Help - BENT ROD?




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.

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.




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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




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...




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...
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
(







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
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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




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.
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...
-Nick








-Nick
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.

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.
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.




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.
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.





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.


