Cheap Cats required

[a6jus]

Hi
I am in need of two new cats for my (2001) C320 Avantgarde W203.

Can anybody point me in the direction of some reliable and cheap suppliers of these as the dealers are looking at £900 + VAT just to supplie them, and that seems an awful lot of cash

 

[marnix]

Have you tried Euro Car Parts?
www.eurocarparts.com
0208 956 5188

 

[mark999]

try www.cats4less.co.uk

 

[a6jus]

Have tried the following and awaiting the verdict

 

[jberks]

Just be careful - I have heard a lot of complaints that after market cats tend to be more 'rattly' and noisy than original equipment.

 

[Tony]

I would advise you very strongly not to use non-standard cats. You'll have problems. I know because I've been down this route. Try the MB web-site (Inchcape). They're much cheaper than the dealer and you'll get a genuine part that'll work.

 

[a6jus]

Tony
This inchcape site only seems to be a Car dealer site not parts??
Am I missing something, won't they be the same price as local dealers?

 

[124coupe]

They sell direct via http://www.mercedes-benz-parts.co.uk/ and are sometimes cheaper (although the price look up is ex VAT so you need to go to the checkout to see the real price inc VAT and delivery).

Like the dealer, special order stuff will be list price, stock will have a variable price depending if they want rid of it...

Worth a ring around a few - Tony Purslows are good for spares and service on >3 year old Mercs.

 

[124coupe]

Just a thought re the cats - what "killed" them?

If it's not rust then you need a full check up to make sure there isn't a fuelling problem or you will kill the new ones too.

 

[a6jus]

Have been quoted £1080 inc VAT for MB cats from 124 coupe link.
Still lots of money and will need to be fitted by somebody at extra cost!!
I'm just wondering now what could have caused one of them to go, as 124 coupe said: I had to have a MAF sensor last week fitted, due to the car nearley stalling when taking off from idle or low speeds could this have caused the cat destruction?? but one of them is still ok? I think as the other one only rattles at just above tick-over rpm 1500-1800 approx!
Do I need to change both? lambdas or O2 sensors need looking at?

Any help/advice welcomed as looking at trading her in before any more big bills come!!

 

[124coupe]

With such a large sum involved, I would suggest calling the Tony Purslow group garage nearest to you and ask for a cat quote (using the online quote to haggle) and then get a fitting quote from them to include a pre-check on the fuelling. They seem to be the best for labour hourly rates on older cars.

You will then have a dealer repair complete with Merc warranty so, if the new cats blow, Merc will replace them FOC.

They also offer free MOTs so you can get that at the same time (assuming you are close to needing one).

 

[rajinder_1]

What did you end up doing justin? did you go MB or aftermarket????

Raj

 

[a6jus]

Still waiting to see, if I can afford to have the stealers check out the rest of the fuel system to check if the cats died of old age or have another expensive problem, to get a second morgage out for!!!!

 

[Tony]

I'm surprised the website quote was not a lot cheaper than the dealer. The dealer quote for my SLK320 was £1100 parts, but I get 10% off for the car being over 3 years old, so it was about £1k. Inchcape did them for £700, which although a lot of money, is actually very little more than the aftermarket parts - which don't work. Fitting these cats is a very small job - it takes less than half an hour, so if the dealer wants more than £100 it's a rip off.

I don't know what the config of your car is but the SLK320 actually has 4 cats - 2 pre-cats just after the engine manifold and then 2 more at the back side by side. The ones that go (and I'm on my fourth set) are the rear ones. The pre-cats are fine. Unfortunately (or deliberately) you have to buy the pre-cat nearside in order to get the rear cats, so you have to buy 3 cats. I see no point in changing the right side pre-cat if it's still working. Strangely, this single cat is about £300 and the 3 cats (plus a lot of complicated pipework) is £400.

On the subject of why they go, I'm still in the dark. My engine checks out OK and I've had the lambda probes changed to no avail. My guess is that the rear cats are low down and may come in for rapid temperature change in wet conditions, causing them to break up.

One thing that occurs to me is that the lambda probes are on the manifold and immediately after the pre-cat. They know nothing about the rear cats, so the rear cats can be cut out and replaced with pipe without throwing an engine code. Now, whether this would get through the MOT I don't know. My guess is that it probably would. Mercedes cats are always a bit OTT.

 

[rajinder_1]

To be honest, i can see your dilema as i was in same situation, but what can you do???? when on one hand your looking at half price for aftermarket or double the price for MB.....
I think it depends on your situation but i coudnt justify double the price!!!

Raj

 

[television]

reasons why cats go down

(1) On cars that are not used very much so low milage.
(2) Head gaskit blown and water in engine
(3) faulty lambada O2 sensor
(4) Shock, raed humps,potholes
(5) Parking on long grass.

The price of CATs is out of all peportion to what its worth, almost now to the point on some cars being more then the car's value
There are some good after mark CAT's out there, garages use them all the time, in most cases if you cant find one for you car, just replace the piece that rattles on a size for size basis, I have said it before,lot's of firms out there who only do special exhaust.

Malcolm

 

[Tony]

Unfortunately none of those apply to my car. I suspect that in my case it's either faulty parts (that's what the dealer told me when the original cat failed), faulty design (a lot of SLK320s get this problem) or possibly problems with the cats being very low. It's occurred to me that water from puddles and the like is liable to get splashed onto the rear cats.

 

[rajinder_1]

MB Cats

To be honest, i can see your dilema as i was in same situation, but what can you do???? when on one hand your looking at half price for aftermarket or double the price for MB.....
I think it depends on your situation but i coudnt justify double the price!!!

Raj

Having said this i eat my words.... i had aftermarket cats and they are very noisy compared to the originals. I could not cope with the noise and would now probably favour the originals....

 

[BrianM]

I've had a cats-4-less catalyst fitted to my E240 in February and everything seems fine. Seems good quality and engine sounds just the same. Had the garage do an emissions check and it's working fine. Saved £400+ compared with main dealers.

For link to the thread see below

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=16263