Broke an engine last weekend. - Page 23 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#**331** 12-17-2010, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ah-kay

I would have pushed it off a cliff. But if it is your hobby then enjoy working on the A/C and tach and others.

Actually, I will probably just drop it at my indy on Monday and ask him to take a look at everything they did and recharge the R-12, he'll have it done before I get back from breakfast. No time to play with cars, I still have Christmas shopping to do and there's only a couple of days left to go skiing before all the tourists arrive.

#**332** 12-17-2010, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pawoSD

Properly maintained these cars virtually never break down anyways....so the roadside assistance is generally unnecessary. In 100k of driving my car it has broken down a total of 0 times. In fact, out of all 6MB's in the family, none of broken down except one that had an alt fail/seize. We dragged it home with one of the other diesels ourselves. (only 12 miles) So with a combined mileage of about 225k in the past 7 years on 6 cars.....only one failure that required the car to be dragged home. And I COULD have changed the alt roadside or driven it back in short stints with the belts off or just to the water pump....just didn't feel like doing this.

This was my second major problem in 10 years and 350k miles; the first time I had to have the car towed home, this time I was able to drive it to the dealer but it cost me two hours because I had to rent a car. This is just an excuse to buy some new parts. Now that I've replaced the engine, I definitely have to get it painted.

Hatterasguy · #**333** 12-17-2010, 05:50 PM

Pictures lets see what a new 617 looks like!

#**334** 12-17-2010, 05:58 PM

I'll shoot a video of it running when I have some light. I only have a phone and a iPad with me at the moment (no computer), so it's a PITA to upload video. I'm in a hotel near Chicago tonight.

bamba · #**335** 12-17-2010, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

They were more than decent; the service advisor meet me at the at the train station and gave me a ride to the dealer in the morning even though my train was late and he ended up waiting around for about 1-1/2 hours. I called his cell and told him that I would just take a cab, but he insisted on waiting. The tech who installed the engine started his vacation yesterday, but he came in to meet me and make sure everything was OK; he's the one who ordered the mileage badge for me. He also noticed that my air cleaner bracket was cracked (again), so he brought in one that he had at home and gave it to me because he doesn't have a 616/617 anymore.

I am pretty impressed with your experience with them. Meeting you at the train station, tech coming in when he's off, etc. I would guess that, at least for some service dept. personnel and techs there, your engine swap was an interesting and unique project. It's not every day that a w123 comes in for service, especially to a dealer, and especially in Cleveland, where these cars are relatively rare. It probably allowed the tech to get his hands nice and dirty, as opposed to the same-old oil changes, tire rotations, etc. etc. that encompasses the bulk of their work. I bet he was pretty stoked to work on your car for a while.

Out of curiosity, was he an older or younger fellow? I can't imagine that current MB tech education/training includes older chassis like the w123. Granted, swapping out a 617 is immeasurably easier than swapping a modern motor with all of its electronic gadgetry, but still. I guess I'm not that familiar with the MB training program...

#**336** 12-18-2010, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bamba

Out of curiosity, was he an older or younger fellow? I can't imagine that current MB tech education/training includes older chassis like the w123. Granted, swapping out a 617 is immeasurably easier than swapping a modern motor with all of its electronic gadgetry, but still. I guess I'm not that familiar with the MB training program...

He was actually fairly young, probably under 40. From talking to him, he's just a real old car guy; it sounds like he's had a couple of 240Ds with manual trannies and he now has a R107. These guys don't seem to see many old cars, at least not any that aren't rusty, due to the climate/salt. Apparently they used to have an older tech who worked on these, but he's no longer there so Chuck is the guy now. It does sound like they were having fun, they spend most of their time doing routine warrantee work on new cars. Anyway, I can't complain about anything.

#**337** 12-18-2010, 09:38 AM

I just had the chance to do a cold start "test" on the engine. It was about 10-12F here (depending which website you check); I let the glow plugs glow until the light went out (10-15 seconds) and the engine started instantly and idled normally without touching the throttle. So far, so good; now I have to hit the road, about 1000 miles to go.

#**338** 12-19-2010, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

Pictures lets see what a new 617 looks like!

OK, here's a link too a short video from when I got home. It pretty much just looks like a 617:

http://gallery.me.com/cbaronxxx#100201/IMG_0043&bgcolor=black