Timing belt

[emma hyatt]

Hi. I recently had a new gearbox, radiator and torque converter, in addition to a full service. All was sounding beautiful until the car.. Mercedes slk compressor 1998, suddenly ground to a halt. One mechanic from roadside assistance told me that it was the drive belt and that once I had the work done, all would be well. The garage refused to do work as they said it will never be the same again after an engine rebuild. My lovely car is about to be scrapped. Is this true or can it be repaired. Advice much appreciated from a sad owner of a beautiful classic car

 

[Blobcat]

Hello and welcome

Your SLK doesn’t have a timing belt, the M111 engine has a duplex timing chain

 

[Droverunner]

I do not know this specific engine but believe it is an interference type so all sorts of damage could have been caused if what you are calling the snapped belt was actually the chain snapping.

If you are thinking of repairing only worth doing properly and I reckon that could exceed the value of the car. The guy who was saying it would never be the same was perhaps referring to folks usually cutting corners to save money on old but expensive cars. A rebuild with a bottomless wallet would be fine.

I mean what would you be happy to pay for it to be properly repaired... £1000... £2000...£3000?

And probably the most important issue. Your car will have underbody rust at that age... I wonder how long before that heads it for MOT failure... you really need to think of that before spending more on this car.

 

[Misterdog]

Chain/belt those who don't know just use the first word they think of.

Until around 10 years ago I assumed all vehicles were moving to timing belts, now both my vehicles have chains.

Welcome EH, sorry to hear of your issues, was there a diagnosis of the damage ?
You could always source an engine from a breakers, though these can often turn out to have issues of their own, despite the 'sales' department telling you it was running fine when it came in...

 

[mioba]

Roadside assistance more often that not dont diagnose correctly. Thier job it seems nowadays is to get you and the car off the roadway and wash thier hands
of you and not get you moving.

Now that aside. If your chain had snapped you would have heard it.

Are you you sure he was not referring to the serpentine belt.

Get your car to a reputable merc indy for a diagnosis. Everyhing can be fixed.

Although people say the repairs are worth more than the car - look at it another way - are the repairs more than the cost of putting you in another car.

 

[LostKiwi]

As above.
Your car uses a duplex timing chain which is very strong and whilst not impossible rarely breaks.
A properly rebuilt engine should be every bit as good as new. Has your garage even looked at the car or are they refusing the work on the basis of a remote diagnosis?

If you look under the bonnet there should be a large rubber belt. This drives all the ancillary items (alternator, power steering, air conditioning and water pump). If this has failed it's a relatively easy and cheap fix. It may be the roadside assistance was referring to this.

If you are unsure post a photo of the front of the engine for us to look at.

What part of the UK are you in? We may be able to suggest somewhere reputable to take a look.

 

[Uncle Benz]

A quick check shows your car has 234,000 miles recorded. To be fair it hasn’t done badly, and is probably not worth the effort

 

[NJS5]

Welcome Emma

We know you are in "England" - maybe if we had more detail regarding your car's location we could advise on a decent "indy" who could inspect it for you & give you good advice.

Good luck.

NJSS