New Kats!
Ok, so I have been having some problems with my G, loss of power on acceleration, and worst of all being very, very slow everywhere!
After posting some of the issues on the forum (many, many thanks to those who replied with your advice). I took it into my dealer - MB World at Brooklands. After replacing the sparkplug leads, fuel filter and the Mass air sensor, still have the same problems (also no charge!). The problem was under any acceleration would get the rev’s but no power, I would then let off and we would get slow acceleration, with much pain and no fast speeds – does wonders for the fuel economy - between 17 and 18 MPG – the best I have to date! So after jacking up the car and taking a look under, we found the following problems;
All brackets corroded through (so that’s what gives the rattle when I start her up)
Exhaust now bent where it has been banging again the back axel
The Cat Box is very corroded as is the two ‘baffle’ boxes (?) – both skins corroded through
One broken off side spring/coil (no idea how that happened * ahem *
Their diagnostics have come up with the fact that, over time the rhodium/platinum does get ‘gunked’ up especially on low mileage cars ( Mine is 7 years with about 48K Miles). While I am keen to keep using MB parts, the initial price they have come up with for new exhaust and Cat is about £3,600. I have been speaking to Maxwell Smart and he has suggested an after market non MB cat and exhaust system. (While tempted to get one that add some more power to the G, have been recommended to stay away, as if anything happened the insurance have the ability to null and void my insurance)
Do any other members have some good contacts for exhausts in the south east who are competitively priced and are G friendly that they would be happy to recommend?
Spider1V
Most surprised that "blocked cats" can have such a sudden and dramatic effect on power. The only exhaust place I have dealt with is stainless exhaust specialists in Nottingham. He fitted a ss to my diesel. He will also work in other steels if ss doesn't take your fancy. I find it too noisy for my liking. Now is the time to ring AMG for that extra special system. £3600 will appear a bargain in comparison
Two thoughts, neither good.
1 - ecu in limp home mode?
2 - cracked cylinder head - been there - the harder you push the flatter it feels. Hope you get it sorted.
One thing about MB mechanics - they don't like to admit they don't know what's going on so end up clutching at straws.
Got to get it sorted for tunisia - can't dissapoint the kids :wink:
Most surprised that "blocked cats" can have such a sudden and dramatic effect on power. The only exhaust place I have dealt with is stainless exhaust specialists in Nottingham. He fitted a ss to my diesel. He will also work in other steels if ss doesn't take your fancy. I find it too noisy for my liking. Now is the time to ring AMG for that extra special system. £3600 will appear a bargain in comparison
There is a good possibilty that the cat is blocked, with this new lez zone in London, all pre51 plate lorries need to enter with this new filter system , and these get blocked if you dont periodically blast them down the motorway, while I know spider does this on occasion! It does happen although diesel being a dirtyer fuel. You can get an exhaust made for less than £1000 for yours I would think, do a google , stainless is noiseier with out a doubt but mine is on my v8 and it sounds great !!!!!!
Hi Spider put "powerflow exhausts" into your search engine..depots all over the country... they will build your exhaust to pattern ..you may have to supply them with the "kats" from another source..I have used them a number of times and they do a good job as long as you spell out what you want. cost for a standard NO Kat LWB 463 exhaust including a fancy tail pipe GBP 425 inc vat and all in stainless steel.. 9 months ago!!
half price cats and stainless i think, you know you love the noise!
for piece off mind get the water system pressure tested , apart from that if its not losing water how can it be the head ?.I got my 230 stainless steel exhaust made at a powerflow depot in st albans, very happy with price and work
Sorry Jo, not trying to be alarmist :shock: , just saying it may be a possibility - I had a hair line crack between no3 and no4 cylinders - the symptoms were loss of power on full throttle. It reved out fine, ran down hill under full power but under strain going uphill it just limped. Lots of unburnt fuel in the exhaust system and sooted up spark plugs. I went through everything - injection system, electrics, fuel pressures. In the end we took the head off and there was the crack. I hope you have better luck.
Chris
Sorry Jo, not trying to be alarmist :shock: , just saying it may be a possibility - I had a hair line crack between no3 and no4 cylinders - the symptoms were loss of power on full throttle. It reved out fine, ran down hill under full power but under strain going uphill it just limped. Lots of unburnt fuel in the exhaust system and sooted up spark plugs. I went through everything - injection system, electrics, fuel pressures. In the end we took the head off and there was the crack. I hope you have better luck.
Chris
Cheers for the 'heads up' (boom, boom) :lol:
I will get them to check it when it goes in and try and close all the loops.....
Spider1V - getting to the bottom of his technical problems! :roll:
Last time I dealt with a car with a blocked Cat it had pretty unique symptoms, try getting someone to rev the car up in neutral for you while you stand by the exhaust tip, if it is blocked then the noise will be out of phase, ie you rev and a second later you get a rush of gas out the exhaust. Sounds like it is building pressure and then all coming out at once which robs alot of power.
Hi Joe, hope you are okay. Good advice from Draxey. Just done two non-original cats on my old mans E320 elegance - power difference unbelievable. Half the price of OEM too.
I second powerflo or/and longlife in Basingstoke - saw some of their work on the go and was dead impressed.
A mate of mine has an S500 which to the naked eye and MOT tester still has its two cats. If the system was dropped however, you'd see that the cats have been sliced on the floor side, are empty, and then re-welded.
Its a fair bit quicker than mine....has done more miles....and has passed an emissions test .....food for thought, but they won't do that at MB World, I assure you ;)
Sounds like it is building pressure and then all coming out at once which robs alot of power.
Perfect explanation of what is wrong - could not pull the skin off a rice pudding- (the non technical way!)
Tried what you said and we are talking more than a few seconds…. (go in make a tea come out and there is the gas! :P )
The bad news is that it is getting so bad, I have been relegated to the slow lane, and I am now being passed by EVERYBODY :evil: (Why is it that it's now the RR and LR's wanna take me on? Like vultures, they can sense when your weak? :? ) The Good news, she is in on Monday, I am going for original parts (then I know it is under the MB warranty (two years on parts and labour)
Then I am going LR/RR hunting – ‘gonna get me some scalps….’ :twisted: :twisted:
Will keep you posted!
Spider1V – Revenge is best severed on a cold platter!
Good good I like a happy ending :D Just try to keep the miles to a minimum in the mean time if you can, as you have got away without blowing anything else so far. Then on Monday the horsepower will be back bigtime :twisted:
you should have said on monday jo, i was back in the RR supercharged, i would have let you win to make you feel a bit better! You cant beat the class of the G, there was more RR at windsor races than there were horses!
Tom
Well old ‘Gerhard’ is back and it is like having a new car! Basically – I had a few pennies worth of stuff done to him.
Start with the warranty from GWagen (came with the truck when I brought it) Needed one new rear spring and a new rear washer wiper – no quibble, no hassle, just booked in, parts replaced – no charge (in Fact James at GWagen said I will also replace the other spring at the same time! *gasp* a garage being helpful/friendly. So the ride is slightly less choppy and rather more comfortable.
Now for the painful part – those of a nervous disposition may want to look away now…..
The lack/loss of power was expensive to fix small change from £3K. The problems were rather more than a simple Mass Air Sensor. The Kats has basically crumbled inside, the exhaust double skin had corroded through and a number of fixing brackets had gone the same way – which explain the banging and thumping one would get when driving and on start up. With the Kats blocking the through put of the exhaust gas, this was causing a build up in the actual exhaust and affecting the engine – so the faster I went the more gas, the more build up the more the engine would cough and splutter and I would slow down. Max available speed – 65mph – over this and you would actually slow down. Going up a hill became somewhat exciting and towards the end I had to plan routes with not too many hills! So MB Brooklands did the following;
New spark leads
New fuel Filter
New Mass Air sensor
New Exhaust muffler x 3
New Kats
New Brackets
Re test the whole system
I also took the chance to have the breaks changes and to get an A service. FYI all MB parts and therefore covered under the 1 year parts and labour warranty. MB will also give you a discount on parts – 30% and Labour 15% if your car is over 5 years old and had a full MBSH, which saved me a few 100 quid.
As I stated at the top of this post – it is like having a new car – I can report that we can now do well over twice my old speed limit! And the acceleration is rather surprising – as 0-60 now take a considerable shorter time than the 80-90 seconds it did previously.
Spider1v – is soooooo happy at the moment
Good news :D (Apart from the cost) Give it a good thrashing now and it will clean up any sooted parts, watch out RR owners!!
Good news :D (Apart from the cost) watch out RR owners!!
Lets just say - current score is Lions 4, Christians 0
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
Spider1V- re addressing the embarrassment of the past
ouch on the money front, but top end cars are never cheap and least its done properly now.
once we've re-taxed the old bentley and the weather gets better again we will have to meet up again
Tom - now understanding the increase in road kill over the last few days
Nice :twisted: I have the same relationship with M3 owners in my C class AMG, current score Draxey 100% BMW nil pointe :D
Nice :twisted: I have the same relationship with M3 owners in my C class AMG, current score Draxey 100% BMW nil pointe :D
Ohhh! new 6.3 C? (I had the same problems when I had an SL and ML AMG - ALL the BMW X5's and BMW 6's and 5's were trying it on) - although I did not get the perfect 100% :cry: got frazzeled by an Alpina B10 - good car and a good driver..
Spider1V
Nope mine is only a little 4.3 (same block as your G with a few modifications) but It has done porsche GT's and every BMW so far, had a close run with an expensive Ferrari in Switzerland but he gave up because it was embarresing him (He didn't know that I was carring 2 people + 100kg of luggage aswell think he would have cried :cry:)
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Interesting comment. (and a scary one from Chris! (BTW Francesca says hi and want to know when we can come up again! :wink: )
The effect has been building up over the past few months. First noticed (only slightly at first) on the run down to work (Ipswich) and noticed that one could not quite get to the previous 'achieved speeds' *ahem*
We also have a great hill near where I live (Amersham Hill) which is great for testing any engine up a hill. I noticed that on one such occasion a RR beat me to the top! :shock: From that point on I have seen a reduction in power.
If the ECU was in 'limp mode' and I did have a cracked head, would that not show up on the computer display or indicate a warning somewhere? (I really hope that is not the case!!). I am hoping that the diagnostic of the 'Kat' is the right one as this seems to be consistent with the symptoms and it seems that, over time, if a ‘kat’ is used only a little it will shorten the life (in terms of mileage). Bearing in mind that when I got the G it had covered 38K miles in the previous 7 years ( that’s about 5 and a bit thousand miles PA), I have done about 12K since November and as some members know I ‘don’t hang around’ as I am a ‘V8 Junkie’ 8) (though Gordon Brown is trying his hardest to stop that)
I have been cheeky enough to send my Dealers a web link showing a G500 Kat at half the price! ( and have asked if they could fit it for me – well don’t ask, don’t get). Here is the link and thank to Maxwell Smart for the web page.
http://www.carparts-direct.co.uk/Catalytic_Converters.cfm
I would just LOVE to get an AMG set….. but at the cost I would be scared to take it off road, although the note would be exquisite and it is tempting…(Roly your a :twisted: :lol: ) Well just a case of waiting and seeing, but many thanks for your comments and tips.
Spider1V