Benznewb

So I am a new proud owner of a 2003 C230 Kompressor with a 6-speed manual and the supercharged 1.8L M271 engine. The only problem is that I have a serious recent problem that I cannot find the answer to so I am asking this as a very new and inexperienced Mercedes-Benz owner. Please bear with me.

I bought this car from my roomate who didn't know what to do with his car. It stopped wokring about a month ago, so I went with him to the dealership since he needed a ride there. His (at the time) C230 had a timing belt issure where is had come loose and had thrown off the timing of the engine causing the valves and pistions to come in contact with each other. The technician, in his report, stated that the rods are bent from the damage and the engine has no compression, although it will crank. I suspect there is more damage to the vavles than the rods. He also stated a problem with the head gasket.The tech wants to install a whole new engine for $7K, my roomate just wanted the car gone, and sold it to me for a fair price. I think this is a nice car and worth the fix and if the block is intact I can replace everything without having to order a new engine. My questions are:

Where can I find parts for this engine?
Should I let the dealer just do it for the price?
Is it even fixable?
Am I totally screwed and out the money?

I am new to this and to Mercedes so please be gentle and thank you for the time.

skittles

Welcome to mbworld!

getmercedesparts.com (i think thats the one)

rmeuropean.com

allmercedes.com

if you have a resale card/auto shop. i know a MB warehouse here in california and get parts wholesale.

nrg_mike

I'm sure that you could get it running for under $7k but it may be a huge slippery slope of one problem diagnostic after another. Try getting another estimate and see if it changes.
Honestly, if $7k is in an ok range for repair, I'd just spring for a new motor. Depending on local state laws, you should be in the clear as long as you choose an engine from the same year or newer and displacement shouldn't be an issue. It's your chance to get a bigger engine in there at a reasonable price. I'm sure you can probably find someone who will do it for 5k too.

I guess another factor is how much you got the car for though...

Anyway, good luck.

carbonfiberwhor

7k?.....hmmm. And you wanna put another tiny little 1.8 s/c that barely grunts out 190hp?! Let me just go ahead and try to word this correctly....LS2 CORVETTE ENGINE!!! Or any american block that you can squeeze the living crap out of with tons of hp.

2JZ engine possibly?

Im just saying that if you're gonna spend the money for the car, might as well just drop a nice little tuner into it.

havoc_vulture

+1
for that price you get your hands on an engine that hauls some serious Å$$ WUAHAHA

TemjinX2

just try to find a used c230 engine on ebay. You can probably find them for around 2k and probably install wil be 1-2k.

You can fit a 2jz, it'll fit dimensionally but you'll need new clusters since the 2jz is a analog engine and mercedes uses canbus for there engines.

Benznewb

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the feedback. I have considered some of the options from all of you and have found a few engines that I could use for the project. I'll keep you posted on how it all goes. I only have one question, what other engines could I fit in here that I could do myself?

Feedback a plus.

yours truly,

The NEWB

W203E35

Welcome to the forum.

How many miles does the car have? Look into a C32 engine and the reason I say this is because if your going to do an engine swap pay more and get something with more power. Also maybe someone can correct me but I don't think dropping a supra engine is going to be that easy. I have a feeling that the benz electronics are going to get in the way. I believe you will need a stand alone engine management and some of your accessories won't match up. Is this true?

If you have knowledge or have hookups the cheaper route will be to repair the engine.

e24kgold

how often does the timing belt need to be changed?

Midnight Koop

i thought that we have a chain instead of a belt that never needs to be changed...

e24kgold

Thats what I thought (still do)

TruTaing

IIRC, the m271 uses a chain. Havent seen/heard of the timing chain ever slipping what so ever. IMHO. Sounds like you need new cam shaft position sensors and in the worste case a whole new engine harness. I dunno, this sounds fishy to me :x How many miles are on the car? Are there any visible oil leaks in/around the engine (specifically around the sensors)?

Better yet, post the codes the car is throwing and lots of people will probably help solve the real issue.

quadoptix

a used good condition engine shouldnt cost you too much let alone for the labor of dropping it in. if you do decide to go this route, remember while the engine is out i would refresh the engine. all new plugs, fluids, seals, waterpump, etc etc etc. itll add up on top of the cost of the motor but this will help and make your life hassle free for the long run.

as far as a 2j swap goes. totally doable, but its not as easy as some people make it sound. the physical hard mounting of the engine isnt hard. more than likely (99% sure) custom drive shaft and getting it all lined up correctly. the electrical is the biggest nightmare. going with a full standalone over a stock ecu is my recommendation on the swap. i highly doubt youre going to do that as youare just looking to fix the car. im just reconfirming karo's questions lol. its a doable swap but never cheap. theres shops that can do it out there for less but if you see the work its not all that great. lol "Good work isnt cheap, and cheap work isnt good"

Benznewb

I want to thank everyone for their input in this matter. I have decided to replace an engine with a similar M271 with less miles. Got the enigine for $4,000 and got the labor for $1,000. Can't wait till it is done. I will be posting more threads since i could really use some help with this vehicle. Also, when the car comes back I will be posting some threads.

Thanks to everyone who helped me with the decision.

Pics coming soon!!

hkirov

4k $ are you insane, that engine i the worst one ever, have you ever drove one, well i wish you luck with this one, i have M111 and i went through so much BS to get it running the way i want and still not what it is meant to be.

you should of got the 2003 320 Coupe one as it is the only V6 with MT, and you could of get a good deal on it as it will be like 2-3k with the ecu with good millage.

and 1000$ for labor, who is doing it brain surgeon, replacing same engine on MB takes 4-6 hours at the dealer, other places do it for 500$, and you can do it yourself for the cost of renting engine jack and tools and getting it out takes no time.

Glyn M Ruck

Stick to a Mercedes engine or you will never get all the electronics to talk to one another reliably - You have an MT which makes life easier in this regard.

As Tru says. The M271 does not have a cam belt but a chain. Chain jumps are rare. Maybe you should get a second opinion on the existing engine.

If you are deal done on the newer M271 then that was a most sensible choice and easy to execute. You should have no problems. Just make sure you have the camshaft sensor pigtales fitted.

alpinweiss

If your engine is ruined, the most reasonable thing to do is to replace it with another M271. It gets good mileage and has reasonable power, especially with the manual transmission. Ignore the naysayers.

The M271 has a timing chain as previously stated. The chain has not been a problem area for this engine. A second mechanical opinion would be prudent. If the engine valves struck the pistons (and did other related damage), I think it is possible someone did a "money shift".

A "money shift" is when the engine is greatly over-revved, due to a bad downshift. For example, shifting from 6th into 2nd gear at 80 mph. If this happened, you could also have clutch and transmission issues.

Good luck, I hope all works well for you. And congratulations on your new Mercedes!

FrankW

bent valve is a easy fix. you can get parts from the said above if you are mechanically inclined.

replacing 3 valves, three rocker arms, removing the cylinder head, replacing the cam shaft on my C32 cost me around $3k.

on your car it is NOT going to cost that much.

about the cylinder losing compression is due to bent valves.

Benznewb

I did a lot of reasearch on costs from independents and dealers in my area. I live in Wisconsin so finding a mechanic that knows what he/she is doing and can do it without future problems is rare. Dealers want $7-8K. I had a guy that was going to install it for $600 but had no experience with Mercedes. The one I went with has a lot of experience with Euro-imports and can garuntee his work. The engine is hard to find here as well. Would have cost me $4K and it comes with a 6-month warranty. Figured this was the best thing to do. An engine upgrade would be sweet, however I am not confident that the transmission would hold up, but I am making that assumption based on durability vs power due to previous experience on vehicles i have worked on. I would do this job myself but lack the experience and tools. Wouldn't want to mess up a good car when I could get it running in two weeks. I have done a lot of knowledge to keep maintnence up and maybe some future improvements that I will post later on. Baby steps man. Baby steps

Benznewb

I thought it sounded wierd as well. I know that it has a chain and know it is rare for them to slip off to cause this kind of problem. I had an old V8 Chrysler that had a chain and never had an issue. We'll know more once the engine is out which will be in about a week. I'll let you all know once I do. I was only going by what the tech sheet from the dealer stated. Hopefully maybe all it needs is a top end rebuild which would be sweet.

hkirov

well i don't know which dealers have you asked or how hard did you search for, for example, replacing the engine with the same one is not hard because there are no modifications to be done, as i stated it takes 3 hours to pull out and 3 hours to put in by the book so multiply by 135$/h dealer time and you will get the dealer price.

if you look up around you will find out that the 1.8L is about 2000-2500$ for a good one, and even got on eBay delivery wont be more than 400$ all around the states.

don't tell me you believe this think about the 6 months warranty, have you heard of someone using it.

even the crappiest high millage engines have one.

and about the MT think up specific engine size all MTs are the same MB has only one tipe of 6 Sp MT into the states and it holds engines up to 3.2L V6 even more but the 3.2 is the only one bigger it will be direct fit.

and about the reliability, well you just got the least reliable MB engine, based on the M111 its not teh best setup.

Glyn M Ruck

Don't be put off by bad comments - The M111 is certainly a tough engine but it is as rough as a bears ***! - The most unrefined engine built by Benz in the modern era - belongs in a lawnmower & behaves as though it was built in a shed. The M271 with cam pigtales fitted is fine.

The 6 speed MT cannot safely absorb the torque of the MB auto trannys which is why AMG do not use it.

LILBENZ230

You have no idea what you're talking about.

Anyway..

As was suggested, I think the most likely scenario of what happened to this car was an improper shift resulting in an over-rev. That kind of thing can destroy and engine and it's much more plausible than a timing chain issue.

Glad you're getting it worked out. Keep us updated.

bheng

welcome to your forum.

this might have turned out to be your lucky day. if you have the money, i would spring for a used c32 engine and tranny. should cost you about the same as a new engine but you going to to havea ton of power. i looked into the c32 engine the other day, found one on ebay for around 4k obo 50k mi. not too bad.

you can pretty much do whatever you want with this car as long as you keep it a v6 and have cash.

gl and keep us posted. =D

Emin

You don't know what you are talking about. Dont threadcrap the guy. He bought an engine and hes happy with it.

Anywhose, GL with the swap!!