Cost for 2013 C350 Timing Chain Replacement
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Joined: Jul 2019
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Mercedes cls
Those are not the symptoms of my timing chain problem. Mine only makes the sound when I start the car. It stops before I give it any gas. Hopefully your mechanic is right and it's simply something loose.
I'm still driving the car and haven't had it repaired. The car's resale value is about $14,000. It's hard for me to justify spending $10,000 on it, especially when it's unclear how long it will go without the repair.
I'm still driving the car and haven't had it repaired. The car's resale value is about $14,000. It's hard for me to justify spending $10,000 on it, especially when it's unclear how long it will go without the repair.
Mine always sounds like that until I give some gas, then it stops. So it sounds like he was right about it. Because apart from that vibrating sound, it sounds perfect. I watched a video on how it should sound when it's good and mine sounds exactly like it apart from that little noise.
The good thing is that I have full warranty from my insurance company, up to 8 years or 150.000 km. If something breaks, engine or the transmission. I'm covered. So I'm hoping that if something will brake, it will break under this period of time.
I'm not sure if it's good that you drive your car around, feels like something might get even worse. Can't you find a cheap mecanic that can work on it on his free time or something?
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C250
My VIN is WDDGF4HB7DA742671.
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2000 C230 Sport, 2013 C350 Sport
Just to update. After all the angst I went through on this I did nothing. The sound doesn't seem to be any better or worse. We don't drive it much - it has 88,000 miles on it now so we've only driven about 10,000 miles in the 2 years since I started this thread. It's only worth about $9,000 now, and I suspect it would cost more than the two-year old quoted price of $10,000 to fix it.
No other problems with the car I can complain about. Other than regular maintenance, the only work I've done is to replace the radiator last month. Oddly enough, I had to replace the radiator on my son's 2007 Camry the week after I did the Mercedes. After the Mercedes, the Camry was almost fun.
No other problems with the car I can complain about. Other than regular maintenance, the only work I've done is to replace the radiator last month. Oddly enough, I had to replace the radiator on my son's 2007 Camry the week after I did the Mercedes. After the Mercedes, the Camry was almost fun.
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2019 G70 6MT & 2022 Ford Maverick XL
Just to update. After all the angst I went through on this I did nothing. The sound doesn't seem to be any better or worse. We don't drive it much - it has 88,000 miles on it now so we've only driven about 10,000 miles in the 2 years since I started this thread. It's only worth about $9,000 now, and I suspect it would cost more than the two-year old quoted price of $10,000 to fix it.
No other problems with the car I can complain about. Other than regular maintenance, the only work I've done is to replace the radiator last month. Oddly enough, I had to replace the radiator on my son's 2007 Camry the week after I did the Mercedes. After the Mercedes, the Camry was almost fun.
No other problems with the car I can complain about. Other than regular maintenance, the only work I've done is to replace the radiator last month. Oddly enough, I had to replace the radiator on my son's 2007 Camry the week after I did the Mercedes. After the Mercedes, the Camry was almost fun.
This thread is full of M276 hate - all of it utter nonsense. Mercedes has a terrible track record with almost every engine, especially the early ones. The M271s stretch chains and jump time. The M264s crack pistons. Early M272s chewed sprockets and had intake flap failures. They pretty much all leak oil through wiring harnesses.
The M276 is one of the most reliable modern Benz engines, especially after the first few years. There are very, very few instances of any catastrophic engine issues involving the 276.
I've owned 2 M272 cars and 2 M276 cars: A 2011 C300 and a 2009 E350 with the 272s. A 2014 C350 and 2016 E350 with the 276s. None of them have (or ever did) give me any issues in terms of reliability. However, from a driving/performance standpoint the 276 cars are just vastly superior. From the power they make and the way they deliver it to the fuel economy improvements.. it's a great engine.
Last edited by LILBENZ230; Mar 20, 2021 at 10:31 AM.
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2010 C300 4MATIC........ 2011 C63 AMG.............. 2015 CLS400 4MATIC.....
The way I now understand it, is that those m276 make that noise every once in a while and its normal. Unless someone here is to say that theirs never does?
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Rental
EDIT: Sorry, I missed your update. I see now. Still going with the slap for how many more miles, though?
Last edited by GLKwanter; Aug 3, 2023 at 06:06 PM.
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2000 C230 Sport, 2013 C350 Sport
Funny you should ask. A couple of weeks ago a new, troubling noise appeared. It kind of sounds like a fan rattling, but when I turn off the AC it doesn't stop. It's so faint it can only be heard when the car is idling. So quiet I can't locate it under the hood. Is this the beginning of the end for my timing chain? Stay tuned.
Anyway, the rattle on startup has not gotten worse or better since the diagnosis in May 2019, 26,600 miles ago. The noise varies a lot - sometimes it's barely audible; other times it sounds like the engine will fall apart. Strangely enough, it seems to be louder when the engine is hot. It's still unclear to me exactly what the problem is; I've gotten different explanations.
Anyway, the rattle on startup has not gotten worse or better since the diagnosis in May 2019, 26,600 miles ago. The noise varies a lot - sometimes it's barely audible; other times it sounds like the engine will fall apart. Strangely enough, it seems to be louder when the engine is hot. It's still unclear to me exactly what the problem is; I've gotten different explanations.
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Rental
Funny you should ask. A couple of weeks ago a new, troubling noise appeared. It kind of sounds like a fan rattling, but when I turn off the AC it doesn't stop. It's so faint it can only be heard when the car is idling. So quiet I can't locate it under the hood. Is this the beginning of the end for my timing chain? Stay tuned.
Anyway, the rattle on startup has not gotten worse or better since the diagnosis in May 2019, 26,600 miles ago. The noise varies a lot - sometimes it's barely audible; other times it sounds like the engine will fall apart. Strangely enough, it seems to be louder when the engine is hot. It's still unclear to me exactly what the problem is; I've gotten different explanations.
Anyway, the rattle on startup has not gotten worse or better since the diagnosis in May 2019, 26,600 miles ago. The noise varies a lot - sometimes it's barely audible; other times it sounds like the engine will fall apart. Strangely enough, it seems to be louder when the engine is hot. It's still unclear to me exactly what the problem is; I've gotten different explanations.
You know you can read a thousand stories about the rattle, but can you find one where catastrophic engine failure occurred for any reason let alone the timing chain?
I just replaced my crankcase ventilation valve, PVC. $40. If you have high crankcase vacuum it's starving the upper half of oil. Quieter idle from the valve train.
Edit: as for what the problem is it's no doubt the tensioner still losing their oil. Sure the chain might be a little stretched, but the tensioner can obviously do the job once it gets its oil. I would love for someone to experiment with a ratcheting tensioner.
If you've got the check valves back there too already, I've also an occasion guessed that maybe they got gunked up a little and aren't helping as much as they could. I don't suspect it's going to do much more damage than bugger the adjusters again. $100 fix on bank 2 intake sorta thing
Thanks for the reply
Good luck
Last edited by GLKwanter; Aug 4, 2023 at 12:18 PM.
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From: NewEngland, SouthFlorida
E350,GLK350,Ducati
Did MB complete this repair for you? I wonder if they would still honour repair today?
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2000 C230 Sport, 2013 C350 Sport
Six years and 79,000 miles since I got the initial estimate for repairing my C350 and doing nothing, it failed an emissions test with a camshaft position sensor error. I took it to a local repair shop for an estimate. They said a stretched chain is the problem, but it's likely that the stretched chain damaged other parts, including camshaft phasers. The Mercedes-Benz dealership quoted a price of $8,604.66 for the parts (their quote includes four camshafts at about $730 each, which the shop says is probably not necessary). Mercedes estimated labor at $2,088. With miscellaneous supplies, the grand total is $11,733.84, although the shop says the Mercedes labor estimate is on the low side. As the estimated value of my car is about $4,500 to $5,000, it seemed as though the car was junk. But here in Georgia, if the primary driver is over 65 and they don't drive more than 5,000 miles a year, they are exempt from being required to have an emissions test. I'm well over 65, but I expect I'll drive about 10,000 miles this coming year. At least I have a year's reprieve from having to sell a perfectly good running car. In the meantime, we'll be investigating what car to get next.
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2021 GLB250 FWD, 2023 GLA250 FWD, 2013 C250, 2015 GLK350, 2005 ML350SE, 2003 E320
So the car now has 78,000+79,000 miles on it and you have been driving it since the first post. Do you have a check engine light on? The failure code should also put the light on.
$11,000+ is an eye watering repair estimate for a 13 year old car. But you’re probably not going to get anything reliable for that or less. The only problem is that if you spend it, you’ve still got a 13 year old car. What goes next, a $10,000 transmission?
i think it’s unlikely that the camshafts are needed. That will also bring down the repair labor considerably. The whole job with aftermarket phasers could maybe be around $5k. Maybe doable if you shop around, but your call.
If you’re really thinking of a new car, the W206 C Class is quite a bit larger than the W204 was.
$11,000+ is an eye watering repair estimate for a 13 year old car. But you’re probably not going to get anything reliable for that or less. The only problem is that if you spend it, you’ve still got a 13 year old car. What goes next, a $10,000 transmission?
i think it’s unlikely that the camshafts are needed. That will also bring down the repair labor considerably. The whole job with aftermarket phasers could maybe be around $5k. Maybe doable if you shop around, but your call.
If you’re really thinking of a new car, the W206 C Class is quite a bit larger than the W204 was.
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2000 C230 Sport, 2013 C350 Sport
Oops! A miscalculation. I put 45,170 miles since the initial estimate. Total mileage is 122,855.
The check engine light would come on periodically. I didn't see any reason to pursue it since I was pretty sure it was the stretched chain. I'm not sure why the light didn't stay on all the time, but it's not very bright and easy to ignore. In fact, when I got it inspected, the inspector was just finishing up when he noticed the light was on. He almost missed it.
"If you’re really thinking of a new car, the W206 C Class is quite a bit larger than the W204 was." My favorite Mercedes was my 2000 C230 Sport. It was small, quick and fun to drive. This was before the C-Class with those ugly headlights. For me, the C-Class, like so many American cars, unnecessarily bloated over the years.
A tear just recently appeared in the driver's seat. The parking brake broke (repair estimate is $600+). Maybe it is ready for the junkyard. I'll miss those AMG wheels, though!
The check engine light would come on periodically. I didn't see any reason to pursue it since I was pretty sure it was the stretched chain. I'm not sure why the light didn't stay on all the time, but it's not very bright and easy to ignore. In fact, when I got it inspected, the inspector was just finishing up when he noticed the light was on. He almost missed it.
"If you’re really thinking of a new car, the W206 C Class is quite a bit larger than the W204 was." My favorite Mercedes was my 2000 C230 Sport. It was small, quick and fun to drive. This was before the C-Class with those ugly headlights. For me, the C-Class, like so many American cars, unnecessarily bloated over the years.
A tear just recently appeared in the driver's seat. The parking brake broke (repair estimate is $600+). Maybe it is ready for the junkyard. I'll miss those AMG wheels, though!
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2021 GLB250 FWD, 2023 GLA250 FWD, 2013 C250, 2015 GLK350, 2005 ML350SE, 2003 E320
The intermittent CEL is common with the phaser failures. If the chain is stretched (worn) I’m surprised that you haven’t had a bigger failure.
The CLA is more like the size of the W203 C Class, but it’s electric now. Maybe a 3 year old CPO would be worth looking at.
The CLA is more like the size of the W203 C Class, but it’s electric now. Maybe a 3 year old CPO would be worth looking at.
