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.

They do break. I broke one last July 4, west bound I 80 in Nevada. Had to tow the car home almost 500 miles.
It was an easy fix, just replaced the engine with a new one, had 331000 miles on the old one. The chain only had 70000 miles. replaced the tentioners with new one at the time.
Metric Motors said with high milage engines the sprokets get worn and cause problems. maybe next time I replace the chain will do sprokets also.
But that`s a couple hundred thousand miles down the road.

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

Chain failure is not common from wear, but if your vacuum pump breaks the parts can fall into the chain and get caught between the chain and sprocket and break the chain. I had one do that.

there is warning. The engine was making a not nice sounding metallic noise but not all of the time, and when I took it to the mechanic, of course, it never made the noise.

When it broke I was just pulling away from a stop sign and the engine was not wound up but still the chain broke and the cam stopped turning and a piston came up to the open valve and pushed the valve up and broke the cam and a couple of cam towers. We decided to do a full rebuild while at it and I ended up spending a lot of money. If I had it to do over I would have left the bottom end alone, they are about bullet proof on a benz.

When changing cam chains always look at the sprockets. I the teeth are not strictly symetrical and are looking like ocean waves they need changing. If you don't the pitch is wrong on them and will stretch a new chain out in short order.

Also at high mileage, the oil pump chain on the turbo motor needs changing as well.

I would never buy an audi. They are nice looking though.

Good luck

Tom W

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I've seen several engines with a broken chain in the parts yards. Sometimes it's a simple snap and it just needs a new chain rolled in, other times it will break the cam and do major damage.

I also had the vacuum pump "incident" take out the timing chain on my engine.

At about 350K miles, the oil pump chain in mine was in very tough shape too. It's worth taking a look.

My vacuum pump failed at 290,000 miles and caused my chain to break on my 83 TD. The pump was making noise and I thought it was just dirty injectors. It broke as I was pulling away from a stop and actually cracked the valve cover.

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