500sl broken cam and timing chain

hi, i have a92 500sl with 90.000 miles. on start it felt as if the batt was low,it was not,close inspection revealed one broken cam and the timming chain.anyone heard of this on a 129 car???

[Mark Herzig]

yep... you have the same engine as my ex-500E... the 119. I had my timing chain replaced at 100K miles. The chain was fine whowever and there were broken timing chain rails/guides due to the fact they are plastic and given the heat buildup, get brittle.

There are posts on this site about sl500 chain failures. The convential wisdom is IF there is any doubt about religious oil changes, get things checked out around 100K. Otherwise, listen for clues when starting the engine - disturbing rattling under the hood. If running under hot conditions (especially in the 500E), a chain/guides replacement at 100K is good insurance.