W210 heat shield & W124 re-starting problem

[Gregjam]

On arriving in Amsterdam after driving from Southampton via Dover/Calais I noticed a noise coming from the back of my E200 96 estate. Turns out the heat shield located above the exhaust box (cat?) had become detatched from the five mounting points. Either by rot or by vibration, I am not sure. This is currently awaiting replacement/refitting. To refit without replacement would need bigger washers on the mounting bolts (cheaper option), is this viable? I fear a large bill for a new one or even one from mercman. Currently I am using the car without this shield fitted however only around town at the moment, is this wise?

On another matter, my 230TE estate W124 does not like starting if used for a short trip. It will start from cold but can be a bit lumpy but if I only use it to travel a few miles and the engine has just about warmed up then it is very difficult to restart if the engine has not had enough time to cool down. Could this simply be due to new plugs and leads being required or possible some other problem with the fueling.

Both cars will be fairly inactive for the next four months so I am hesitant to start any major jobs that can wait until later when both cars will get more regular usage. The W124 is also due new spheres plus lots of small but time consuming non essential items and should repair cost requirements increase I would rather use the car until it cannot pass an MOT and move it on.

All help and comments appreciated.

 

[television]

Re the 200 heat plate, the cat reaches tempertures up to 600 degrees it is put there so that you do not get hot feet. I would put it back using penny washers and can see no sense in buying a new one (you buy them in builders merchants etc)

I will come back later re 124

Malcolm

 

[Gregjam]

Another not so short job

Went out and got some washers plus what I thought would be the correct size nuts only to find on closer inspection it looks like the original shield was riveted in. I was hoping for a quick job but it now looks like removing all sorts of carpets etc to get to the other side of the rivet in order to drill it out. If only there was a manual for this model.

So, time to wait for a not too rainy/cold day and make sure the wife is primed to keep the cofee coming and ignore the curses from under the car.

 

[television]

Is it not possible to drill out from the underside or with a center punch knock them through to the inside, if you can drill out put a sleeve or something on the bit, to stop the drill from going more than 4mm through the hole and getting wound up in the sound underfelt. You can get rivets in different lengths, If you do not have a rivet gun why not use short self tapping screws.
I know it will not be easy as the plate was fitted before the exhaust.

Malcolm

 

[dogsbody]

W210 agree that most rivets are usually soft aluminium so you should be able to drill them out and re rivet. The fact that the exhaust pipe/cat is in the way may mean new holes. Nothing is critical here as the heat shield is exactly that, and so could be moved a bit either way without affecting its efficacy.

w124 does the model have a cat? If so starting problems of the type you describe are usually due to software preventing you restarting the engine after a very short run, and in so doing, destroying the cat due to a backfire from the enriched mixture on cold start up. The lambda sensor is crucial here, and if malfunctioning way be the culprit if the car has not done this before. If you have a "friend " with the same model borrow his lamdba sensor and test before buying a new one.

If the model does not have a cat, then you will have to look elsewhere for the solution.

 

[turnipsock]

230TE...when did you last change the plugs?(this would be easier if you had started two seperate threads)

 

[Gregjam]

W124 plugs

I have not touched the plugs since I bought the car about six months ago. History prior to that is unknown.

On the basis the car normally starts with no problems whether hot or cold I had discounted this. Early this morning (cold and wet) the car started on the first turn of the key and again no problems when it was time to return from the boot sale around noon. (A fantastic car for boot sales!).

The reason I have not looked in this direction is that some of the tales of plug and lead changes indicate horrendous expenditure which I am trying to avoid. When I did look at the plug leads they are a very secure fit and I don't want to break anything that does not need fixing.

In hindsight it would have been better to make two separate threads, if things get too confused I will do exactly that.