C 220 power problems

[HJHPH]

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice, my wife has been driving her C220 cdi sports coupe 2002 model (26000 miles) all day today and it has been fine, drove it home from visiting this evening and the car had no power. I followed her home as we met after work and it did not appear to smoke at all. No malfunctions on display starts ticks over and revs fine but is just gutless, any ideas. after posting this took out air filter and MAF filter pretty much spotless, after reading through other threads is it possible the cat could be blocked? Semmed to be a lot of heat coming off the exhaust and also temperature is running a touch hotter than mine if the display is anything to go by. If this is the case how can they be unblocked.
Thanks, Paul.

 

[Uncle Benz]

Sounds like a possibe MAF sensor problem. Find a good mechanic with a fault code reader and a brain, cos they don't always throw up a code. Live data stream will show if it is working or not.

 

[HJHPH]

Hi Uncle, will take it to specialist tomorrow and try that first, at least this gives me an indicator.
Thanks alot, Paul.

 

[HJHPH]

Catalytic converter woes

Hi all, further to my earlier thread car now in stealership. Purchased car on 28/08/06 from private single previous owner, it is a 2002 220 cdi with 26K full MB history. On the 3rd august the previous owner paid £1000 for a new lower Cat from a stealership as it had failed and car had no power. The same thing has happened to the car again and MB Winchester say the pre cat is breaking up and blocking main cat. Car has done about 3k since first replacement cat. MB tell me it will be £1300 to replace both again, I feel the original MB service agent misdiagnosed and should pay a healthy portion of the bill if not all. Do I have any chance of getting this paid for? If they refuse can anybody reccomend a course of action other than selling my body?
Thanks for your advice Paul.

 

[Uncle Benz]

Having read your follow up comments, if the upper cat was not replaced, and only the lower one was new, it seems obvious to me that they fixed the symptom and not the cause. If a piece of upper cat broke loose and blocked the lower one, it seems logical that a further chunk has now broken free and repeated the earlier problem. If this turns out to be true, I think you have a reasonable case against the dealer, unless the previous owner instructed them to do the bare minimum for reasons of cost.

On your car the cat is not strictly required for MOT purposes, so an economy method may be to have the cat opened and the guts removed. I have done this many times for E300td owners, who seem to suffer the problem a lot.

 

[television]

Having read your follow up comments, if the upper cat was not replaced, and only the lower one was new, it seems obvious to me that they fixed the symptom and not the cause. If a piece of upper cat broke loose and blocked the lower one, it seems logical that a further chunk has now broken free and repeated the earlier problem. If this turns out to be true, I think you have a reasonable case against the dealer, unless the previous owner instructed them to do the bare minimum for reasons of cost.

On your car the cat is not strictly required for MOT purposes, so an economy method may be to have the cat opened and the guts removed. I have done this many times for E300td owners, who seem to suffer the problem a lot.

I do not think that anyone could argue with Uncle Benz reply, it is very fair from all sides.

Only one thing to add, what are the chances of shaking out the bits in the lower exhaust when its off.

malcolm

 

[HJHPH]

Hi all, thanks for the coments, have had a new cat and pre cat fitted by my local dealer and am now waiting to see what the original repairing dealer has to say. I have updated them and informed them that I require some sort of recompense as I completely agree with the scenario of Uncle benz, especially as the car did only 2400 miles between failures. Will keep you informed.
Thanks again Paul.

 

[qasim]

Hi,

I know little about mechanics but I do know about contracts. From what you say above, you/your wife purchased the car from a private owner, you/your wife's contract is with him/her.

The contract which resulted in the lower Cat being fitted was between the previous owner and the stealership. Because of the doctrine of "privity of contract", you would have no redress against the previous steelership unless somehow that contract had been assigned to you expressly - eg if the contract between the previous owner and his steelership provides that the benefit of the contract would pass to a purchaser of the vehicle from the previous owner. In this respect, I think that you need to look at the documentation provided by the previous steelership to the previous owner, which presumably he gave you when you handed the cash to him. Such contracts are not usually assignable but its worth having a look.

You do not say whether the previous owner provided any warranty to you on sale of the vehicle. Was it 'sold as seen' or did he provide any express or 'implied' warranty to you by the words that he used eg, 'its a great car, never a days problem', 'you will get years of trouble free motering', 'just had the cat replaced so you won't have to worry about that for a while'. If so you may be able to seek redress against the previous owner particularly if the previous steelership tell you that they had diagnosed the front Cat but the previous owner had told them to just replace the rear to save costs.

You may need to take your paperwork to and seek professional advice from a local solicitor or your local CAB to see if you can bring a small claim against the previous owner or his steelership. Good luck

 

[HJHPH]

Hi there, thanks for your comments, I understand privity of contract etc and there was no warranty with the car however the bottom line is that the car has had 2 cat failures within 2400 miles caused by a fault that went undiagnosed which by anyone's standard is not acceptable. I have had a phone call this morning from the dealership who fitted the previous cat and they have agreed to pay for the replacement cat again £498+vat and a small cost towards the labour leaving me with a bill for around £600, not ideal but could be worse!
Thanks again, Paul.

 

[qasim]

Hi, Its a pity they are not prepared to take full responsibility but in view of the apparant legal position, I think you have done quite, at least its some help towards the bill. Best of luck with the new ones.

 

[HJHPH]

Hi Qasim, thanks for your comments, at least I got some of it paid!
Paul.