My 2006 E350 with 110,000 miles has zero compression on cylinder 5. When air is blown into the cylinder it comes out the crankcase, leading me to believe there is a bad piston. Question: What is the best way to remove the engine, with the trans attached or without? Do most people rebuild their engine or replace it?

 

IN THE PAST I pulled the unit. Today I buy new car. Age will do that to you.

 

Sounds more like rings than a piston. Isn't gonna be cheap either way. Does it puff blue smoke when running?

 

You will never know for certain what the problem is until you tear down the engine. With the mileage you have on your E my suggestion is to just trade it for a newer lower mileage car.

 

After looking thru the service manual and examining the car I decided to try to pull the engine without the trans attached. Looks straight forward, disconnect torque converter, bell housing bolts, wire harness, coolant hoses, fuel line, motor mounts, fan, then pull engine. I'll let you know how it goes. This is my first Benz and I must say they engineer things a bit differently. For example, coolant hoses with o-ring connectors, wire harnesses with easily accessible disconnects, single bolt engine mounts, accessible bell housing bolts, really is turning out to be an easy job. I've been a mechanic since 1975 and pulled many a domestic engine, this if my first German vehicle.

If I need to replace the engine does anyone know of a source? Thanks.

 

Man that sounds just too damn easy...

I'd look on car-part.com if you're thinking of going with a used one. A new one will be VERY pricey. Other than that ebay.

 

NOTHING is ever as easy as it looks. AFTER the new engine is installed and working THEN you can say that was easy. Good judgment comes from bad experience.

 

To answer the original question, it is easier to pull the engine without the trans.

 

Have you broke the engine down yet? What did you find?

 

Nice garage!

 

Thanks, a little epoxy paint works wonders for keeping a garage floor clean. As for the engine, I found the problem to be a cam follower that got offset from it's normal position, the end that pushes the valve open was off by about half the width of the follower thus not allowing the intake valve to close all the way. Unfortunately all four cams had severe wear on the bearing journals and matching wear groves in the cylinder head covers. It is cheaper to buy a used engine for $4,000 then to replace two heads and four cams, so that is what I'm going to do. Does anyone happen to know of any engines for less than $4,000 with about 40,000 miles on it?

 

X2 nice garage.

Did you consider buying a rebuilt vs used engine. ??

 

Nice garage. Do you have more pictures of it?

FWIW I found this link in another thread: http://car-part.com/. Maybe it can help you find an engine that suits you.