Newjd2

Hey guys,

It was flooding in Vegas today, yes I know, flooding in Vegas? It really does. Well, on my way home from work I am going through some puddles that were no larger than 5 inches and on the 3rd puddle my car started to bog and stopped in the middle of the puddle! Finally got it to crank a minute later to get it out of the puddle where it finally bogged and stalled in a "safer" place. Car was originally turning over and bogging, but now it won't turn over at all. I truly hope it didn't hydrolock. I am going to put fans on the engine immediately and just really hope whatever stopped the car, dries up.

Any ideas, tips, tricks or experiences? Really hoping this isn't the end of my W209 I've loved and cared for so much.


Thanks,



Angelo

Rudeney

It's most likely just electrical. You'd have water in the cabin if it got deep enough to reach the intake.

Newjd2

Really do hope so...bringing it in tomorrow after getting it to "dry" overnight...


Thanks,



Angelo

togaclk55

Sorry to hear...hope everything is ok

betrezra

Check the cats, I've seen a cat converter fail when quenched with flood water and thn plug up up. Hopefully nothing too serious. 5" is very low. Gl

Newjd2

Thanks all...they're in the process of figuring it out so we'll see by Monday this week hopefully...hoping it's just something small like that...

Keep you posted...



Angelo

Newjd2

Well, just got word from the adjuster and the engine is completely locked up apparently. The tried to "hand turn it" and it wouldn't crank at all which blows my mind because the water was not that high and wasn't in the cabin. They're saying it may have splashed up which I guess may be possible. They said the 16 spark plugs were completely soaked too.

They're going to start looking for engines with the same or lesser mileage at apparently all just the cost of my deductible which is $100. Also, all of the work is warrantied for the life of the vehicle by Geico which is cool as they'll essentially cover the engine for life.

What I ask is do you think I should bring it into Mercedes for a second look as the place I have it at is by Geico? also, anything I should look for when I go in?

On a dreamer note, how does a 55 engine marry to the 500 tranny or is impossible because of the 5 speed to the 7?...

Thanks as usual and definitely was hard news to hear...



Angelo

Louie D

I would for sure have a Benz dealer or a good Benz Indy look at it before you do anything. Do you get a choice on who you use to repair the car ? Not sure on your other question sorry.

Newjd2

I do get to choose, but Mercedes costs are ridiculous so it wouldn't be fully covered by Geico. What is great about going through where Geico says is that they cover all the work they do for the lifetime of the vehicle instead of Mercedes who covers it for a year / 12,000 miles. I think I'm just towing it from the shop to Mercedes to have them verify the engine is dead and then bring it back to my Geico appointed shop.



Angelo

Newjd2

My comprehensive deductible is only $100 so all they're saying I'll pay out of pocket, even for the nine is $100.



Angelo

Rudeney

I'd definitely recommend having an MBZ dealer check it out. If they concur that it needs a new engine, get an estimate. Then, get a good indy shop to give you an estimate. Ask Geico to provide you with their estimate and then compare them. When there are differences, especially in itemized parts cost, ask the adjuster to justify his prices. The objective is to get Geico to agree to pay MBZ's prices, then get MBZ to accept Geico's hourly labor rate.

togaclk55

A 55 engine in there would be sick

Kevwood

Damn Angelo, just saw this thread, sorry to hear about this. Good luck with the work ahead of you, I hope it all goes relitively smooth.

Newjd2

Can someone do me a huge favor and look up the information on the following VIN? I would thoroughly appreciate it! I'm going to be taking the engine from this car and want to get a history of the engine, etc. I don't know how to look it up myself...haha...

WDBNG75J73A320859

WDBUF70J33A145712

Thanks in advance!



Angelo

Rudeney

WDBNG75J73A320859 is an S500 with an M113 engine - no balance shaft issues on those.

WDBUF70J33A145712 is an E500, again, with an M113 engine.

No worries here. The M113 engines are solid.

Clkboi

Damn man sorry to hear that. I do find it it weird how your sparks were soaked though...

Hope this goes by easy. I really like your CLK and the work you have done on it

Newjd2

It's tough and it sucks, but it'll come back stronger and better! Probably getting an engine with 33k miles which is a plus, but still surprised a puddle splashed up and got into the engine...was verified by Mercedes too.

And thanks Rodney, that was truly helpful! Always a massive help.



Angelo

elijah

Sorry to hear about the mess dude. Hope you work it out soon

Newjd2

Update: finally got the new engine dropped into Merce...came out of a 2004 E500 with 38,000...ran the VIN, history and all the above including the infamous engine codes in the affected range and it all check out.

Along with that they had to swap out the radiator due to a leak and the expansion tank due to a different leak. Also, they replaced the starter so a lot of different things happening whoch is crazy to me. Well, went to go pick it up today and there was a CEL with no code they could apparently find and there was a malfunction for ESP Defective - Visit Workshop. Read that it may be the steering column sensor or a poor alignment. Still test drove the car and it ran strong other than one hard downshift but I'm just going to assume it's adapting.

Lost for words as it is very disheartening being nearly 2 months, but they're going to run it over to Mercedes and run more tests.

Suggestions or what could have caused the visit workshop message?...



Angelo

Rudeney

Did you turn the steering wheel fully lock to lock twice to reset the steering angle sensor? This usually has to be done whenever the vehicle battery is disconnected.

Newjd2

I actually just read a thread on that so I will make that happen tomorrow. Thanks! The other thing was that I had to attempt to turn it over twice before it fired up and that happened on two different occasions after turn off the car...

I just want it to be fixed already...lol...



Angelo

Glyn M Ruck

Sadly we have had a number of W203's push enough of a bow wave to flood the intakes & hydrolock the engine.

Newjd2

Truly sad especially how seemingly high the intake ports are...guess we live and learn right?...



Angelo

Newjd2

Update: Thing after thing after thing. As a lot of you know and been so helpful I have replaced the engine, replaced the radiator, changed the steering angle sensor, replaced the MAF, replaced hood shocks (nothing wrong with it before), replaced the starter, replaced the crankshaft position sensor and had it at the Mercedes dealership for a lot of the work and for the final diagnostics...well I go to finally pick up my car from Mercedes right as they are closing and 2 miles after driving off the lot the car misses a shift going about 45 mph, then the CEL light comes on.

I coast to a stop, turn off then on the engine and everything is smooth. I pulled the code P0730 (incorrect gear ratio) which can range from problems with the MAF and too much/ little atf to a bad conductor plate and valve body. So, brought it back to Mercedes, pissed that they would let me drive a car off the lot that was not ready after they had done all the work and diagnostics. They just got back to me and now I need a new valve body that I can only order from Mercedes (PN#140270060688). When it rains it pours (no pun intended) considering a flood originally caused my engine to lock up.

The thing I ask is how does a valve body, steering angle sensor (did the turning trick-didn't work :/), and the hood shocks all need to be replaced after a flood incident / engine swap. Nothing like this was wrong especially since right before the flood incident I had the car completely checked top to bottom. I get the MAF, crankshaft position sensor and even the radiator.

The thing I'm truly curious about is how I could link a bad valve body to a flood?


Problems on top of problems and things are beginning to smell really fishy......




Thanks,



Angelo

Rudeney

The hood struts fail without warning. The ones on our C240 were working fine one day, then the next day, they wouldn't hold the hood. They are super-easy to install - cost me $100 for the pair at parts.com. As for the steering angle sensor, that's an odd one. It's in the steering wheel clock spring assembly, so the water damage should have nothing to do with it. They do fail, though not very commonly. The speed sensor on the valve body a somewhat common failure. It will require coding, but the parts should be around $650 (parts.com sells it for $465): http://www.parts.com/parts/index.cfm...earch&siteid=2