I was quoted a price of $900 to replace the timing chain on my 560 SEL. Price includes chain, tensioner, rails, cam oiler, seals, new plugs, and calibrating the fuel injection and setting the HC and CO. The shop is a legit operation, an independant that has done work for me before. Is the $900 quote in the ball park?

In my humble opinion this is a reasonable estimate. I just did this particular job for a customer and it sounds about right. The book time I looked up was about 20- 21 hours. this was to do the job without removing the engine. (wish I woulda pulled it )

I charge about $1000 for that job,but it also includes the cam gears wich is a complete job...paul

dont forget to have the oil clips changed

mine was $1025.00 just had it done about 4 months ago.

benzat
1982

380 SEC

How many miles do you have on it to where you need this replaced? I got my '86 300E m103 a few months ago and it has 155k miles on it. I know that timing chains usually last a really long time and i wasn't aware of any milage schedule to do this at... can anyone offer me some info or suggestions?

I got the job done and the car runs fine. My mechanic said he has never seen a timing chain break in the 560 SELs but what usually happens is the plastic parts in the system get old and brittle and they do break...and drop into the chain/gear system and then all hell breaks loose. Valves hit the pistons, etc and you end up rebuilding the engine. He also said he has seen the chain break after the plastic gets in the links and the chain will blow right on thru the left valve cover. Spend the money now if you are over 100k miles and/or the car is over 10 years old.