CLK500 engine failure?

[Tvr450se]

HI I don’t know if anyone can help but i have recently had a problem with my clk 500 its the 5.5L m273 V8.





It had started to make a faint whining noise, no oil lights, then after about 10- 20 miles started to make a "clattering" noise on one side of the engine. I had the car towed to a garage that "specializes" in engines just said it needed a new engine but I don’t think they investigated it at all, one red flag was he said the cam chain was at the back of the engine but i can clearly see it at the filler on the front.





obviously the issue here is the car isnt worth much more than the engine but its a geat car if it could be fixed.



any suggestions on what the most likely failure is? I'm assuming its something like cam tensioner failure and then skipped some teeth. Any ideas?



Any suggestions of a place to take the car near south Oxfordshire? (Wantage).





Rich

 

[Tvr450se]

I should add that the car has done about 88,000 miles

 

[pcthrillrider2]

whip cam cover off and look at the chain

 

[Tvr450se]

what am i looking at on the chain that i cant see from the oil filler?

 

[poormansporsche]

Does not the 5.5 m273 suffer similar issues to the the 6 cylinder m272 ?

 

[pcthrillrider2]

to see if it's lose you can try to pull it off the gear

 

[slade1]

I think if chain or sprocket is badly worn the EML will light up, timing out.

 

[ChipChop]

Remove the aux belt and see if the noise is till present. The aux belt system of pulleys., tensioners etc are a source of potential engine noises when belt(s) and pulleys are worn/ misaligned. Removing the belt will tell you if the noise was from the aux belt 'system'. Please note the aux belt may be running the engines water pump so do not leave the engine idling for long as you may risk overheating.

 

[Tvr450se]

if it is the timing chain, then is it worth fixing? will there be valve clash?

 

[Tvr450se]

Remove the aux belt and see if the noise is till present. The aux belt system of pulleys., tensioners etc are a source of potential engine noises when belt(s) and pulleys are worn/ misaligned. Removing the belt will tell you if the noise was from the aux belt 'system'. Please note the aux belt may be running the engines water pump so do not leave the engine idling for long as you may risk overheating.

the noise now is very clattery, like a bad noisy diesel , but just the right side as you look at the engine.

 

[fabes]

Hopefully one of the independents on here will pop up with some professional advice

STAR garages in Reading will be the closest I can think of if you can get it there ....

 

[ChipChop]

the noise now is very clattery, like a bad noisy diesel , but just the right side as you look at the engine.

My suggestion is to remove the aux belt to see if this is the source of your engine noise. If you search online you will find a diagram of the belt and pulley arrangement for your engine. The belt tensioner needs to be released to remove the belt. Usually diy'able imo.

Only other suggestion would be to recover your car to a Mercedes specialist for them to investigate further.