Gentlemen,

Any 500E owners experienced the problem mentioned above? It just happened to me on my 1992 500E with 92K miles on it. Does it surprised anyone that MB would put plastic guides in the motor? This turned out to be an expensive problem but not an uncommon one because when I was at the garage where my car is being service the mechanic told me that he recently had to work on the same problem on several M119 motors, S class, SL500... (5 or 6 in the past 3 months).

Any comments are appreciated.

Thanh

I had my car in for the 105K service and decided to change the timing chain. There were no indications that it was needed other than some things I had read that indicated a conservative approach would be to change around 100K miles... From what I understand, the recommended interval is somewhere around 140K.. but anyway....

Some chain guides had damage and one had broken off completely. I doubt if my car has EVER missed an oil change so the tensioner was OK. There was no other damage. The vacuum hoses were very brittle so I changed them also. Note that the car has always been in Houston, Texas heat. Cars in more moderate temperatures probably would not exhibit that kind-of of heat-related wear.

I think it would be prudent to have your 500E (119's) checked around the 100K interval just to have peace of mind.

I too, have now lost the timing chain. At this point, it is only a noise, but must be investigated and corrected.

It has also been brought to my attention that the center gear on the timing chains appears to be cast iron. I would have expected "machined steel" or "investment cast steel".

A 500SL is in the shop beside my 500E with the same problem. In his case, he noticed low oil pressure in the upper RPM range. It turns out a rail broke and was clogging the "oil pick up?"

As I determine more, I will post results.

Fred Berry had the same problem, as the SL, with his '92 500SEL.... he noticed low oil pressure and a broken guide was clogging the oil 'whatever'.

Dwight,

Wow, it looks like this is a very common problem. In my case, the mechanic took the head off and sent it out to the machine shop to have it cleaned out. The total bill was over $4K. I reply with more details after I go home a look at the work order. Please provide details of the work on your 500e.

Thanks

compare costs
 

...and consider that replacing the timing chain/guides hoses under the valve cover will cost, conservatively, $2000, I'd rather spend that and know there was no residual damage. No offense, Dwight.... I'm sure you're quite distressed!!

thank you
 

Sirs:

Thank you for pointing out this most important issue; for those of us who want to be driving our Mercedes Benz 500E/E500 vehicles for many years to come, this is truly invaluable information!

I, for one, will replace my timing chain/rail assembly at 100K miles, whether or not the need proves to be immediate:
"a penny saved is a CL 600 earned"...