Fellas, I'm hurtin inside everyday when I come home and have to look at my '84 500SEL just sittin' there cuz the engine took a big crap on me. I still have my 300D to drive but missin' out on that big V8 power is killin' me. Rather than go into the whole spiel about wha' happened, I would be better off just gettin' a good rebuilt engine installed. Any ideas on places to try? Anyone had a good experience with any company that they may want to share with me? I'm hurtin' here, fellas!

'84 500 SEL, engine no. 117.963.
Adsit Company.
http://www.adsitco.com
1-800-521-7656

Rebuilt $4995.00/ used call for price/ core $1500.00

10% discount for fax or mail in order.

All cores must be rebuildable

Your problem is undoubtably affected by the bold fact that your car is not worth the value of what you wish to do to it. Thus your question more likely should be: how can I get my car back??

I would suggest getting a different car. If you have an attraction to the old iron, I would suggest a used motor. It may be possible for as little as $3k. These motors are virtually indestructable and I see beaters every day being scrapped with good motors. Unfortunately a simple head job on one will cost half the value of the car anymore.

We used to due an engine a week at one time. We now rebuild 2-4 a year. The cost now approaches the value of the car on almost every job we see.

BTW that $5k catalog motor will be at least $6.5k when you find a hole-in-the-wall that will install it. No professional I know will install someone else's rebuild and make no profit on the part. The warrantee risk is just TOO high. And don't tell me about releasing warrantee risk.

BTW I hope you aren't scrapping that motor because of a chain failure.

Steve,

The reason I was asking about a rebuilt is because the cost of repair would be close to the price I got guoted for a rebuilt engine. The cost of repair was for new timing chain, tensioner rails, head gasket set, new valves and valve job, and any other minor parts associated with this repair. The mechanic told me it would be close to $4grand to fix. Is this an exhorbitant price to pay?

Options
 

Frankie,
Steve has provided some very good advice (as usual)! You have not stated any info about the car, other than the "big crap", your technical skills, or your objectives. Weighing all these things, if you have the technical aptitude to replace the engine yourself, search out one of the donor cars Steve refers to. The swap shop is a good place to start. I bet you could buy a donor car, swap out the engines and then sell the donor for about what you paid for it. You could also part out the remainder and sell the body to a junk yard. This assumes you have a very good body/interior/paint. Otherwise I would just sell it as scrap/part out and buy a nice replacement.

Overall, an engine swap is not that difficult other than a lot of accessory connections. It provides a great opportunity to really clean things up (new rear main seal, external gaskets, new hoses, etc) which can really improve the reliability once the swap is complete. It does add the the cost of the swap, but well worth it! Also consider buying a hoist and a few of the special tools, rather than renting, since they are not that expensive, and you can take your time to do the job right!

Good Luck!

The most important point I can transmit is perspective. Doing a complete timing chain head job is about half the labor of a complete overhaul. The parts are much smaller percentage of the total overhaul in the timing chain repair. If I charged $4k for the first instance I would thus have to charge probably $9k for the second.

We charge 25 hours labor to do the cylinder head/timing chain overhaul (without front cover removal), 35 hours with it and about 55 hours for a complete overhaul. Our labor rate is $65 per hour. This means that we will do the first job for around $2500 and an overhaul for around $6k. We have only done a couple aluminum block engines as they just never need the cylinders redone. As such we have done hundreds of timing chain repairs and have never done a complete motor for that reason. The two that we did were overheated to destruction and they were years ago before the price of used motors dropped.

It seems you are answering your own question about the $4k estimate if you think you can save money by doing 60% more work.

The real answer to your dilemma is to either scrap the car or repair whats broke. It won't need a complete overhaul which should naturally cost twice what an upper end overhaul will. A used motor will have the same deficiencies as your old motor. In the end you will wind up with a new chain system and a new valve guide system (something that needs doing every 200k anyway). The bottom end doesn't need anything. If your areas economy has a $4k tag on this work then old cars will be cheap. Unfortunately the catalog companies can't sell you a chain overhaul in a box.