Snapped timing chain - SLK 230K

[recycled]

crockers is the biggest joker on this forum .
me thinks he is a part time standup comedian

 

[beacham]

sorry! OK not another peep out of me

 

[television]

if you have an itch you just gotta scratch it ..huh?:bannana:

You have it in one, If I have a box of chocks I just eat until they have all gone

 

[Deborah]

Hi Deborah,

I understand all of your concerns, but you do need to be realistic here.

No-one in their right mind would seriously pay £4K on such repairs on a 100K 10 year old SLK.

If the company (SL Pagoda?) who are offering to supply and fit an engine do the work, it must come with some sort of warranty. That's one of the advantages of using a registered company for the work.

When the costings were suggested for the work, the chain, tensioner, gaskets and a few valves, plus labour, were worked out to be as much as, if not more than this first route.

Please don't think I'm trying to be awkward but you've got to look at it this way. No matter what has caused the chain to snap, and thus the engine to run without correct valve timing, the results are going to be the same. It's going to require quite a lot of work and will cost quite a lot to fix. Your engine will be in no better state generally than before it snapped and it'll have this incident plus 105K miles of wear and tear under it's belt forever.

In an ideal world you'd say that 100% of mechanics would also re-assemble it just as well as it came from factory, but this isn't an ideal world and there's always the possibility of future trouble. Did the conrod get bent just a tiny bit, is one of the sprockets now stressed and waiting to let go later down the line, has the head been removed properly, checked for straightness and re-fitted perfectly with new head bolts torqued as per new?

I'm not anti-repairing things, I've rebuilt the top-end of my own engine only a few months ago, but that is a specialist car (Cosworth 190E) and there is no ready supply of low mileage, trouble free engines for these cars.

If I was local and had time I'd take the valve cover off to show you/see for myself roughly what's happened, but that's still not going to show you the full picture. That'll only be revealed come stripping the head and dare I say it, until it's been rebuilt and run for a while to prove the job really was a success.

Good luck

Will

Thanks Will!

I have taken on board what everyone has said and have decided to go the secondhand engine route. As you say I don't have the tools or expertise to do this job myself so will be paying for an enormous amount of labour.

The guy in Gloucester has offered me lower rates than here, but then that's no surprise, so I have decided to go with him. He will keep my old engine as an exchange so perhaps when he begins to investigate the problem I'll get him to let me know what happened and how much damage was done. I'll then let you guys know.

Thanks for all your input and it's been a very interesting, and sometimes amusing, discussion

Deborah x

 

[Deborah]

Throw in a secondhand engine, and then get rid of it fast !!!!!!

If I'm going to spend a fortune getting it repaired I want to get some mileage out of it!!

Besides, there is nothing else wrong with it and I love it!!!!

 

[C43AMG]

All the best and good luck.

 

[jaymanek]

this thread is starting to get to me... there is no firm evidence as yet that the chain is even broken...

Wills advise is fine IF the chain is broken... big IF from what i can make out..

 

[BlackC55]

Mayber its a snapped camshaft.... not that uncommon

 

[Ekko Star]

There's also no guarantee that you believe you take it in for a replacement engine and the mechanic just repairs yours after taking a proper look at how difficult the job actually is.

Don't laugh, it's been done before especially if the job is not that difficult.

If he's taking it for exchange, he's going to repair it anyway

Thing about this thread is, no-one has still conclusively diagnosed what is wrong with your engine. It does indeed sound very assuming by the garages or they are simply taking advantage.

 

[fredfloggle]

Nope.

Not on a 100K mile 10 year old SLK! You just inform DVLA and have it changed. Mind you, who ever checks their engine number against the V5 these days.

Will

The police and the MOT station do - once a year in any case .

 

[Will]

Why would the police or MOT station check your engine number, once a year?

Will

 

[Robbo]

In all my 21 years of taking cars for an MOT, I've never had a tester check the engine number!

 

[jaymanek]

no MOT tester checks the engine number... the only realistic way anyone would find out is if your car was involved in an accident... guess what the insurance assessor will do if the engine numbers dont match

 

[Will]

The police and the MOT station do - once a year in any case .

Fred, can you elaborate please? I have never heard of this.

Why would the police or an MOT tester check the engine number every year?

Thanks,

Will

 

[c240yaz]

The police and the MOT station do - once a year in any case .

Not in my experience of doing MOTs. Only time I have heard of this is when the vehicle is involved in a traffic accident, or impounded by police etc

 

[Glenn Smith]

no MOT tester checks the engine number... the only realistic way anyone would find out is if your car was involved in an accident... guess what the insurance assessor will do if the engine numbers dont match

Nothing?

 

[fredfloggle]

In all my 21 years of taking cars for an MOT, I've never had a tester check the engine number!

The Police can check it at any time , and I was surprised to watch the Merc engine number being checked at the last ticket -

 

[fredfloggle]

no MOT tester checks the engine number... the only realistic way anyone would find out is if your car was involved in an accident... guess what the insurance assessor will do if the engine numbers dont match

As I said , I was surprised to watch this being done at the last ticket .

Isn't there a section on the V5 to allow a change of engine number ?

 

[lexuscol]

I'm fed up with this thread now!! Debbie, either get the thing checked properly and take it from there. Please stop wasting peoples time who have given you good advice cos 10 or more pages of guessing is ridiculous.
Oh and you probably need new springs and shockers plus brake pads. Rub Rub hands, ala quickfit.

 

[Glenn Smith]

I'm fed up with this thread now!! Debbie, either get the thing checked properly and take it from there. Please stop wasting peoples time who have given you good advice cos 10 or more pages of guessing is ridiculous.
Oh and you probably need new springs and shockers plus brake pads. Rub Rub hands, ala quickfit.

Hardly the spirit, if you don't like it you don't have to read it.