CarHopper

Hey guys, new to the MB boards, not to cars.. Or boards for that matter.

I just bought a c63 (has not been "delivered" to me yet.. at the dealer still) Also note is has 28k +/- miles.

I did a quick search on people running catless exhausts who had questions about inspections. I know along with everyone else here that it will not pass. In NYS I can't have codes and monitors have to set. Inspection is done via OBDII.

Then, I contacted Eurocharged and asked them about their tuning process and bypassing cat codes. Confirmed by them and the thread I looked up this causes the CEL to never appear, however, the cars monitors will never set for readiness.

That is all fine and dandy, however, this means for me that no inspection = no car.

Solutions:

-Is there any way to tell 100% the car has a flash on it?

-If there is a way to tell, can a stock map be set back up easily?

-Would I essentially have to tell the dealer they have to replace the gutted cats, reflash the ecu, and go from there?

-Final option... different car.

To be noted, the dealer has been awesome to this point. Whatever additional costs that are incurred because of this are on them. Whether they have to dump 5-6k on remapping the car and putting in new cats OR find me a different car and shipping + everything is on them.

At this point, what would you do? I'm almost leaning towards a new car. This car came lowered, tinted out, interior wrapped in cf, and a sweet radar/jammer system. It also had the resonator deleted and it is looking like the cats were gutted as well. In my mind, driven like it was stolen from day 1.

Flip side, I can use this as a negotiating chip. Essentially use the 5-6k it would cost the dealer to make the car NYS inspection ready as almost a 3-4k credit toward a different, nicer, lower mileage car. It would cost the dealer less to get me a car. Remember, they have told me at this point everything is on their dime, not mine, to get me on the road in a similar c63.

Final note, I told them everything. They couldn't figure this car out, drove it over 200 miles to try to get the monitors to set and are still scratching their heads. I asked them what wasn't setting and lead them on this wild goose chase about the cats and the tuning shenanigans. OR they are totally blowing smoke up my ***, the car is fine, and just somebody there wants it so are pushing me away from it. (Doubt it though, really nice people there, just my mind wanders )


Comments? Concerns? Thoughts? Opinions?

What a way to get into the C63 community huh? Sorry for the long read.

-Purple

Paculdo

go get another car so you don't have to worry about the issue(s)..

good luck ;-)

CarHopper

Thanks. I'm really at the dealers mercy right now. Pretty much whatever ends up costing less is the route that will be taken. Either way I'm fine. It's just NYS inspections are kind of a pain and don't get why some states do this and others don't.

Oh well, I think I have it pretty well laid out there. Just trying to figure out if the car is tuned or not.

How does something such as a eurocharge handheld unit work? Is it plug and play? Or is it more of a piggy back onto the ecu? Example, on my 135i I have a Jb4 and you actually have to hook that up to the ecu. Therefore it makes it really easy to figure out if it is tuned or not.

I would really like to get the car they already have, and who knows, maybe it is just being a little pain in the *** and not setting the monitors.

I'll have more info on friday.

CarHopper

Here is a little update you might enjoy:

So I went to the dealer today and went over the car. Basically the secondary cats were removed and it is a straight pipe back. Seeing as there are no codes and the monitors wont set we put two and two together a determined it is indeed tuned. In order for the dealer to go the MB dealer way it was quoted out to something like 7300 in parts + labor... (Again, I'm not paying for that)

At this point there are two options because this is 100% the car I am getting. You be the judge on which option I am pulling for.

Option 1: iPE exhaust from headers to tips with high flow cats and a tune from eurocharged. Yes, the dealer is consider this route if it saves money, which it does. I can get the full exhaust w/ cats for $5,250 + $750 on the tune and that is 6k. The big IF, which I'm waiting to hear back on, is I'm under the impression the iPE highflow cats do not come with secondary cats. These highflows pass cali's smog test so I'm sure as far as NYS emissions goes the car will be fine. However, for the safety part of the inspection it technically would fail without the second set of cats... Fingers cross.

Option 2: The dealer way. New drivers side cat, both secondary cats, and the axle back + an entire new ECU with factory tune. Exhaust is 48xx and the ECU is 2k. There were some other nickel and dimers in their quote that added up to just over 7k.

So, we shall see. It would be nice to get a full exhaust + tune courtesy the dealer. Needless to say these guys are awesome and doing everything that they can to hook me up and help me out.

Blown63

Option 1 hands down, don't even question it! If your dealer is willing to pay for it all and install it that means they will warranty your car so you have no worries! You will love the additional power and exhaust note! It will save you from doing it later and spending your own money to do it!

Good luck man

CarHopper

^Yea, definitely pulling for option 1. Just hoping the secondary cats dont become the issue

BerBer63

secondary cats dont throw codes on these cars...removed or not

BO Knows

+1. The primary cats has a front and rear o2 sensor. Your tune will turn off the rear o2 sensor so no CEL.

CarHopper

Learn something new everyday. Thanks for that info, maybe I can really get the dealer in on that iPE exhaust.

hansamg

If the dealer is able to inspect it ,let them. In my state ,dealers have emissions machines and they can sticker. Don't know about NYS. I thought some tunes are easy to reset to stock and then back again. ???

I had a car with long tube headers and half it's cats.... it passed my states emmisions.....some say a fresh oil change helps as well as having the engine oil hot . DO they put the car on a lift for a visual ?

I just looked up NY. There are private licensed garages(unlike NJ) > which means to me that you'll find a motorhead garage that will pass the car as it is NOW. Just ask around . I've watched it done ...Now ask the dealer for $7000 off and enjoy the car as it is.

CarHopper

^ That's the thing though. Technically I haven't taken delivery of the vehicle from the dealer yet because it wont pass. So, I can't just take it around to other places.

As for the tune, of course I'd set it back to stock but it didn't come with any means to do so seeing as I didn't tune it in the first place.

And as for the exhaust, It is a backyard exhaust shop job with shady welds. I'd rather have a nice piece put in not on my dime.

See what I mean?

CarHopper

As promised, here is an update with questions as well.

Here is a chronology of events so far:

-Monitors wont set for first inspection, why?
-Further examination reveals exhaust work which includes secondary cat deletes as well as a resonator delete. Primary and mufflers still in place.
-Car has no CELs so original thought was a tune but come to find out secondaries wont throw CELs, so they say...
-Tried to set monitors again thinking secondaries don't cause problems, no dice.
-Evaluate whether or not the car has a tune. Foreman says the car has a bit more bite to it. I asked today how quickly it shifted and you could see a lightbulb go off... Shifts quickly which the car doesn't typically do.

Conclusion: Car is tuned causing monitors to not set.

Now, moving on from the fact it has to be reflashed which is a given I move to the exhaust. One of the techs seems to believe that no secondary cats will cause back pressure issues and the o2 sensors will pick that up and throw a code. I'm neither agreeing or disagreeing yet. However, take an iPE exhaust from headers to tips for example. It has the option to come with high flow cats but this only has primary cats, no secondaries. So, why wouldn't you run into the back pressure issue here?

I'm just a little skeptical and I think the car will be able to pass an inspection once it is flashed to stock again.

The tech has talked to eurocharged who also said they can make anything happen tune wise essentially, but they can't guarantee it. We were looking at just getting a eurocharged tune capable of keeping CELs off and allowing monitors to set, but again, without a guarantee the dealer is hesitant to pull the trigger on that.

I totally understand where they are coming from too. They are helping me out big time through this process which makes me okay with being as patient as I have to be. Just I would imagine that it would suck to have to go to a boss or whoever and tell them "hey, we bought a car for a customer that can't pass inspection and now we have to take a hit to the tune of x amount of dollars. If money is being spent, it will be spent knowing that we come away with a car that will pass.

Last note - going to the top at mercedes saying they need to force flash the ecu will end up screwing me which they are trying to avoid. Basically, mercedes doesn't like you playing around with their cars so once that happens the car is basically flagged and your shot at a warranty is out the door.

The search for answers goes on.