W211 E240 Explosion

[griffith]

On a recent 200mile journey my 2000 E240 Avantgarde Auto-tiptronic, i heard a loud rattling noise after pulling up in traffic lights. After pulling off at the traffic lights the rattle became even more intense. Then all within the space of 5mins, there was a loud bang and black smoke poured for the bonnet and blue smoke and oil from the exhaust.

Of course i'll pulled over and rang the dealer who promptly send out a recovery truck and gave me a C200. I called to the dealer earlier this week to find out that the conrad shafts (part of the pistons) had been fired out the bottom of the sump. The garage says the have never seen anything like this. the car has 52,000mls on it and a FMBSH. Has anyone heard of anything like this before, I'm stunned!?

 

[colechelle]

yer used to see it a lot in 70s-80s but not a thing you see on todays engines, by that dont mean merc engines, other cheaper brands, never know merc bottom end to let go, that only normally happens on worn engines which are getting the hell knocked out of them....

 

[robbo]

I would have thought that MB will give substatial goodwill towards this repair as it is such an unusual failure. Have the dealers sais anything about seeking a goodwill repair/contribution?

 

[tom7035]

It would be interesting to let us know once you have the details, of exactly which part gave way, i.e. piston, gudgeon pin, con-rod, big-end or what.
I once had a crankshaft break but that was many, many moons ago.
I also think that MB should step in here too.
Good luck your try.

 

[The Editor]

Hi Griffith,

Sorry to hear your news !!

I had a valve drop on a V6 once (not MB) that made a horrible mess and basically wrote the engine off, as well as the cats (coolent was dumped straight out through the exhaust.

Car was just out of warranty but manufacturer picked up the whole bill which was circa £8,000 !!

Most manufacturers have a 'slush fund' for exactly this kind of eventuality.

Good luck.

Cheers

The Ed

 

[jberks]

It can happen. I once had an Audi A3 Turbo do it at 24 hours and 60 miles old. It was a common problem on 1980's Nissan Micras and I once had Ford Granada do it, though to be fair, this had a hard life first.

It is very rare and as pointed out above, at only 50k I would expect a substantial contribution from MB, as, assuming it has full MBSH and hasn't been thrashed every day of its life, it can only really be a manufacturing fault. The 240 V6 is well capable of 150k+ without a problem. For once I would believe the dealer when they say its the first they've seen.

That said, a dealer repair, even with a substantial contribution, may still cost a lot more than a recon or breaker's engine, but you pays your money and all that. The 2.4v6 is quite common, being fitted into the C class too, and with few failures, and I would imagine low demand, there may be quite a few good ones in breakers yards.

By the way, its a W210 not a W211
Good luck and let us know how you go on.
JB.

 

[rallen]

There is a known problem (in the US at least) with the harmonic balancer which cracks and breaks off causing damage and MB US replaces it at no cost and also pay for collateral damage to the sump etc. Are you sure it was not that ? In that case MB should foot the bill. Go to the US MB forum and read all about it. Although it is too late now as you will never know what your harmonic balancer's part number was (2 numbers are affected:
A112 035 00 00 and
A112 035 06 00 )

Read all about it here:
http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum/showthread.php3?t=119790

Good luck

 

[kit820]

On good will repair or at least contribution towards the repair, get your dealer to contact and report the problem to MB if they haven?t already done so. This is clearly unacceptable for any car this young let alone for one that cost over 30K when new. The dealer should be willing to help since in any case, they wouldn?t lose out at all as either you or MB or both will foot this bill. Giving you a favourable service also means retaining customers? loyalty or good PR. I know I am speaking far from the UK, but I will ask my MB dealer when I pick up my car in the near future how they would deal with such a case.

Another question remains? are you going to have your existing engine repaired or have a brand new engine installed? Given a choice, I would go for the latter bearing in mind that one day, any prospective buyer of your car may get a little worried at the sound of such a failure history. Only by installing a new engine would this give you and others the peace of mind that any MB driver should deserve.

 

[jberks]

black smoke poured for the bonnet and blue smoke and oil from the exhaust.

Doesn't sound like a repair is going to be possible anyway. I suspect the block is a write-off.

 

[rallen]

I had thought the E240 is really a 2.6 engine?

 

[jberks]

It changed from a 2.4 to a 2.6 around 2001.

 

[griffith]

Thanks for all yer suggestions. The dealer contacted me today to say that they were having a new engine flown from germany and that the car would be ready for collection in a week, roughly Monday the 19th. He also said that there would be no charge (including the loan of a car).

Overall I'm annoyed/ shocked that this happened being a relatively new car from such a good brand. But I think that the dealer has handled it well since.

Also the car was an approved used model and indeed a 2400cc engine. Being a useless mechanic I am unsure whether the sump gave way or the pistons pushed their way out. But given the grinding noise previsous to the explosion I would assume its the latter.

I should also point out that I was doing a lot of overtaking that day i.e. many kickdowns. As some people have mentioned that this problem would result from a "hard life". Although I haven't changed my driving style from my previous 1998 525i which never had a mechanical fault only one or two electrical. Could this have resulted in the failure?

 

[kit820]

Could plenty of kick down lead to premature engine failure??? I couldn't honestly answer that question and no doubt, there are different views on the subject.

Similarly, I couldn't tell whether hard peddling is your choice of driving style or else both your 525i or e240 just lack the power. If its the latter, then perhaps getting a 6 cylinder MB would be a wise idea. This is probably a good time to do so too since your already low milege car is having a brand new engine fitted, thus surely this should secure your car a rather handsome resale value.

The other options are;

Continue your driving style and cross your fingers or

Alter your driving style a little.

In anycase you now have the period of running in to make a decision.

Your dealer has really done a good job here. I almost feel inclined to say 'congragulations'.

 

[rallen]

On re-reading your message the "loud rattling" noise is an indication that a piston rod has bent and hits and the walls of the cylinder producing the loud noices. I have driven a Peugeot like that for a few miles, only had to stop due to excessive noise (engine was still good). I am not sure why a rod would give way like that, but I remember it to be a common symptom in engines, as common as blowing a gasket. And both triggered by high revving.

 

[tom7035]

On re-reading your message the "loud rattling" noise is an indication that a piston rod has bent and hits and the walls of the cylinder producing the loud noices. I have driven a Peugeot like that for a few miles, only had to stop due to excessive noise (engine was still good). I am not sure why a rod would give way like that, but I remember it to be a common symptom in engines, as common as blowing a gasket. And both triggered by high revving.

Most likely due to oil starvation to the crankshaft, which could have been caused by several reasons, causing 'run' white-metal big-end bearing shells. What intrigues me is what came out through the sump. Could only have been a connecting rod bearing cap (or caps) as nothing else would get past the crankshaft journal.
Not likely either IMO to have anything to do with using kickdown. Part of the function of an auto gearbox is to prevent unnecessary engine stresses such as over-revving.
However I must agree that the garage and /or MB have behaved properly on this occasion.

 

[jberks]

Can you clarify whether this is a warranty fix or a goodwill gesture?
If its a Signature car and still under warranty, then this is what they have to do.
If the latter, then it sounds like MB have started to return to their old ways - great news.

No - lots of kickdowns shouldn't cause this. The engine is limited to ensure you can't over-rev or over stress the engine. I have had my E240 for 4 1/2 years now and I generally use kickdown a few times a day - its pretty much the only way to get an E240 to jump into life if you need to get going in a hurry. She still purrs despite the 65k she's done.

These days, with better quality control, mechanical failures like this are rare, but they do happen occasionally and I always think it's how the manufacturer handles it that is important.
They appear to have handled it well - so I wouldn't be too annoyed, you have just wiped 50,000 miles off your car FOC.!

 

[Copiertech]

its possible a bit of debris got wedged into one of the big ends, locking it up and then the crank continues to rotate snapping it, and then the compression stroke drives the piston down and drives the remaining end of the rod through the sump. my astra GTE 16v done something similar. i keep a piece of the conrod in my toolbox to remind me not to put off jobs like replacing big end shells that are starting to wear.

 

[griffith]

In answer to your questions, yes the car was still under warranty. I've only had it 2months. @jberks; I'm glad that you agree the E240 needs to be pushed to get it to move quickly. Due to the weight of the car I imagine. I was afraid I was the only one who felt the Auto box was a bit sluggish.

 

[OlafMaxwell]

Sounds more like the harmonic balancer problem well known on some websites. Good to see it taken care of. Change of attitude at MB???