I have an E500 Mercedes. Does anyone know if an E500 engines get hydrolocked (flooded) and a connecting rod is broken but the crank shaft seems ok, could the crank shaft have sustained any stress damage that may throw it off balance??

Thanks in advance

 

Or is there a good place to get information or person to contact about rebuilding an E500 engine?

Thanks again...

 

Not sure what you mean?

Youv'e got a broken rod due to flood (water or fuel?) ingress?
If so surely you are not contemplating running the engine are you?
If the engine isn't already wrecked it soon will be if you continue to run it.

If the engine can be rebuilt the crank will need to be crack tested to ensure that it has not sustained fundamental damage.

Where are you located?

Stuart

 

Thanks for replying.

I'm in NY. Just wondering are you a mechanic or do you have experience in dealing with a situation like this?

Yes the engine was flooded, but I am not running the engine. Right now one connecting rod is broken and the others are bent, but it doesn't seem to have sustained any other damage. The engine turns over not with the starter but by hand. I believe that the engine can be rebuilt by replacing all of the connecting rods, but I just wanted to be sure that this can be done.

Thanks for any additional advice or direction.

 

Oh why do MB insist on putting the engine air intake directly behind the rad. You are not the first person i have come across with a wrecked engine due to water ingestion. How deep was the water? Speed of wade? Is Intake system standard?

Yes I am a retired mechanical engineer having spent 40 years in the auto manufacturing / design industry. Our design standard (saloon cars) was for air intake to be above the wheel arch liner. In this position you need to be in such deep water that you will wreck the interior of the car anyway.

How do you know you have got a broken and bent rods?

Only way to determine extent of the damage is to strip engine and inspect crank and rods. If one rod has acually broken then I suspect the others will have also been damaged. Also likely the broken rod has scored the bore so this may also mean a rebore which means new pistons etc

The crank could have survived but will need crack testing etc.

All this costs money and MB parts are expensive.

Dependent upon age etc (and availability) I suggest you start by trying to locate an engine in a wreck yard.

 

I'm a mechanic too. I purchased the car in the condition that it's in. I was only told by the place where I purchased the car that the former owner drove it into water. Water got sucked into the engine and that what damaged the engine. The dealer inspected the car and found what was wrong with but the former just decided to trade it in and get a new one.

The car is an '04 E 500 4matic with 18k miles on there, so it's still fairly new. I took off the bottom section of the oil pan because the oil pan is actually 2 sections and that's when I realized one of the rods are broken and the others are bent slightly. But there's nothing wrong with the journals for the crank shaft where the connecting rod goes. Based on what I can see from underneath (I haven't taken it apart yet, but I will) it seems like the rod did not damage the cylinder bore. But until I take it part, I won't know the full extent. In about a week or so I should be able to take the engine out of the car to further inspect.

I really appreciate ur response back and responding to my questions. If you have any information on where to get parts for reduced prices (other than MBs list price) I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

 

Nice project. Especially if you got the car at the right price. I'd love a 4matic but they aren't (normally) available in the UK and there are only a few about.

I'm in the UK so can't help with parts location. A good speed shop will most probably know where to go for performance parts which may be cheaper than MB OE!

I don't know for sure but the rods are possibly alloy. If so there is a (slightly) better chance that everything else is OK. Strip, measure and crack test is the only way to be sure.

Stuart

 

Ken,
I have an '04 E-320 that hydrolocked on the start-up and bent one rod and I replaced it and the piston/rings and bearings as well and now have over 30K on this "short" rebuild and it runs great! Did all the rods get bent in a running situation or did this occur at a wet start-up? If the engine was at speed and hydro-locked I would not be confortable with the journals being O.K.