ramslad

Hi folks....I have a 2005 c230k 90k, miles. I was detecting a slight rattle from the front of the engine. Last night I parked the car with no issues....this morning the car wouldn't start. My initial thought was battery, but that is fine. I had the car towed to a local European specialist garage and he ruled out the fuel pump but tomorrow is going to take the valve cover off and take a look inside. he suspects the timing chain slipped. Yikes. My question....can the timing chain slip on start up? If so, could I have spared from too much damage to the engine? Thanks!

lenzhotrod

Timing chains usually jump when turned off. The cam stops and mass of the crank continues.

Hogger

That's how my ordeal started. I thought my starter drive was stuck since it wouldn't start. Nope, it was the bent valves and stretched timing chain.

There is a half way decent write up on here if you want to do it yourself, or you could have the shop do it. At least there might be a warranty to cover their work.

Let us know what they find.

ramslad

Well, the timing chain definately jumped time. I think I got lucky in the fact the pistons & block are ok...bent valves though. Main culprit was the worn sprockets that caused the chain to jump. Only 90K miles & regularly serviced...jeez. I get my car back in about a week $4500 lighter...

ncmudbug

Oh man. That suques! Mine is a little more than 90K now!

BF_JC230

Your engine chewed up it's sprocket like the M272 V6?!?! That is the first I am reading of this - it is usually a stretched single gang chain on the M271...WOW...

ramslad

ncmudbug - all I can say is I would think about getting it checked out, especially if you hear a rattle on start up. Mine was a very short, hardly noticeable rattle, that would go away in a couple of secs. I thought I was ok...wrong!

BF_JC230 - I know, pretty surprised to say the least. The sprockets are worn badly...I assumed the chain had stretched, but not so.

ncmudbug

I try to keep my ears open on startup but I'm planning on having it checked or even changed proactively. What a pain!

LILBENZ230

I'd go ahead and change it and all the guides for peace of mind. Also, would allow you to look around in there and see if you've suffered any sprocket wear. Would that not show up in oil analysis, though? At the point where my C230 was making a rattle on start, all oil analysis results - last from 126k - showed no issues.

ncmudbug

I only have 92K miles on it and it just offends me to even be thinking of doing this at this mileage, but that's probably the best course of action.

It sounds like the oil doesn't tell you anything. I guess the only thing to do is keep my ears open for that rattle.

Does anybody know how to tell if the sprockets are worn?

BTW - Good to hear from you again, Matt!

LILBENZ230

I understand the feeling of "you've got to be kidding" about changing a timing chain. Mercedes is not the only one to have this issue, though it is more widespread on these forums. Some early Acura TSX cars, 2004-2005 models, have suffered timing chain stretch as well.

Jim - is your 06 C230 affected by the sprocket wear issue? That seems equally as scary.

ncmudbug

Of course! Life would be too easy otherwise!

At least Glyn says MB will take care of me if we end up having the problem... I'm sending in oil samples every other oil change or so and crossing my fingers.

Overall, I like my C230s but this is a bit too much.

Ain't life grand!

LILBENZ230

Will MBUSA take care of you? I'm not sure I'd put too much faith in that Jim..

ncmudbug

I don't really know. I know Glyn said they would because it is a known issue and I think he said it was under litigation. I trust Glyn but I think this could be a case where verification is required. I might send MBUSA a letter but then I probably don't expect more than a bunch of a$$ covering. If I send it and get a reply, I'll post it.

Glyn -- Could you bring us up to date?

BF_JC230

Keep us posted ALLOFUS on the m272 as a family friend just shelled out a few grand in that! Yeah people are suing all over but I have never seen any traction.

As far as the m271 leaking oil harness, bad heads, stretched chains now bad sprockets too. Yup, The Best or NOTHING!

LILBENZ230

Glyn is VERY trustworthy, but I don't think he understand always just how incredibly stupid MBUSA can be. I would not count on any help from them.

ncmudbug

I agree. I've written a letter and will send it to MBUSA tomorrow. I'll post both my letter and whatever response I get when I get it.

Xed32

Will be watching this thread.

ncmudbug

Ok, I heard from MBUSA this morning. Here's what happened:

At the end of April I sent this letter to MBUSA:

This morning I received a phone call from MBUSA. The lady said that if the car was out of warranty, this issue would be treated like any other out of warranty issue - it should be diagnosed at a dealer, the loyalty to the dealer and MB for service, the service history, adjustments the dealer would be willing to offer, etc. She said this issue, like all issues after the warranty expired, would be addressed on a case by case basis. When I asked her point blank about the issue with the improper heat treatment (redundant, I know since she surely had my letter in front of her), she reiterated that they would not treat it any differently than any other malfunction that occurs past the warranty period.

I don't know if she had to say that for legal reasons. I suppose that there is nothing in what she said that rules out their taking care of this as a special case, but it does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

While I occasionally use the dealer for service, the majority of service work, I do myself. I keep a record of the date and mileage I perform my maintenance but I wonder how much weight they would give to my records. I'm not excited about the possibility that even though my car is properly maintained that a known defect in materials does not elicit a more accommodative policy from MB.

Sigh...

tommy

Well, knock me over with a feather!

Even if you did have all of your servicing done at a dealership, I'm sure there's plenty of wiggle room for them, unless you turn up the heat yourself to get it resolved properly.

Did you get the woman's name, title, and telephone number at least, if you didn't ask for anything in writing?

I'd stop off at the local dealership with a copy of your letter and your information from the MBUSA rep and see if he will clue you in on how they've handled the issue. Waiting until a problem happens will probably be too late to get a good resolution without lawyers involved.

Or just do your regular maintenance and roll the dice like the rest of us....

ncmudbug

Unfortunately, I didn't get any of that information about her nor did I get anything in writing. Since she didn't really say anything, I'm not sure it would make any difference.

I like your suggestion to talk to the dealer. Maybe they can give me more certainty. Since I retired, I really don't need this sort of uncertainty hanging over my head. Don't get me started about the worry about the timing chain on my '05 C230!

One would think that if you bought a Benz that as long as you keep it maintained, you could just get in your car and go! I guess not. Swell...

tommy

Well, since you're retired, you need something to think of other than bingo and the certainty of death.

ncmudbug

No I don't!

LILBENZ230

That is exactly what I expected the reply to be from MBUSA. I would not count on them for any help.

ncmudbug

You got that right! I was hopeful they would take care of it when Glyn assured us they would (unless I misunderstood him - maybe he can clarify).

That puts a damper on our ownership of our '06, to say the least. It may not make sense for us to keep it if I know it is a ticking time bomb of a huge repair bill (I am not at all interested in fixing this myself).