Hey Everybody, it has been a long time since I have been on this forum, but when I was, I always understood the sense of community and helpfulness. I was never too active because my family's 2005 C230 Kompressor Sport Sedan is my mother's. I take care of most of my family's car stuff since I 'm the enthusiast of the bunch. Well, In my absence while at college, the common timing chain problem on these cars slipped my mind

My mom loves her little C230 and its champagne color (still not sure what Mercedes calls it! Pewter???) She parked the car one night and the next morning it wouldn't turn over. My parent's mechanic (who to my knowledge is not MB-certified, but has successfully worked on their Benz and Bimmer for several years) diagnosed the problem to be the failed timing chain and quoted just under $3k to get the car back to working order. On a 2005 with roughly 130k on it, that is almost the value of the car at this point... because one thing Mercs are good at is depreciating!

I'm waiting on an itemized quote price breakdown from the mechanic to quote shop for my parents. In doing that, what OEM parts are necessary for this job and which ones are not?) Until I get that, my mom has been looking at new Hyundais and Kias online.

Obviously $3,000 is getting pretty close to the $4500-$6000 market for these cars... so $3000 repair on a car of that value doesn't make the most sense. However, looking at things more holistically and frugally, $3k is A LOT less than $25-30k and we are wanting to do what makes the most financial sense.

So I turn to you, mbworld. Those of you who own and know these cars better than I... Is fixing the broken timing chain (and all the other broken stuff) on this 2005 MB C230K SS w/ ~130k miles for $3000 worth it?

 

That is how I usually look at car repairs. A one time payment of $3000 is a better financial decision than a series of payments to finance a $30,000 loan or taking $30,000 out of a bank account or the stock market.

Let's put it this way, if you had taken $30,000 out of an S&P 500 index fund 12 months ago, you would have missed out on having that money gain almost 23% in the past year. The lost investment earning would have been about $6900, without considering the effect of taxes. That is a lot of repair money. So, it definitely would have been a smarter decision from a financial perspective to have the repair made if you had faced this situation last year.

Of course, we cannot predict the future. If the stock market goes down the same amount in the next 12 months as it went up in the previous 12 months, taking the money out and buying a new car tomorrow won't be such a bad decision for a financial perspective.

I just bought my 2005 C230, and to me it is a pretty nice car. So if your Mom still likes the car and there are no other major problems, I recommend that she make the repairs.

Just out of curiosity, is the car a manual or automatic?

 

If the car ran fine and had no noise before this happened I would be shocked if it broke sitting still. You can always have the dealer look at it. they normal charge one shop hour. what if it is the fuel pump or something much less expensive to fix. My sister took her Honda to a "trusted indy" and they wanted 6k to "fix" the car. I took it to Honda and they fixed it for $250. Im not saying have the repairs done at the dealer just the inspection.

 

Yes, I agree with insame1.

 

Well surely the tappet cover was removed to determine the problem. Don't be shocked I have seen this many a time, car runs fine but unknown to the owner the teeth on the cam gears are badly worn. They switch the car off and the next time the motor is cranked... chain jumps...No more starting!

 

op said failed timing chain not gear. Either way there would have been some sign of imminent failure.

 

As Russel said - Take the valve cover off and then inspect it.

 

Thanks everyone! My folks figure spending $2,600 is better than $26,000 on a new car so mom is keeping the Benz.