It's Not A Good Sign When...

[E55BOF]

You've taken the E63 Biturbo into Terry Gates to have a top end rattle sorted when, after several days, he rings you in the morning, and the conversation starts; "It's stripped down to the bare block...".

When I bought it, a year ago, six years old on 86k miles or so, with a full MB service history, and it already had the uprated chain tensioners from the factory, and no start-up rattle, so if necessary, all it would need would be the check valves. I wondered about taking out a Tier 1 warranty. Perhaps lulled by all those high-mileage bulletproof M113s I'd had, and the fact that it was six years old and ran perfectly, I decided not to.

I wish I had...

To cut a long story short, the rattle seems to have been the secondary injector on No. 5 cylinder. However, five bent conrods, a stretched timing chain, a stuck and ineffective secondary chain tensioner on the 1-4 cylinder bank and one severely damaged bore and piston (No. 5) also came to light.

!!!!!!

Until the rattle started a couple of weeks ago, the engine still ran perfectly; no unusual noises, no vibration, pulled like a train.

So looking on the good side, it will be rebored, and have all-new pistons and conrods (£3K+), reconditioned cylinder heads, and all-new chains, tensioners and check valves; virtually a recon engine, in fact.



On the other hand, it will cost me an armannaleg, a kidney, the sacrifice of my firstborn son, droit de seigneur for Terry with my beautiful virgin daughters, and selling my other sons into slavery...

Worth it? Well, I could buy a pretty decent E55K estate for what it will cost me. Hmmm....

Oh, how I wish I'd taken out a Tier 1 warranty...

 

[Flyinspanner]

Ouch.....

Note to self, Steve, if you hear any rattles, turn the music up.....

 

[GeeJayW]

Yes, Ouch!

 

[Will]

Ouch!

 

[markjay]

Had you taken out a Tier-1 warranty... the dealer would have just said that the top-end rattle is 'characteristic' of the engine....

 

[C36fan]

You've taken the E63 Biturbo into Terry Gates to have a top end rattle sorted when, after several days, he rings you in the morning, and the conversation starts; "It's stripped down to the bare block...".

When I bought it, a year ago, six years old on 86k miles or so, with a full MB service history, and it already had the uprated chain tensioners from the factory, and no start-up rattle, so if necessary, all it would need would be the check valves. I wondered about taking out a Tier 1 warranty. Perhaps lulled by all those high-mileage bulletproof M113s I'd had, and the fact that it was six years old and ran perfectly, I decided not to.

I wish I had...

To cut a long story short, the rattle seems to have been the secondary injector on No. 5 cylinder. However, five bent conrods, a stretched timing chain, a stuck and ineffective secondary chain tensioner on the 1-4 cylinder bank and one severely damaged bore and piston (No. 5) also came to light.

View attachment 85783View attachment 85784View attachment 85785!!!!!!

Until the rattle started a couple of weeks ago, the engine still ran perfectly; no unusual noises, no vibration, pulled like a train.

So looking on the good side, it will be rebored, and have all-new pistons and conrods (£3K+), reconditioned cylinder heads, and all-new chains, tensioners and check valves; virtually a recon engine, in fact.



On the other hand, it will cost me an armannaleg, a kidney, the sacrifice of my firstborn son, droit de seigneur for Terry with my beautiful virgin daughters, and selling my other sons into slavery...

Worth it? Well, I could buy a pretty decent E55K estate for what it will cost me. Hmmm....

Oh, how I wish I'd taken out a Tier 1 warranty...

You've taken the E63 Biturbo into Terry Gates to have a top end rattle sorted when, after several days, he rings you in the morning, and the conversation starts; "It's stripped down to the bare block...".

When I bought it, a year ago, six years old on 86k miles or so, with a full MB service history, and it already had the uprated chain tensioners from the factory, and no start-up rattle, so if necessary, all it would need would be the check valves. I wondered about taking out a Tier 1 warranty. Perhaps lulled by all those high-mileage bulletproof M113s I'd had, and the fact that it was six years old and ran perfectly, I decided not to.

I wish I had...

To cut a long story short, the rattle seems to have been the secondary injector on No. 5 cylinder. However, five bent conrods, a stretched timing chain, a stuck and ineffective secondary chain tensioner on the 1-4 cylinder bank and one severely damaged bore and piston (No. 5) also came to light.

View attachment 85783View attachment 85784View attachment 85785!!!!!!

Until the rattle started a couple of weeks ago, the engine still ran perfectly; no unusual noises, no vibration, pulled like a train.

So looking on the good side, it will be rebored, and have all-new pistons and conrods (£3K+), reconditioned cylinder heads, and all-new chains, tensioners and check valves; virtually a recon engine, in fact.



On the other hand, it will cost me an armannaleg, a kidney, the sacrifice of my firstborn son, droit de seigneur for Terry with my beautiful virgin daughters, and selling my other sons into slavery...

Worth it? Well, I could buy a pretty decent E55K estate for what it will cost me. Hmmm....

Oh, how I wish I'd taken out a Tier 1 warranty...

sorry to hear that , was the car remapped?

 

[C36fan]

You've taken the E63 Biturbo into Terry Gates to have a top end rattle sorted when, after several days, he rings you in the morning, and the conversation starts; "It's stripped down to the bare block...".

When I bought it, a year ago, six years old on 86k miles or so, with a full MB service history, and it already had the uprated chain tensioners from the factory, and no start-up rattle, so if necessary, all it would need would be the check valves. I wondered about taking out a Tier 1 warranty. Perhaps lulled by all those high-mileage bulletproof M113s I'd had, and the fact that it was six years old and ran perfectly, I decided not to.

I wish I had...

To cut a long story short, the rattle seems to have been the secondary injector on No. 5 cylinder. However, five bent conrods, a stretched timing chain, a stuck and ineffective secondary chain tensioner on the 1-4 cylinder bank and one severely damaged bore and piston (No. 5) also came to light.

View attachment 85783View attachment 85784View attachment 85785!!!!!!

Until the rattle started a couple of weeks ago, the engine still ran perfectly; no unusual noises, no vibration, pulled like a train.

So looking on the good side, it will be rebored, and have all-new pistons and conrods (£3K+), reconditioned cylinder heads, and all-new chains, tensioners and check valves; virtually a recon engine, in fact.



On the other hand, it will cost me an armannaleg, a kidney, the sacrifice of my firstborn son, droit de seigneur for Terry with my beautiful virgin daughters, and selling my other sons into slavery...

Worth it? Well, I could buy a pretty decent E55K estate for what it will cost me. Hmmm....

Oh, how I wish I'd taken out a Tier 1 warranty...

You've taken the E63 Biturbo into Terry Gates to have a top end rattle sorted when, after several days, he rings you in the morning, and the conversation starts; "It's stripped down to the bare block...".

When I bought it, a year ago, six years old on 86k miles or so, with a full MB service history, and it already had the uprated chain tensioners from the factory, and no start-up rattle, so if necessary, all it would need would be the check valves. I wondered about taking out a Tier 1 warranty. Perhaps lulled by all those high-mileage bulletproof M113s I'd had, and the fact that it was six years old and ran perfectly, I decided not to.

I wish I had...

To cut a long story short, the rattle seems to have been the secondary injector on No. 5 cylinder. However, five bent conrods, a stretched timing chain, a stuck and ineffective secondary chain tensioner on the 1-4 cylinder bank and one severely damaged bore and piston (No. 5) also came to light.

View attachment 85783View attachment 85784View attachment 85785!!!!!!

Until the rattle started a couple of weeks ago, the engine still ran perfectly; no unusual noises, no vibration, pulled like a train.

So looking on the good side, it will be rebored, and have all-new pistons and conrods (£3K+), reconditioned cylinder heads, and all-new chains, tensioners and check valves; virtually a recon engine, in fact.



On the other hand, it will cost me an armannaleg, a kidney, the sacrifice of my firstborn son, droit de seigneur for Terry with my beautiful virgin daughters, and selling my other sons into slavery...

Worth it? Well, I could buy a pretty decent E55K estate for what it will cost me. Hmmm....

Oh, how I wish I'd taken out a Tier 1 warranty...

sorry to hear that , was the car remapped?

 

[alabbasi]

So looking on the good side, it will be rebored, and have all-new pistons and conrods (£3K+), reconditioned cylinder heads, and all-new chains, tensioners and check valves; virtually a recon engine, in fact.

It sounds like you might need to source a replacement engine.

 

[Cyclone1]

Sorry to hear of your woes...

Were there any warning signs or codes? If not then may not be directly linked to the cam chains / tensioner issue? This mostly presents itself with P017/18/19 faults which some owners ignore or just reset before the inevitable happens. Also slow starting etc as has been shared on here before.

Has Terry said what the root cause is?

Why did the dealer only change the Tensioned and not add check valves or replace the chain?

When was the above work done?

£3k+ is very cheap indeed, I paid nearly £4k for just the chain, tensioners etc etc. I knew when I bought the car that at some point in my ownership this would need doing.

Good luck and stay positive.

 

[Alex]

You may as well forge it all and go big turbos. A 1000bhp estate is better than a standard one.

Agree with the above, £3k for pistons and conrods sounds very cheap. OE AMG pistons usually don’t start from £500/ea.

Good luck, I know the feeling.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

You may as well forge it all and go big turbos. A 1000bhp estate is better than a standard one.

Agree with the above, £3k for pistons and conrods sounds very cheap. OE AMG pistons usually don’t start from £500/ea.

Good luck, I know the feeling.

I think his remark about the cost being able to buy a nice E55 means it’s probably around the £8k mark.

 

[st13phil]

Ow. That hurts

 

[Londonscottish]

Painful :-(

 

[E55BOF]

sorry to hear that , was the car remapped?

Not to my knowledge, so probably not.

It sounds like you might need to source a replacement engine.

He looked at that possibility, but only found used engines for sale in the US; around $12-S14000 ish, plus of course shipping and import duties. Even then, you end up with a second-hand engine, of unknown provenance and which could have problems of its own. Too much of a lottery for me...

Sorry to hear of your woes...

Were there any warning signs or codes? If not then may not be directly linked to the cam chains / tensioner issue? This mostly presents itself with P017/18/19 faults which some owners ignore or just reset before the inevitable happens. Also slow starting etc as has been shared on here before.

Has Terry said what the root cause is?

Why did the dealer only change the Tensioned and not add check valves or replace the chain?

When was the above work done?

£3k+ is very cheap indeed, I paid nearly £4k for just the chain, tensioners etc etc. I knew when I bought the car that at some point in my ownership this would need doing.

Good luck and stay positive.

There was an intermittent misfire at full bore last summer, which was put down to a break in the wiring to the intercooler pump; that was repaired. Only fault codes were for misfiring, and high IAT.

The stuck tensioner is just happenstance, but the damage has nothing to do with the known chain & tensioner issue.

Terry thinks the damage must be down to overboosting at some point, and it's worst on No. 5 because that and No. 1 are the two cylinders which run hottest. His opinion as that for some reason it did not go into limp mode fast enough to protect the engine.

The engine number is in the range of those that came out of the factory with the modified chain tensioners, but not the check valves. I doubt it has ever been opened up before.

I think his remark about the cost being able to buy a nice E55 means it’s probably around the £8k mark.

Costings aren't in yet, but probably somewhere north of £12K. If it's too silly, I may cut my losses and just scrap the car.

If only it hadn't been dark blue in the first place...

 

[grober]

Very bad luck. That's the problem with valve gear --- the sudden transition from gradually increasing minor engine wear/noise to that noisy self destruct threshold can happen in an instant.
CLS63/E63 Timing Chain Issues (M157)

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Not too sure on this route but, having seen other cars advertised at times as “mechanical write-off”, is an insurance claim possible?

Or you could go the whole hog and replace it with a V12 Bi-Turbo engine instead...

 

[Deleted member 37751]

And sorry to hear about your woes with the car too Dennis, not much that you can say in these type of circumstances to make it any better!

 

[Flyinspanner]

If it is silly numbers, would it be worth just dropping a ‘lesser’ V8 in rather than scrapping? You could maybe get a cheap running CL55 and cannibalise it?

Or a standard CL500 around £2k....

Facebook Marketplace: 2000 MERCEDES CL500 CL55 – Car parts – Middlesbrough


Give you breathing space until maybe a good 63 engine is available?
Not sure of the compatibility

 

[Martin 1]

To an old fashioned ear, it sounds as if a chain has given way at some point and the PO thought he'd got away with it, can con rods be so soft that over-boost has bent them ? A horrible thing to find, you have all my sympathy.

 

[C36fan]

theres a couple of engines for sale in Germany for about 7k and 1 is very low mileage.
worth to give it a look.