Quote:
Originally posted by Rockman59
how often should timing chains be replaced on various MB engines?
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Most of the info I have read on this board says 100,000 miles and/or 10 years. Seems that most of the problems come not from the chains breaking but stretch and/or the plastic parts associated with the timing chain system. The plastic gets old and brittle, breaks, drops into the chain/tooth and causes the big problem.
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That 100K mile rule is a good one for the various older M116/M117/M119 V-8 engines. They have very long chains that change direction. The 116's have brittle plastic guides that go bad with age, and can really do some collateral damage when they break.
The inline engines are a tad different. The chains are not nearly as long, and don't have huge direction changes like the V-8's. Even the twin-cam M104 and M111 engines have much shorter chains than the V-8s.
That said, 100K-miles is not a bad interval for all engines to be looked at. If I owned a low mileage M116 420SEL W126 car with it's original chain and guides, it would be going to a shop first thing tomorrow! On a C220/230 with an M111, changing the chain at 100K-miles is overkill by a huge margin.