sach4u1

Hi all,

I bought a 2003 CLK430 last month with 79600 miles. Now it has 80500 miles and I stopped by at the MB dealer today as it was rattling where the cats are and they said that the warranty is expired and gave me a quote of $800 to replace one cat on passanger side. (I know I should have checked it when I got it but I did not know about the warranty and I just ignored the rattle)
I read lot of threads but could not get more information on a 03 clk430 model. I live in Oklahoma and I dont think they test the cats??
Please help......Let me know if you have done anything cheaper that fixed the problem and you did not loose any power or/and check engine light came on???
Thank you.

dlbehrns

Is it the primary or secondary cat? If it is the 2ndry you can live without it or have a muffler shop cut it out and replace w/straight pipe. If its the primary you can go with oem or cut out the old and weld in a new.

sach4u1

Honestly, I am not sure. I am not mechanically sound. I dont know if I have primary and secondary cats? How do I find out?

gregory13lil

Make sure you check to make sure that the heat shields on the manifold next to the cats have not come loose. They are just tack welded on there and if one or two of the welds break loose they will cause the noise that sounds like a bad cat converter. This is what happened to my car at 100K miles and i am now at 152K and cats are still perfect now.

Greg

dlbehrns

you have both; there are two primary and two secondary cats. the secondaries usually go first. when you stopped at the dealer, which one did they say it was? $800 for one is ridiculous. perhaps someone on the board can chime in with their experience and, use the Search function. this subject has been discussed at length on this and the other MBworld forums. If you are not mechanically inclined you could take it to Midas or any muffler shop to get the problem diagnosed for free but they will probably want to sell you the repair and that may be ok with you depending on the price. It can be as easy as banging on the cat with a hammer to hear if there is anything rattling inside. jack the car up in the air using a jack stand for saftey and crawl under the car and bang away. do you know what you are looking for? surely you have someone you know that works on their own car that can help you?

sach4u1

I took it to the local mechanic who works only on imports and he said its the cat. I also took it to the MB dealership as miles were 80500, I thought they would cover under the warranty but they refused. They also confirmed its the passenger side cat. Thanks.

The way you described to bang under the car to know about the rattle, local mechanic did the exact same thing and said cats are bad. Then he said maybe dealer would do it under the federal law and I took it to the dealership. They said its over 80000 miles and MB is very serious about the warranties. And then they did the inspection and gave me $800 quote. $440 for parts and rest labor. The mechanic who diagnosed the car in the first place is very honest and intelligent. He mostly works on imports. I am going to have him do all my repairs. He is going to give me a quote on Monday. Also, I am going to a local muffler shop on Monday. Meanwhile I thought I should do some research and ask experienced people. Thanks

M-bENZ

shoot a pics of your secondary cats...it might looks like mine then you can come and pick it up for cheap...i have no use.


Andy

dlbehrns

"They also confirmed its the passenger side cat." Primary(first one, from the exhaust maniforld) or secondary(just before the resonator? Both primary and secondary can be cut out and welded in. If it's the secondary you can have mosty any shop weld in a replacement. I would recommend high flow cats from these guys http://www.randomtechnology.com/contact.html