jvakos

you may have seen my other posts about my cyl 1 misfire issue. the shop today opened up the head and indicated that the Rod is slightly bent and thats causing my misfire and compression issue.

I have been searching these boards and everyone and cannot find **ANY** examples of bent rods on a benz let along a AMG.

***What could possibly cause a bent rod??
i've NEVER tracked the car.. have some mods but all normal stuff like EC shortly headers, 178mm pulley that have been on for 2 yeras and no issue despite the occassional WOT on the freeway (never drag raced even!). i ran my VIN and confirmed that i have the "old" camshafts that are 2 piece but did not sound like those were the issue, it was a BENT ROD..

the shop is saying $4-6k to fix and book value on my c32 is probably $6k at this point so unless i can find other options or opinions its probaly time to sell or part out the car and pull the plug at this point rather than dump $6k

very depressed at this point... but its just a car i guess.

Lenin

Is the engine block damaged? $4K-$6K is a lot of money for just the rod replacement. What is the hourly rate at the speedriven shop? Just in case you need this, here is a link for the rod http://www.ebay.com/itm/2002-2004-Me...9Uzo0E&vxp=mtr
I guess you don't know if the crank shaft is ok. Sounds like the shop doesn't know what else is wrong or just doesn't wasn't to deal with your problem. Or maybe they are trying to tell you to forget about this engine. Get a replacement engine.
Bent rods can happen as a result of the engine hydro-locking. That means a catastrophic failure has resulted from a head gasket failure and coolant has leaked into the combustion chamber. Other engine internal parts may be stretched or stressed to the point where you will be just throwing good money after bad. Good luck. I'm sure this is not what you want to hear. I really hope that I'm wrong.

jvakos

i'll ask about the engine block but think it checked out ok. they did a borescope into the plug holes and cyl 1 and others all checked out fine, no scarring or signs of wear. they opened up the head and saw the slightly bent rod and believe that was due to a stuck injector that caused hydrolocking. they said the head gasket was fine though strangely enough. i just bought new injectors too before knowing this was a rod issue and was going to have those installed.

the estimate was about 30 hours of labor to rebuild the engine, balance the flywheel, and some other things. their guidance was to scrap it and move on considering the book value of a 2003 with 120k miles is about $6-7k.

i cant imagine how this happened as i have NEVER tracked this car and aside from a few hard pulls each week on the freeway the car is driven moderately and and babied as i'm the 2nd owner and have a kid car seat in the back!!

i may get it into the dealer for another opinion. i actually just had it into the dealer 2 months ago and dumped $2500 for new flex disks and motor/trans mounts. at that time they noted a "slight" cyl 1 misfire and it continually got worse with more vibration but car was still driving fine until the CEL last week and it went into limp mode..... ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Viper98912

First I've heard of it on here too. Stuck injector? I would assume you would've had a much larger "bang" when you were driving at some point.

Hey, I'm considering selling my C55? lol.

Honestly, sell it clearly stating that it has a damaged engine, get a few (couple?) thousand bucks for it, and move on to something newer and nicer...

jvakos

Viper - yes very unusual and I have not found one other mention of a C32 with this Bent rod issue (of course, not all c32 owners post to these boards so who really knows).

I did drive the car for about 2 months with the "slight misfire" but that never triggered a CEL or a code. Just rough idle and car was driveable but never heard any bang or noticeable noise.

In fact when the car starts and idles in park it sounds normal!!! So I can't fathom dumping it after 12 years but also can't fathom a $6k engine rebuild on a book value $6k car.

Will probably return the car to stock and sell it for sh---t and part out the upgrades and move on which I hate to do (

insame1

Don't feel too bad about punting. I sold my c32 for $2500. It had a problem I couldn't figure out and later I heard it burnt so some times it is best to just move on.

jvakos

Insame1 - was your c32 driveable when you dumped it for 2.5? i know book value on a 03 c32 with 120k is low but makes me cringe dumping it for that minimal amount after i just dumped $4k the past 2 months on a new speedriven intercooler, new front/rear flex, new motor/trans mounts and new control arms/sway bar!!!!!

maybe parting out is another option if i get to that

or if its only gonna sell for pennies, then i'll take the car back and drive it with the misfire and issue until it literally dies

insame1

Yes I drove it an hour to where i traded it in. It had new flex disk, wheels, tires, conductor plate, ac flap motors, battery, alternator, spark plugs and wires, not to mention the tien coil-overs, smaller pulley, needswings pulley saver kit among other upgrades. I figure I lost about 10k on that car. The kicker (in the nuts) was I had paid $900 to have it tailored out a month before and then traded it for an 04 clk55 that some one ran into and totaled 3 weeks later. Took out my rentech monolites with it.

Lenin

Have you considered an engine swap? Another m112k or even m113k?

jvakos

Lenin,

yeah i talked about that with the shop and they gave me some ideas on where to find m112k engines. i didnt realize that swapping an engine is probably be the easier/cheaper route compared to all the work/labor to dismantle and rebuild the current engine.

i'm due for a new benz at this point, so they'll button up the car as is so its driveable and i'll bring it to a dealer as trade (will get pennies for it) for that E63S that i've been eyeing for 2 years now

i really did love this car though man... 2nd owner 10 years now and its been really good to me aside from the usual items.

part of me (the crazy, child in me) might just decide to keep it garaged/stored for a while until i find a decent m112k and have some extra bucks saved up to just do the engine swap and some other tricks to make it a track toy stupid decision, but hey its only money and i do love this car

Morphh

I would rebuild a monster motor then, same motor but better internals, sorry to here about that, I love my c32 and I know u do to, I know u could sell all ur aftermarket parts with ease if u sell the car.

Smokey31

If you like the car that much, maybe try and find a cheap M113 and stick that in there or another V6.


Personally id cut my losses if I was you.

jvakos

Lenin - appreciate the perspective. from what i've read on mercedes hydrolock issues it seems more common on E63 m156 engines and caused when the injectors were stuck open and put excess fuel in the cylinder which caused a hydrolock.

from what i have read, when experiencing a hydrolock caused by fuel injector stuck open the vehicle will *not* start and crank very rough to where the starter goes out immediately. that is very confusing to me because i was able to drive my car for 3 months with this issue (thought it was motor mounts, bad vibration etc) slowly getting worse and *never* had an issue of not being able to start the car during this situation. i was able to drive the car to the shop and while i was in "limp" mode basically the car still drove.

am wondering what else could have caused this hydrolock situation - leaking coolant, leaking oil??? i did not have any check engine notices about low coolant or low oil..also as for excess water, The car is garaged so could not have been rain or excess water.

i'm picking up the car tomorrow and did *not* decide to have the engine rebuilt, but had the stuck injector replaced and the flooded cylinder cleaned up. we'll see if the car drives at all as i knew when i talked to the shop that there were no guarantees that the car would drive normal considering the issues.

will send an update tomorrow...

nicks158

Do you live near Speedriven? I live about 20mins from Schaumburg. Knock on wood my C32 has been rock solid mechanically, but I am meticulous about maintenance. I would imagine that a bent rod would be very noticeable throwing the engine out of balance. Does the car idle rough? Can you still give it the beans and sometimes it wont misfire? If you want to compare how yours runs and how mine runs let me know.

-Nick

Khan 55

Why dump the car afterwards? Sure an engine replacement might not be an idea but who says you should replace it with a German heart? You could replace it with a Japanese 6 cylinder or the Lexus V8 engines if possible. This way you still have the car and won't be sad although it wont be a true AMG anymore.

insame1

For the cost of a not native swap he could sell this car without a motor and buy a new one.

Morphh

if it was a stuck injector it would wash out
the piston and rings giving u low compression on that cylinder.

jvakos

Nick - yup had the SD guys look at the car and were really thorough. they pulled the heads, did a compression test, leakdown test, did boroscope in the cylinder 1. cylinder 1 proved slightly bent so it doesnt go all the way up and is about 1/4 inch short compared to the other cylinders.

the car is driveable, but has a lot of vibration when in idle and drives a bit rough with a check engine light on but it is driveable. wouldnt dare floor it right now and havent gone above 50 or 60 max to be safe

they said the bent rod seems to be the only issue. the crank bearings are fine, cylinder walls looked fine, head gasket was fine and not leaking.

with all that said, they said its a lot of hours still to pull apart the engine to get to replacing that 1 rod which to do the job right would require rebalance the crank, rebuild the engine etc and i trust their opinion.

i'm due to get a new Benz so am working on that now, but for the C32 my plan is to keep it as a 2nd car and try to find an option to cheaply fix that bent rod but not sure thats possible.

Lenin

Very unfortunate. Sorry to hear this.

Speedriven1

Thanks for the kind words, John. You did right by the C32, no doubt. Hopefully it ends up back on the road and running strong someday.

nicks158

That's too bad man. Let me know if you cant find anything to fix it. I'd hate to have it go to a junk yard if it's a clean car. My 02 could use some silver doors and maybe a trunk for my fear of rust actually growing. So far, its very minimal and not noticeable at all on the exterior. I won't be driving it in the winter, but these cars go fast. I may be interested in buying yours as a parts car in the future if it's brilliant silver. Also, do you have any exhaust modifications? Mine is completely OEM (with E/C Shorty Headers) and I want it louder, but I do not want to be a boy racer. Also do you recommend an intake upgrade? I would like to, but $800 for on seems a bit steep to me.

jvakos

Wanted to provide a quick update on my bent rod / misfire situation. ive decided to keep the car as my 2nd driver (bought a 15' E63 S) since i love the c32 and have been debating a engine rebuild vs engine swap.

ive decided the engine swap was the better long term route and more economical route assuming i could find a good motor.

Through the help of Rob at needswings he was able to connect me to a seller of a used M112k motor from a 2005 Crossfire SRT6 with 90k miles on it. The engine is in a good running Crossfire and works well. The owner is swapping that out for a bigger M113 motor so he doesnt need it.

i'm having a really awesome guy install it over the next month of december and will report back on how that turns out.

i am keeping my old motor, less the parts we'll stick on the swap motor, so anyone interested in parting out specific items please let me know.

Morphh

any pics of your e63s, beast of a car

jvakos

Morph - sorry man been swamped lately with work and fam stuff and slow to get back here... so here's a couple pics of my 15' E63 S (just because you asked

Great car of course and scarry fast and huge size, its really amazing, but I still love driving my C32 such a fun car.....going to get the bent rod situation addressed by doing an engine swap with a SRT6 / M112k motor with 90k miles which will hopefully be done in Feb.

Funny but even with a bent rod I still drive the c32 and with Continental DWS tires on it the car drives awesome in Chicago winter and starts up every time even in -10F weather like we had last week. Great cars those C32s..... to me its worth every penny for the engine swap to get her back to normal!!!!

happy holidays, merry xmas and happy new year.