I did a muffler repair on my 2011 Smart 451 two years ago, and had to do almost exactly what you did. I removed the rear body panels, rear tyres, but couldn't remove the crash bar - one bolt was inaccessible and seized, so instead of removing the crash bar, I jacked up the car and lowered the engine. This is easier than it sounds because the engine/axle assembly drops down off the frame by removing 4 bolts. I had to buy some long bolts to lower the engine while keeping it attached to the frame. I bought an angle grinder just so I could separate the muffler from the catalytic converter, and made the same decision you did - to buy a new Smart-brand muffler. I also replaced the spark plugs while the engine was accessible and increased my fuel economy by 1 litre/100km, from 5.0 to 4.0. BUT it's been a dream to drive ever since!
Really loving this new content style of working on the cars with your Dad. He’s so skilled, explains everything well and has the patience of a saint. Keep it up 😁
Well, Jon, cheers to you and your Dad for taking the trouble of showing me what I am now up against. The lower part of the flex pipe separated from where it curves then goes into the muffler. So, I haven't started pulling panels yet, but I did get a replacement - USD 215, not OEM, but for an OEM I would have to get a used one and I am not in the mood for doing this twice! 22k miles on this, got it for free, so, I guess I'm ahead of the game lol. I'll report back when all said and done :)
Oh, I forgot we can comment!! Thank You! Its so great to see, you two working together! I cant understand hardly anything you are saying, its pretty crazy for an American. But you guys show it all better than any other video I can find. Thank You so much. I wish I had the patience to show my work, so others can benefit. I did one TikTok clip for changing the control arm.
Well Jon, sometimes your heart rules your head doesn't it? Mine does too, when you see something you like it's a very difficult feeling to control. Sure it can often back fire, like it has this time. But when it's all done you'll fall in love with the car again and you'll get plenty of enjoyment out of it. Besides it's made great content for the channel! It's lovely to see your Dad calmly and methodically going about a job, even if he pretends not to enjoy it. I hope he finds his sense of 'oomer' again soon!😊
I knew the car needed some TLC and in fairness to the seller we factored that into the price (which was an absolute bargain) - but you are right. Once done, the car will be a lovely commuter vehicle!
Wow what an epic job you will be both needing a science lab at dads as well at this rate! Keep going both it’s coming along great and it will be much better when it’s done Daniel
Hi Jhon look forward to seeing you both and another amazing video your dad is funny with some of his comments keep them coming hopefully buy him some new tools this month 👍
Hi Jon great video as ever and I love this smart car it looks seriously cool as I’ve said before I think you should keep it and bring it to its best be great for either you and Mrs JC to cruise in or I could see your dad in it he has a love for it already banter aside!!
Ho hum Jon perhaps not the Smartest decision you've made of late ,even has your dad whistling,walking in a winter wonderland to keep his sprits up ,good luck Pete I think your going to need it.
I really couldn't believe what I was seeing ? 21:27 Your dad using an angle grinder without eye protection - Pure madness !!! 🤕 A useful video though, and thanks for sharing.
Read the car manuel. There are jacking points behind the front wheel and ahead of the rear wheel. No need to remove anything to jack it up! I have one and and change the summer wheels for winter rims with snow tires. I live in Canada. By all means remove other panels for access to the motor. Exhaust is held in with just a couple of bolts and hangs on rupper supports.
We didnt want to risk damaging the sill covers for the sake of 5 minutes work (we also wanted to look at the state of the Tridian cell as they have a tendancy to rot out) - you are right, the exhaust is just a couple of bolts ... easy to get at and take off if they havent seized / turned to a nub!
@@JonCoupland for future reference it is completely safe just use a rubber spacer if your jack pad is bigger than the jack point. I know I was hesitant but the plastic held up great with no cracks. Loved watching the video though as I'm going to have to replace my exhaust soon, my flex pipe has started to wear out.
@@JonCoupland Wow! Gobsmacked at that price. You now have me thinking about looking for a Smart Brabus. That’s also worrying at the same time! Really enjoying these videos which is also shocking as was not a real smart car fan but am finding myself “ drawn in”. Thanks for making the vids.
When I saw your dad with the big grinder out, I was surprised that he stopped at the exhaust. 😂 How long after buying the new exhaust did you discover the other issues?
Can hear the baffles rattling around 😂. There awefull thing's to work on I will stick to my old PD audis 😂. You learn from your mistakes. Al have an Audi A4 😂 I already got one used to have 2
@@JonCoupland I had a b5 av got avant sport b6 Tdi sport now. I have 5 years 186tho on the clock needs some trim work on inside. Other than that its a good Machine.
I am in the states and I have a 2015 smart 451 (not the newer ugly one, mine looks like yours but white) Yours has more rust than mine so something for me to look forward to I suppose. I ran mine without a muffler for a week or so until I bought one on evil bay for 200 dollars U.S. and put it on. I didn't remove the crash bar when I did mine but it would have been easier. I think I'm the only person in my town that has a smart fortwo as they are not a popular vehicle in the states. People buy huge monstrous trucks and sport utility vehicles here and too much horsepower is never enough here. I was able to get the original bolts out, replace the gasket and use the bolts in the kit to put the new muffler on as the threads were still very good.
Hi to you both. What a " PAIN " to do. Surely you can Jack up the car, without removing the. Body Kit ?. If not. Home servicing will be. A nightmare. Are you treating the surface rust at the rear before the kit goes back on. 🤷♂🤷♂Cheers.
I believe others have pointed out that it is possible ... however not something im going to risk! Yes - rust will all be treated and killed and protected :)
Glad i decided not to buy a Smart car after watching this video ! lol what a bad design to jack it up you have to take the car apart total craziness lol , Mercedes do this deliberately i reckon to justify the high servicing costs lol
Nonsence. Look at how you so casually stated that as fact and would state that to someone as a reason Smart cars are horribly designed when it is totally untrue. You jack the car up on the flat jacking points without any issue or panel removal. Dealers having high services prices....... I can not dispute you there lol
@@JonCoupland I have bought bits & pieces from them in the past. I opted to fit the cheap pattern part 🤞 I did buy a new flexi for my original just in case I ever got around to welding it in ..... 🙄 NB my exhaust is different from yours in that the exit is on the near side, ie the same end as the inlet.
Yes, I've come to 'appreciate' my 451 in the same way I 'appreciate' my GTV. Both cars are an absolute bugger to work on, if for markedly different reasons... ...Alfa is known for cheerfully nailing their cars together without a care in the world. But the longer I own a Smart the more I have come to detest Merc's greed - "Let's make sure this 'cheap' small car is such a SOB to work on that only our dealers with touch them at Merc dealer prices!" The result is of course aging Smarts are pretty much worthless long before their time because the moment anything goes wrong repairs are just too costly to be worth it. My first 'hint' of this is when I thought I'd put a new-ish roof on my convertible. "Odd", I thought as I paid surprisingly little for a new-old-stock roof on fleaBay... ...once easily fitted, not only did the roof refuse to work the car went in to limp-home mode. Even my local very good garage couldn't work it out. Much googling later, it turned out pretty much everything in the Smart has a 'chip' in it, including the soft top, that is keyed to the car's ECU. Without access to Merc's dealer-only diagnostic equipment you can't tell the ECU to accept pretty much any replacement part with the result it both won't work and the ECU will 'default' to limp-home mode for your driving pleasure... ...for the LOLs I phoned a Merc dealer to find: 1) They would sell me a new roof for twice what the car is worth, and "No, we won't fit the roof you have", even though they could. 2) Fitment would cost pretty much the same again, and "No, we won't let you fit it." 3) Reprograming the ECU to accept the new roof requires no more than hooking up a laptop and clicking a mouse... £150:00 for that!!! Given a soft-top is a pretty simple affair I was just going to disconnect it from the CAM bus, and wire in a couple of relays for the roof switch to operate the 'old fashioned' way - working roof, ECU non-the-wiser. 'Happily' the garage left the car out over night with the roof open, of course it rained, and in the morning one of the mechanics tried to close the roof in a fit of panic... ..."bzzzt!"... ...and for some reason once the car had dried out, instead of being FUBAR the roof started working! They don't know why, I don't know why, and when out of curiosity I called a non-Merc Smart specialist about it their only words were "Aren't you the lucky one!" Basically if I keep this car for long I'll just progressively replace stuff with it's own (bodged) wiring until such time as I get ticked off or whatever has broken can't be run independently of the main ECU. I'm rambling, again. I hope somebody found my tale entertaining.
Ach you'd only have spent that £300 on another car which in turn would have incurred more cost. Look at it that way - Preventative future maintenance and further buying - that exhaust is a bargain
Hi I’m watching from Brisbane Australia . I have a red smart 450 so helpful watching your videos . Fantastic. I laughed when your dad mentioned Holden Kingswood. 🇦🇺🦘🦘🦘Smarts parts are becoming harder to get in Australia . And Expensive 🙈
Lovely Jubbly "Dad" to the rescue. Very interesting car and how they're constructed Jon.
Dad to the rescue as always eh! - We also have a 450 (2004) which appears to be totally different in many ways! Interesting
Your poor dad 🫣 fantastic to see how it all comes apart tho , great stuff guys 😎
Many thanks :)
I did a muffler repair on my 2011 Smart 451 two years ago, and had to do almost exactly what you did. I removed the rear body panels, rear tyres, but couldn't remove the crash bar - one bolt was inaccessible and seized, so instead of removing the crash bar, I jacked up the car and lowered the engine. This is easier than it sounds because the engine/axle assembly drops down off the frame by removing 4 bolts. I had to buy some long bolts to lower the engine while keeping it attached to the frame. I bought an angle grinder just so I could separate the muffler from the catalytic converter, and made the same decision you did - to buy a new Smart-brand muffler. I also replaced the spark plugs while the engine was accessible and increased my fuel economy by 1 litre/100km, from 5.0 to 4.0. BUT it's been a dream to drive ever since!
Glad you also managed to get sorted out ☺️
Really loving this new content style of working on the cars with your Dad. He’s so skilled, explains everything well and has the patience of a saint. Keep it up 😁
Thanks Stewart - really appreciate your support of the channel :)
Dad to the rescue your dad is right better to put new one on and it’s done with
Absolutely! Would be in a mess without him! - new one coming soon
Well, Jon, cheers to you and your Dad for taking the trouble of showing me what I am now up against. The lower part of the flex pipe separated from where it curves then goes into the muffler. So, I haven't started pulling panels yet, but I did get a replacement - USD 215, not OEM, but for an OEM I would have to get a used one and I am not in the mood for doing this twice! 22k miles on this, got it for free, so, I guess I'm ahead of the game lol. I'll report back when all said and done :)
Thanks Mike. Glad it helped. Keep us posted
Poor Dad 😂, and I think he’s right 😂, I will not be buying a Smart car ! I was thinking about one 🤔
Just a bit ... Fiddly 😂
My wife has one it's not bad to work on, it's tiny though. The muffler looks like more work than putting on new shocks
the legend could have a full time business keeping you on the road
He does!
Your dad has the patience of a saint!
Knowing what you know now, would you buy another smart car?
I think we know what dad thinks!
I love Smart cars ... so maybe
Oh, I forgot we can comment!! Thank You! Its so great to see, you two working together! I cant understand hardly anything you are saying, its pretty crazy for an American. But you guys show it all better than any other video I can find. Thank You so much. I wish I had the patience to show my work, so others can benefit. I did one TikTok clip for changing the control arm.
Our pleasure! Thanks for watching :)
Wise decision buying a new exhaust. Reasonable price to pay for peace of mind.
Fair play to your Dad, he's a fine man. Kind regards.
Yes it's certainly been a good investment in the long run! Thanks for watching
Poor dad……..he loves it really
I think so
Your dad is amazing, the work he does on your cheap cars, you must have more money than sense just stop buying scrap cars
I did have money ... Then I spent it all on cars 😂 - working hard to play moderately hard
Well Jon, sometimes your heart rules your head doesn't it? Mine does too, when you see something you like it's a very difficult feeling to control. Sure it can often back fire, like it has this time. But when it's all done you'll fall in love with the car again and you'll get plenty of enjoyment out of it. Besides it's made great content for the channel!
It's lovely to see your Dad calmly and methodically going about a job, even if he pretends not to enjoy it.
I hope he finds his sense of 'oomer' again soon!😊
I knew the car needed some TLC and in fairness to the seller we factored that into the price (which was an absolute bargain) - but you are right. Once done, the car will be a lovely commuter vehicle!
Wow what an epic job you will be both needing a science lab at dads as well at this rate! Keep going both it’s coming along great and it will be much better when it’s done Daniel
We will!
Hi Jhon look forward to seeing you both and another amazing video your dad is funny with some of his comments keep them coming hopefully buy him some new tools this month 👍
Thanks Adam for your support! I'll be buying him a holiday at this rate 😂
Hi Jon great video as ever and I love this smart car it looks seriously cool as I’ve said before I think you should keep it and bring it to its best be great for either you and Mrs JC to cruise in or I could see your dad in it he has a love for it already banter aside!!
Thanks Daniel! - Plenty of work being done on it this week - ive kinda fell in love with it!
Great set of Video's ,the rear number plate holder is to change the plate to the Motor Home.😮
Oh of course it is! That makes perfect sense now!
Ho hum Jon perhaps not the Smartest decision you've made of late ,even has your dad whistling,walking in a winter wonderland to keep his sprits up ,good luck Pete I think your going to need it.
😄😄 once it's done hopefully will be a lovely commuter vehicle
One lives in hope Jon😁
@@mrcogginsgarage7062 other one has served me well for 5 years so fingers crossed
I really couldn't believe what I was seeing ? 21:27 Your dad using an angle grinder without eye protection - Pure madness !!! 🤕
A useful video though, and thanks for sharing.
Don't try this at home 😅👍
Read the car manuel. There are jacking points behind the front wheel and ahead of the rear wheel. No need to remove anything to jack it up!
I have one and and change the summer wheels for winter rims with snow tires. I live in Canada.
By all means remove other panels for access to the motor. Exhaust is held in with just a couple of bolts and hangs on rupper supports.
you need to remove the heat shield to get access to the two bolts on the exhaust flange. I believe those bolts are Torx also!!
We didnt want to risk damaging the sill covers for the sake of 5 minutes work (we also wanted to look at the state of the Tridian cell as they have a tendancy to rot out) - you are right, the exhaust is just a couple of bolts ... easy to get at and take off if they havent seized / turned to a nub!
i believe we just bent it back a wee bit (it was a while back now) - thanks for watching
You can use a jack on those plastic jack points. I've done it and had no issues, it went very smoothly.
We didnt want to risk it
@@JonCoupland for future reference it is completely safe just use a rubber spacer if your jack pad is bigger than the jack point. I know I was hesitant but the plastic held up great with no cracks. Loved watching the video though as I'm going to have to replace my exhaust soon, my flex pipe has started to wear out.
The good thing about the Euro 5 smart exhausts is that it has the separate CAT. The Euro 4 exhausts had an internal CAT so cost about £800.
Holy moly! 😲
That got expensive very quickly. Better with the original I say mate money well spent 👍
Totally agree 😊
What size t wrench or t size did you use to remove the crash bar???
Torx45
Get the wire brush out and clean and paint the suspension doin for my ocd lol
It's on the list 😄
How much would a Brabus exhaust be?
A genuine new one? Over £1000 😂
@@JonCoupland Wow! Gobsmacked at that price. You now have me thinking about looking for a Smart Brabus. That’s also worrying at the same time! Really enjoying these videos which is also shocking as was not a real smart car fan but am finding myself “ drawn in”. Thanks for making the vids.
What a nightmare. question for you both. you have a puncture at the side of the road? you need to change the wheel.need to remove the sill shorly not?
I believe others have pointed out that it is possible ... however not something im going to risk!
" I've got a match "
😂😂
never had a problem jacking my 451 .... same sill covers. Just place the trolly jack on the edge of the sill
Last thing we wanted to domeas crack it. Handy to know it can be done
Wouldn't a hockey puck on the jack fit the jacking point (spot) ?
When I saw your dad with the big grinder out, I was surprised that he stopped at the exhaust. 😂
How long after buying the new exhaust did you discover the other issues?
Nothing is beyond repair ☺️
Can hear the baffles rattling around 😂. There awefull thing's to work on I will stick to my old PD audis 😂. You learn from your mistakes. Al have an Audi A4 😂 I already got one used to have 2
Yup! New exhaust incoming! I love my B5 A4's
@@JonCoupland I had a b5 av got avant sport b6 Tdi sport now. I have 5 years 186tho on the clock needs some trim work on inside. Other than that its a good Machine.
The hours it probably took to bodge that, they could've just fitted a new exhaust. 🤣
I think the seller knew it was being sold. I understand why he didn't want to spend the time and money on it 👍
@@JonCoupland Fair enough I guess
I am in the states and I have a 2015 smart 451 (not the newer ugly one, mine looks like yours but white) Yours has more rust than mine so something for me to look forward to I suppose. I ran mine without a muffler for a week or so until I bought one on evil bay for 200 dollars U.S. and put it on. I didn't remove the crash bar when I did mine but it would have been easier. I think I'm the only person in my town that has a smart fortwo as they are not a popular vehicle in the states. People buy huge monstrous trucks and sport utility vehicles here and too much horsepower is never enough here. I was able to get the original bolts out, replace the gasket and use the bolts in the kit to put the new muffler on as the threads were still very good.
We have now rust treating it so fingers crossed it's slowed down the process. Thanks for watching 😄
I removed the rear panels and left the boot lid in situ ..... so it can be done
Excellent 😃 we followed the evolution advice
Hi to you both. What a " PAIN " to do. Surely you can Jack up the car, without removing the. Body Kit ?. If not. Home servicing will be. A nightmare. Are you treating the surface rust at the rear before the kit goes back on. 🤷♂🤷♂Cheers.
I believe others have pointed out that it is possible ... however not something im going to risk! Yes - rust will all be treated and killed and protected :)
Not just Rover 75 a pain ?
Absolutely not 😂
Well that explains why the exhaust had been patched! They probably looked at the recommended procedure and said “Nah!” 😂
Absolutely!
What a faff of a car!
Fiddly!
when you don't know you don't know...
Yeh.. A faff.
Lots of surface rust 😢 underneath the plastic....
Yup. It's quite rusty
Glad i decided not to buy a Smart car after watching this video ! lol what a bad design to jack it up you have to take the car apart total craziness lol , Mercedes do this deliberately i reckon to justify the high servicing costs lol
£180 an hour our local mercedes garage for labour
@@JonCoupland Jeez Louise thats ridiculous when for example a mobile mechanic charges only £45 an hour and i live in a posh area lol
Nonsence. Look at how you so casually stated that as fact and would state that to someone as a reason Smart cars are horribly designed when it is totally untrue. You jack the car up on the flat jacking points without any issue or panel removal. Dealers having high services prices....... I can not dispute you there lol
@@twcomnothingthatreallymatt4755 Well ask Jon's dad if they are badly designed 😂👍 I think he agrees with me there my friend
Wow what a mission😢someone made some interesting design choices🤬 Your dad did well.
Tell me about it! - Was a real low point in this project!
@@JonCoupland You looked pretty deflated by the end of the video. Hopefully things got better after this.🤞
@@bradjohnson1627 lots more content to come 😂
The designer of the Smart car, wasn’t very “smart” when it comes to working on or maintenance of said car!
😂😂
@@JonCoupland poor dad will be suffering PTSD… Post Traumatic Smart Disorder
Its the easiest car Ive ever seen.
Even after 16 years, everything I do with it, ends of going lickety split.
For a small car, the parts prices definitely are not.
Indeed!
Just £300? 😉 .... cheaper than the £450 MB quoted me for my 451 turbo's exhaust
Get onto Smart Newcastle ☺️
@@JonCoupland I have bought bits & pieces from them in the past. I opted to fit the cheap pattern part 🤞
I did buy a new flexi for my original just in case I ever got around to welding it in ..... 🙄
NB my exhaust is different from yours in that the exit is on the near side, ie the same end as the inlet.
@@EmilysDadd ahhh ok
£260 for a genuine exhaust isn't bad...until 10 things costing £260 need replacing of course.
Indeed!
Yes, I've come to 'appreciate' my 451 in the same way I 'appreciate' my GTV. Both cars are an absolute bugger to work on, if for markedly different reasons...
...Alfa is known for cheerfully nailing their cars together without a care in the world. But the longer I own a Smart the more I have come to detest Merc's greed - "Let's make sure this 'cheap' small car is such a SOB to work on that only our dealers with touch them at Merc dealer prices!"
The result is of course aging Smarts are pretty much worthless long before their time because the moment anything goes wrong repairs are just too costly to be worth it.
My first 'hint' of this is when I thought I'd put a new-ish roof on my convertible. "Odd", I thought as I paid surprisingly little for a new-old-stock roof on fleaBay...
...once easily fitted, not only did the roof refuse to work the car went in to limp-home mode. Even my local very good garage couldn't work it out. Much googling later, it turned out pretty much everything in the Smart has a 'chip' in it, including the soft top, that is keyed to the car's ECU. Without access to Merc's dealer-only diagnostic equipment you can't tell the ECU to accept pretty much any replacement part with the result it both won't work and the ECU will 'default' to limp-home mode for your driving pleasure...
...for the LOLs I phoned a Merc dealer to find:
1) They would sell me a new roof for twice what the car is worth, and "No, we won't fit the roof you have", even though they could.
2) Fitment would cost pretty much the same again, and "No, we won't let you fit it."
3) Reprograming the ECU to accept the new roof requires no more than hooking up a laptop and clicking a mouse... £150:00 for that!!!
Given a soft-top is a pretty simple affair I was just going to disconnect it from the CAM bus, and wire in a couple of relays for the roof switch to operate the 'old fashioned' way - working roof, ECU non-the-wiser. 'Happily' the garage left the car out over night with the roof open, of course it rained, and in the morning one of the mechanics tried to close the roof in a fit of panic...
..."bzzzt!"...
...and for some reason once the car had dried out, instead of being FUBAR the roof started working! They don't know why, I don't know why, and when out of curiosity I called a non-Merc Smart specialist about it their only words were "Aren't you the lucky one!"
Basically if I keep this car for long I'll just progressively replace stuff with it's own (bodged) wiring until such time as I get ticked off or whatever has broken can't be run independently of the main ECU.
I'm rambling, again. I hope somebody found my tale entertaining.
£300 quid on a exhaust !!!! You need a " flappy paddle head to onea do that "
I think someone's earning to much cash money 💰 !!!!!!!!!
Working hard to play moderately hard 😂
Dealer prices always through the roof. Shop around or have a muffler shop fix you up something inexpensive.
@@twcomnothingthatreallymatt4755 coke can n some jubilee clips .......next
Ach you'd only have spent that £300 on another car which in turn would have incurred more cost. Look at it that way - Preventative future maintenance and further buying - that exhaust is a bargain
You talk a lot of sense there Alan ... but also ... another car!
Your poor dad! No wonder he lost his sense of oomer.
Indeed! 😄
Not the first to be seduced by a nice coat of paint,and won't be the last.
It will be alright once we get it sorted. Nothing is impossible ☺️
@@JonCoupland Who told you that rubbish! heehee
Hi I’m watching from Brisbane Australia . I have a red smart 450 so helpful watching your videos . Fantastic. I laughed when your dad mentioned Holden Kingswood. 🇦🇺🦘🦘🦘Smarts parts are becoming harder to get in Australia . And Expensive 🙈
G'day! Welcome aboard! - Thanks for watching.
Join evillution smart,its the best £20 you will ever spend and stops you faffing about doing things the wrong way round.
We followed Evilution 🤭