hesperus

ok, here's one for you engineering sherlock holmes on here...

sequence of events:

1. last drove my car ('98 W210 E55, all stock) about 4 days ago. car ran PERFECT then;
2. parked her at home, under car cover; weather has been nice & sunny here;
3. tried to start the engine, but it would only crank for about 1/2 sec and then stop, felt like the battery was very weak;
4. on about my 3rd or 4th try to start it, there's a loud BOOM that set off the neighbors' cars' alarms, and some white smoke coming from under the hood

pics tell the rest of the story.

no water or oil spilling out anywhere (other than what you can see in the pics).

again, the engine was NOT running when it went boom (and it literally was a "boom"), it was being cranked.

any ideas? some kind of freak hydrolock? i'm guessing my engine is FUBAR.

this happened about 2 hours ago, and its dark out now, so won't get to investigate further until tomorrow.

ProjectC55

WOW! Now that's weird. I would also post this in the W211AMG thread since there are tons of knowlegdeable guys there.

Leave the nitrous bottle off though b4 starting her up j/k


Man looks like the top of the block just said good bye. My guess,hydrolocked! But chk the antifreeze level and the dipstick,which I'm sure you may have.

I had this happen once to my Mitsu(4g63T) when I first got it. Car had been sitting covered,no problems. Started it one morning,cranking very slow (34,00 miles and was covered by the dealer.)
Then BOOM! Hole right thru the block. We concluded that the car had been sitting so long that maybe the head gasket had a slight leak ,which over time allowed antifreeze to fill up one of the cylinders. Can't remember if there was a lil rust on the metal head gasket,however the LOUD BOOM made evry ones car alarm go off as well.

RAFFIE55

Looks beat!! How many miles on it? and what year is it? Maybe I need to sell mine really quick!!lol

fosmith

Sounds like a bad backfire. While the engine was cranking, fuel air mixture was filling the intake runners and something ignited it blowing the front off the intake manifold casting. That's where the hole is, not the block. Good news is... you can probably fix it without removing the engine. Try to find the part at a salvage yard.

Fred

armaniE55

Wow... so when the indyshop says don't let the car sit for a long time. He means it!

GL

*You should be able to repair this as you weren't driving the car so engine internals should be a.ok

armaniE55

Hahaha right (Fire Sale) did you guys read the W211 lot's of engine blow ups going over there w/Bad Tuners for-say

Fabio D

We see some of this in many cars.. some reports sayd that a defective fuel injector produce this fault, i hear that one injector stay openned & the fuel exess startingthe engine produce a backfire blowing up the intake plenum. is not the other world reparation U can find a new/used intake plenum in the classified section/ebay/yard or so is not vey $$$$ expensive.. Some 430/500 engines have the AMG plenum too (i never seen the difference by the Mercedes than the AMG plenum) seems identical! you can see the AMG stickers in

Some people offer tis plenum by 0$ some time ago in this forum

Here in my country is a very common faulty whit the extreme bad fuel

Fabio Daniel

NORCAL///AMG

HOLY COW

hesperus

indeed that seems to be the current best theory, which will be confirmed i suppose once the shop has a closer look at the engine.

what concerns me is the hard cranking issue... i'm worried that there was gasoline in one of the cylinders, and the pressure from the starter might have damaged a piston or bent a rod. though i suppose that's still way better than having to source a new block!

thanks for the inputs guys!!!

Ausmbtech

Well you definately found something new!

You've blown the intake manifold apart. I have seen the vacuum port fitting on the back of the manifold blown off on W211 during cranking (they have no vac hose, SBC brakes) but never damage to a metal component.

I would say the hard cranking was due to fuel in the cylinders. I would definately be taking the injector rail out with the injectors and fuel line still attached at run the fuel pump. You probably have a injector that has stuck open.

As for repairing this damage I would get yourself a new intake manifold. remove the current mainfold, inspect down all the intake runners for and debris (it should have blown outwards, but check anyway. If you do find any then check each cylinder with a borescope if available otherwise blow out all the cylinders with compressed air before cranking). remove the rocker covers and recheck the cam timing (your rocker covers are leaking anyway). Fit new manifold seals and definately check out all the injectors before refitting them. Remove every second spark plug and crank the engine over for 1-2mins. I'm extreamly doubtful you have bent a rod if it wasn't running.

hesperus

thanks for the inputs! will definitely have the guys at the shop do those (if they haven't already).

i have not had a chance to check on the car yet, but they did a compression test on all cylinders, and said it all checks out. so obviously that's good news!

have gotten a couple offers on 2nd hand manifolds, so weighing options at this point...

mysticblu999

Holy ****! I had about the same thing happen to a 540i that I owned last year.... 'cept a rod went though the block.

guanabara

looking inside it seems that the engine had plenty of carbon deposits. Looks like bad or no additives used at all to keep the engine/injectors clean?

guanabara

looks like a timing belt broke issue.