure that the car runs well on either fuel without knackering the cat. If you do have a cat and want rid, you can get rid of it and still pass the MOT as the Cat emmissions test is only compulsory on cars that had a cat as standard after 1992.
Hope this is usefull, we went into this in detail the other day!

 

[BigMarkie999]

Thanks "the Jim" Senior Merc Member- I will look under bonnet later! My filler cap does say UNLEADED I presume any is ok. I runs lovely so far and looks like the last owner who had it 9 years kept it well up together. All MBSH stamps etc, and body work is literally like new hard to find a mark on it. Everyone tell s me these were the proper Mercs- in those days! ( I'm well chuffed with it)
Cheers!

 

[TheJim]

I only recently got mine, sadly the service history has proven to be lies. But I am slowly getting it up to scratch. But I do love the car. Helluva car for the money!
I am sure you will get on with yours too. Good luck.

 

[squealinneil]

"I only recently got mine, sadly the service history has proven to be lies."
How so? Did the previous owner fake the stamps/invoices or ...?

This might help for equipment.
http://www.mbclub.ru/mb/vin/?lng=eng

 

[TheJim]

I bought it from the garage that had been 'servicing' it for the past few years.
They printed off the invoices for the work that had supposedly been done, but I have since found numerous bodges and signs of neglect. The air and fuel filters were filthy and the coolant had obviously not been changed in a long time. But they had been charging the previous owner for these jobs.
Bastards. But at least there is nothing seriously wrong with the car. Ho hum.
The only thing they seem to have done is oil changes..