996ttr

Hi Guys,

My dealer called today and my engine is shot. Mercedes Benz looked at it and said the warranty will not cover it. Kleemann K2 stuff on the car. The pistons and rings are all shot and the rods may be bent. They have no recommendations as to what to do. They sell a block-piston kit but are concerned that the rods may also be bent. Any reommendations guys?

ChicagoX

WOW!

What was the indicated cause of failure?

stevebez

First I hear of this type of failure ..... wierd as the ECU has many safeguards to prevent the events which can cause this to happen.

How old is car and whats the miliage?

Ferk how do you bend rods without damaging the top end ???

Rock

Is this the car you are talking about?

https://mbworld.org/forums/classifieds/191105-feeler-want-sell-kleemann-stage-2-e55-w211.html

TECHNICIAN

Did it suck water? Rods generally don't just bend on their own.

newton22

I don't even want to know the price on that block-piston kit.

Marcus Frost

Give Al @ CPT a call, he could give you a 2nd opinion.

(708) 343-8677

Failures on these motors have been pretty damn rare.

SaMaS

oh nevermind I'm too slow today, Marcus just posted my thought quicker ...

996ttr

Yes,

That is the car.

996ttr

The car has piston and ring damage. They did a compression test and five of the cylinders were low. They then took the heads off and found the damage.

AMG Rider

Yup~i highly recommend Al if you want any kind of help...

Ted Baldwin

.............I have had MB engines taken apart and basically, you need a new engine. These engines were built as disposable items. You generally cant have aftermarket pistons and rods placed in your stock cylinders. Further if your cylinder wall is scratched, then you need to sleeve it. A good engine shop can do all this but the cost will be same if not more than a new engine.

.........one possible option exists if your cylinder wall is NOT scratched. Very critical to know this. If the cylinder wall is not scratched, then you can replace your pistons and rods in the affected cylinders with OEM pistons and rods NOT aftermarket ones.

...........as far as why this happened, the only reason why engines fail like yous did is from poor a/f mixture. This means that you were running lean. This is why anyone with mods must dyno their car with A/F ratio plot. Further if you car went through the dreaded recall after your K2 set up, you may have lost the additional fuel delivery of the K2 that would have kept your engine safe. Very sorry tat this happened to you.

........potomac Mercedes is a company that has many used MB engines including AMG engines. Here is their website and phone number. Your dealer may not want to instal a used engine. In that case you need a good indy shop.

http://mbpartsonline.com/

Ted

lbE55

You should have a neutral (third party) look at it and give an opinion as to the cause of the failure.

Double-check this for yourself, but I believe that if it was under warranty and the dealer denies coverage based on aftermarket parts installed, the dealer has the burden to make the showing that the aftermarket parts caused the failure.

The neutral should be able to give you some information on the likelihood of the dealer being able to prove its case. Also, the information could be helpful in negotiating some reimbursement of repair costs (e.g., 50% of repair covered under warranty).

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

I guess this is why, if you think your car is hurt, you tow it to the performance shop first and have them remove your mods, then tow it to the dealership like

Jakpro1

Just some input, Charles Joesph just torched a piston and no "BLOCK piston" kit was needed.

Replaced the piston (obviously you would need all 8) then rings and some gaskets.

Just hoping to save you from buying a new block...WOW, just can't imagine that cost.

Don't know bout you guys, but I'm pretty nervous right now.

Keep us updated.

Charles thread here

ROCKETW19

yep the dealer has to prove the K2 caused the problem if not they have to fix it! moss-magnuson act (or something like that)

what did kleemann say? or was it past the one year?

Ted Baldwin

...........you are right about this in theory, but I think he will be wasting his time in this case. He has aftermarket boost kit that increases engine load. I don't think the dealer has much of a burden. In practice the law prevents the dealer from claiming that your aftermarket exhaust caused your comand navigation system from working properly.

Ted

996ttr

It is just a unfortunate situation. The car was having a pretty large puff of smoke at startup even before I bought it. The A/F Fuel ratio was not a problem and the car had the correct programming, even after the recall. It seems to me that the engine was just tired.(40,000 miles) The Kleemann kit was put on at about 32,000. Somewhere about 4 months ago the previous owner started to exhibit some stumbling. He took it to the same dealer and they never found anything. It was fine when I bought the car but a few days after I took delivery it started to stumble. It got worse as the tempatures rose. I took it in the first time and they replaced the throttle body and it ran fine for a few days. Then the hesititation started again. This time they did a compression test and found the issue. The dealer is being pretty reasonable and they are suggesting that I buy a used engine.

ROCKETW19

ya i dont know, all i know is i have a supercharger on my hummer and my tranny went out. the dealer said we are not covering it cuzz the supercharger caused stress on the tranny for it to break! my installer called them up and said go look up the law moss-mag and then get back to me about the cause. 2 days later my dealer called me to pick up my hummer with a new or fixed tranny and no bill at all. so it is worth a try at least just make sure you know what you are talkin about,

still wondering about kleemann?

996ttr

It is difficult to blame Kleemann. My previous E55 had some engine damage too and it had no mods. It sounds to me that if I get lucky I may be able to get away with just replacing the pistons and rings. I just hope the rods have no damage.

V12Godspeed

Sent you an E-mail in respect to the K2 parts, I have someone interested in buying them. Where do I contact you?

Ted Baldwin

......I am glad your dealer is being reasonable. However, 40K miles is really a very young engine Something is wrong. Nothing prevents your replacement engine from having the same problem. Engines dont just get tired and blow their pistons, rings and rods. Something caused you to run lean.

.........Either case a used engine sunds reasonabe, but you really ned t know if your cylinder wall is scratched. If not, you DO NOT need a whole engine. I have experience with this in two separate mercedes benz cars in the last two years. Find out if your cylinder wall is scratched or not.

Ted

ROCKETW19

no im not blaming kleemann. if your dealer says the klemmann parts caused the problem then klee should fix your car. if the K parts didnt cause the problem then MBZ should fix the problem. there is no reason you should have to pay for this unless your 1 year warranty is up then K has a way out. or your MBZ warranty is up then they have a way out!

Cylinder Head

iTrader: (1)

I fail to see why an aftermarket performance company should be held responsible for someone's engine blowing up after 8,000 miles. That's the risk you run when you mod your car, they make absolutely no claims that the car is just as solid as before. More power= more heat and more stress. The M113 in supercharged form is terribly inefficient and any mods that increase power shoud be complimented with mods that increase cooling.

ROCKETW19

i didnt say they have to be responsable they did. well at least my renntech has a 2 year warranty if their parts cause any damage they will fix. i am sure K is the same thing execpt they have 1 year.