New to this forum and what great site. I have a 2.6L 190E and I would like to know from anyone how the car behaves when the CAT is dead. I have lately experienced some loss of power, a rather pungent smell associated with black smoke. I had a black switch(not sure of the name) attached to the fuel distributor replaced but it has not helped much. Now Im told my CAT may have packed on me

I know little about fixing cars so forgive my asking what may be obvious.

 

Guess one of my problems is a bad OVP cos the idle is rough and sometimes very high...

 

If a mechanic is saying your Cat is packed, replace the cat.

Im thinking exhaust? right?

If that doesnt fix it, yell about how it didnt help. Tell him you wont pay. Since, he didnt fix the problem stated on the written estimate.

If he threatens with the police, use a credit card, and then dispute it. My friends bank let him dispute mechanic work because the problem wasnt fixed. Thats in Florida. Might want to check with yours first.

 

A lot of mechanics "Accept" credit cards but as soon as you mention one, they rather take cash.

 

Sorry guys, been unable to post for a while. As for my smoking 2.6L I took a drastic decision and replaced every thing from fuel distributor all the way to the nozzles, and viola! my troubles are gone. Well, sort of. No smoking, no hesitation and no pungent smell. There though is a definite under-power.
Looks like I have to go the CAT replacement route or even rid myself of it alltogether since our laws in Uganda are soft on emmisions. I still dont know what my original problem was but really I dont care that much.

 

i live in chicago but in a county far enough out that i don't have to test but i do not run a cat. she runs a little rich (maybe no backpressure for the o2 to read proper) but not so bad i lost m.p.g.--if you can dodge the test have it cut out i run an anse exhaust and it sounds great--good luck

 

hey don't look past doing some kind of fuel pressure test i have been burned in the past--had one that i would have bet money the cat was bad even changed it only to find a weak fuel pump that is it warmed up a bit and under load just choked the car down

 

Thanks Saabfan for info on fuel pump. Will talk to the mechanic this week

 

if you can work a fuel pressure tester in line (problably before the fuel dist. or any line between tank and engine compartment) older injection might read 35-45 psi this way you can take a fuel sample also just to rule out any other issues--have a friend bring the rpm's up while you feel near the tail pipe you also might hear a hissing noise if the cat is clogged not only will it cause a loss of power but may lead to a die out condition or unable to get her over 30 mph--good luck