Does anyone have any experience with faulty camshaft adjusters? My wife's C230 Kompressor (2005) has been making a strange rattling sound when started for about 6 months and she recently took it to our local Mercedes dealership. She took it in for the annual service and, upon arriving, found out their was a recall of the camshaft solenoid. The camshaft solenoid was replaced and the dealership determined that the rattling sound was a faulty camshaft adjuster that would take about $3,931 to replace.

Her initial question for the dealership was whether the recalled camshaft solenoid could be responsible for the faulty camshaft adjuster. They told her that they were not related in any way.

This week, we took the car to a local repair shop for them to inspect and give an estimate of the repair costs. They've had the car all week and seem to believe that the Mercedes dealership is wrong about the recalled camshaft solenoid and adjuster being unrelated. Does anyone know where these would be related?

Another strange thing - Immediately after got the car back from the service and inspection the car started sort of shaking and knocking after being started up. It also started making a rattling sound when being driven. This rattling sound is a completely different one that the original. For the past 6 months, the car has done the same thing - make a loud rattling sound for less than 5 seconds when started but that was all (drove normally at all other times). It seems strange that the car took such an extreme turn for the worst immediately after getting it back. This makes me wonder whether the camshaft adjuster is more related to the camshaft solenoid that the dealership initially said.

Can anyone offer any information here? Does anyone know whether the recalled camshaft solenoid would be related to the faulty camshaft adjuster? The repair shop we're getting the quote from still have the car and contacted the Mercedes dealership to get more information about the recall. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Thanks in advance for any help!


Car Specifics:
2005 C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan
W203 C-Class

 

Quick follow up - This whole thing has taken a strange turn and I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts. After an additional $300 for some band that needed to be replaced, the shop had finished everything and was running tests to make sure everything was ok. The day before we were supposed to pick the car up, they notified us that they needed longer because it was misfiring and they needed to investigate the codes.

Well, the next day we were informed that it was going to be much longer because a valve had bent or something. The problem with the camshaft adjuster was preventing oil was being properly dispersed throughout the engine and when they started running the engine after fixing it a valve bent because the oil hadn't been properly distributed yet. We were told that this problem was a large one and that the car was not drivable at all.

Now, they have had the car for two additional weeks and we have no idea when it is going to be finished. We don't know how much it's going to cost or whether we are going to have to cover the additional costs. Actually, we don't even know the name of the valve that bent or what the process is to replace it. My wife's calling in the morning to find out what the deal is but for the past two weeks we've been in the dark with vague answers.

The shop was very apologetic about everything and offered to personally arrange for a rental car to be delivered to my wife for the duration.

Here are my questions:

• Does this bent valve situation sound like something that is common?
• Any idea how long it takes to fix something like this? Does this seem like an exceptionally long time?
• Any idea how much something like this should cost?
• Does this whole situation sound like some sort of a bait and switch?

Any thoughts?

 

Sounds like the timing chain skipped a tooth and the valves hit the pistons.
Rattle at start up for a couple seconds, misfires, rough starts... could indicate a stretched chain.
Check this thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...ine-apart.html

Somebody correct me if I am wrong...

 

their has to be factors that lead up to the chain stretching...

the long oil interval? overheating? beating on the engine when cold?

their is a reason for everything

 

Hi guys,
i have 2000 mercedes c230. I did diagnastic my car, scanner shows need to replace the right camshaft adjuster.
but i think my car has only one camshaft which is located on thr left side(driver side)
does my car has two camshafts?

 

Your m111 engine has 2 cam shafts and only the intake camshaft is adjustable.

 

Thank you so much for your help.

 

edit:never mind...