320e Meltdown.
 

Wife"s friend just drove her 95 320e out of coolant on the freeway. Motor seized? Dealer wants $7,500 for a new motor (4 year warranty) and $2,400 labor to swap.

Does this sound like the best course of action?

I thought running out of coolant would only destroy the top end? Maybe a warped block?

Thanks for the input.

Tinker

Overheating will un-spring the springyness of the piston rings, that means no compression and burning oil. Seizing means the pistons have swelled into the cylenders and done a lot of scrapeing.

Running a car out of coolant will destroy the entire engine, top and bottom. A cheaper alternative would be to try and find a used or rebuilt engine.

Not knowing anything about the condition of your car or where you live, I checked the Kelley Blue Book value of your car using my zip code, mileage at 100,000 miles, and the condition as good. Using this, the private party retail value is $13,850. I've found that Kelley Blue Book is usually high compared to actual market value, so maybe it's worth $12,000.

Given its value, it's worth very little with a blown motor in it.

You certainly have enough value in the car to drop in a new engine, rebuild your existing engine, or buy a reman engine, and still come out on top.

Whatever you do, it's a no-brainer that the car is worth getting the engine taken care of.

Years ago a friend towed my 77 810 Datsun wagon from Michigan to florida behind his motorhome in mid winter.He hooked up tow bar in a snow storm but did not hook up any running lights instead turn the parking lights on on the towed vehicle. when the battery started getting low he would start engine and and let it idle as he drove to keep battery charged. he said the engine would get hot and stop running he would then run for a while with engine off as it cooled then restart it(it was seizing as I had drained the cooling system when I parked it.but he did not know that. When I picked the car up in Fla he had by then figured out that it had no collant and was very sorry for his mistake beliving he had ruined the engine. I put the drain plug in (that was in the ash tray all the time) changed the oil and filled it with collant. It started right up not a kock a squeak or a rattle it burned a touch more oil than before but I drove for three years after that......
William Rogers.....

Not long ago Donnie had a E320 engine listed for sale for around $3500 I think. You may want to email him (Benzmac).

Whatever you do...
 

don't go to a dealer, go to an independent. You will save big $$$$$:eek:

Recently I asked price for a reman engine on here, got a web link from sugami, and they were about $3800 for a rebuilt engine.

Also, a few months ago, continueing my research on purchasing a 300E-320E, I called the local Benz dealer (Bill Ussery) and was quoted about $4K for a factory rebuilt engine with 12 mths /12K miles warranty. So you don't need a new engine.

$2K+ for the engine swap? Can a Mercedes expert tell me why sooo much?:eek: Disconnect hoses/wires, take radiator & accesories out, disconnect tranny & motor mounts, pull engine, install new one, and reconnect......that isn't a $2K job I think. Could an independent charge him less? Probably, no?:confused:

I have pulled and replaced engines for &200 dollars, with a steam cleaned engine and a cherry picker and good air tools it really not hard.I find MB's so much easier to work on than Japanese cars that it's a pleasure if you are not in a hurry or need the car the next day......
William Rogers......

Contact Potomac Pat from this forum, he runs pgauto.com

William Rogers

The Datsun you are referring to had chrome cylinders and had a reputation for being hard to kill. The fact that it was at idle probably helped to keep from killing it completely. An engine running under power at highway speeds will not survive an overheat to the point of seizing. By the way those Datsun engine were know to out live the car by a long way

I had a 1967 250S with 187,000 miles suffer a series of severe overheating episodes, none resulting in siezing the engine, but it did cause the head gasket to give up abruptly one day. I pulled the head, had it rebuilt and reinstalled it. Got the car running good, and lent it to a family member. The person driving was under the impression a stream steam from under the hood was the result of running through puddles and water filled potholes, and never stopped to look to see a heater hose had ruptured and all the coolant was being blown out. He only saw the end of the event when he slowed down and then the engine siezed. He rolled into a gas station and called me with the news.

I showed up about a week later, ready to tow the car to my in-laws place, but decided to give it a jump start attempt. Fixed the hose, put some anti-freeze and water in it, checked the oil, added a quart or two, and hooked it up with jumper cables. It turned over to my surprise, and without really straining the battery in my 1975 240D, it fired up. I drove it to my in-laws, changed oil, let it idle.

Seemed to be able to hold temperature and pressure, no oil smoking, so I drove it from Albany, NY to the Long Island shore in CT. No problems. I drove it for another year or so, but my wife decided it was too big. It had a 4 speed manual on the floor, and no power steering, just a huge steering wheel, kind of unique but got traded for a BMW 2002tii. Which lasted about three days. Another story.

Anyway, I think these cars are pretty robust, or at least some are. The in-line 6 with an iron block and aluminum head on that car was extremely robust, and the more current models can trace much of the engineering back to those machines.

Rebuilding or replacing is up to the owner, but I would be inclined to want to look inside before springing for a new or factory rebuilt engine. Good Luck, Jim