A person that I am corresponding with tells me he has never herd of a verified case of a Mercedes timing chain breakage. It is all new to me to as the diesels I used to work on all had timming gears and I am the only one that I know that owns a mercedes (7 months so far). So how about some true experiences.
Or if they do not break but too much stretch causes a failure; what type of failure/s dose it cause?

Do a search on it. There's a Canadian forum member who's had two break.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

My first parts car ended up being a parts car due to a chain breakage.
It is pretty silly if somebody thinks it can't happen. Many times it appears to be due to something else breaking, and getting into the chain: ie: guide tips, vac pump internals, etc......

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Not MB related, but a friend of mine had his 2007 Audi A6's timing chain break with under 10K on the engine. Oh, and Audi says the timing chain is not covered by the warranty.

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1984 300D Turbo 163k.

I doubt many people around HERE care anything about New Audis.

But I just drew a mental line through that name. What you just said, that was enough right there. There is nothing really more to say about them.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

Timing chain breakage been reported on Freightliner Sprinters, not sure what MB diesel they use or what year was plagued with this. Commercial fleet vehicles that rack 100k miles per year. They're often reported to snap timing chains at 120k miles. Coulda been caused by bad tensioner, no doubt MB already corrected the problem.

Thats really a bad business practice on Audi's part if the car was bought new from them! If it was a used car that is a different story. He might have had to pay extra for a warrenty.
35 years ago aperson here in CA had a Dealer who refused the heip with a car that had multiple problems. That person painted a picture of a lemon on the side of the car and parked it in front of the Dealers lot. 3 days later the Dealer resolved that persons problems. Maybe a Plywood sign on a roof rack would be a better solution. But remember, tell your frind to stick to the facts to avoid a law suite.

That might be me you're thinking of, but it was one chain break and one runaway that took the life of my motors.

The breakage on my w116 SD was at about about 8 years/100k miles following a rebuild (prior to my ownership). The stretch had been checked 18 months/12k miles previous and declared minor by a reputable shop. From memory (this was in 2001?) it took out the cam, at least one tower and bent some valves.

The runaway was on an old w126 that had serious issues to begin with and was mostly my fault anyway.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Do you think they rebuilt the Engine but reused the Old Vacuum Pump?

Or simply do you think the Vacuum Pump might have been the cause of the Timing Chain Failure?

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I had a new chain fail after one year. A side link fell off and the pins slowly backed out. Thankfully the valve cover stopped them from coming all the way out and separating the chain. That POS chain was sloppier when I took it back out then the one with over 200k had that it replaced.

No it wasn't the master link that came apart.

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Adam Lumsden
(83) 300D
Vice-President of the MBCA International Stars Section

Bought a '77 240D about 8 yrs ago with a broken chain. Cam broke into 3 pieces, 2 bent exhaust valves & broken cam followers. Replaced the bad parts, installed new chain, retimed injection pump & it ran like a top. No idea what actual milage was cause the cluster had been replaced, but engine had considerable blowby, so milage had to be up there.

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82 300SD 202K
82 300SD 233K
83 300TD 340K
82 300TD 98k euro (parts on the hoof)
85 300TD 282K
83 300TD 197K

From what I am reading in this thread, it seems that more often than not the chain breaks from something other than just the chain being weak. Certainly a vacuum pump failure, guide tips getting into the chain or a worn sprocket would have just as damaging an effect regardless of chain stretch or lack there of.

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Pictures of the MB: http://s230.photobucket.com/albums/ee41/EricandRobyn/1981%20Mercedes/

1981 300 SD with a Goldenrod water block and Injetor line heaters. EGR is missing

1999 F-350 with HP X-over, Dahl 100 Fuel Filter, Coolant by-pass filter, CCV mod, Tymar intake.

Both on single tank WVO blend

A member on another list has an oil pump chain break on a 602. First time I'd ever heard of that. Nobody ever replaces the oil pump chain.

My car OM603 is #2 then. It seems that oil chain breaking on an OM60x engine happens but quite rare. Now I always replace the oil chain if I take the pan off.

HELP! Engine died on the 300SDL. Hard to turn by hand now.

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Not MBZ nor A/C trained professional but a die-hard DIY and green engineer. Use the info at your own peril. Picked up 2 Infractions because of disagreements. NOW reversed.

W124 Keyless remote, PM for details. http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-used-parts-sale-wanted/334620-fs-w124-chasis-keyless-remote-%2450-shipped.html

1 X 2006 CDI
1 x 87 300SDL
1 x 87 300D
1 x 87 300TDT wagon
1 x 83 300D
1 x 84 190D ( 5 sp ) - All R134 converted + keyless entry.

It is not a broken chain you should be concerned about! It is the excessive stretch! These chains can stretch enough to hop teeth on the cam sprockets. This usually happens at low revs or on immediate startup as there is little or no oil pressure feeding the tensioner. Very wise to check the stretch if your vehicle has done more than 10000klms as, as you can see it can have catastrophic consequences.
Dave.