Holed pistons, stuck rings... DIY disaster

[notfarnow]

My wife was out and about on Saturday in the e300d, and on the way home she called me to say the car was running rough and smoking. No warning lights on the dash, all the gauges were reading fine. Car idled badly and was smoking when she stepped on the gas. I tell her it's probably no big deal, bring it home and I'll have a look.

When she gets home, I can hear it coming. PANG PANG PANG it's nailing badly and quite a bit of blue smoke.

"HOLY $#%$&!!! Turn it off! Turn it off!" She does.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT?!" I asked. (Go directly to jail, do not collect $200). She goes inside, pissed.

I pop the hood and look for scary things, like pistons hanging outside the block. Nothing there. Check the oil, right at the top.

So I try to fire it up again, but it cranks and cranks before starting. It sputters, coughs and smokes... idles up and down, up and down. When I step on the gas, it REALLY smokes and sputters. Under the hood, I hear REALLY spooky noises, like nailing injectors. I get my stethoscope and on 3 cylinders it's nailing really badly, then missing, then nailing, then missing. I shut it off.

I go inside. My wife is so worried about the car she's not even mad at me for being a jerk.

"What is it?" she asks.

"I dunno, but it doesn't sound good at all." She's not happy with that, she hates unknowns. I'm upfront with her and tell her it sounds nasty, nasty... likely internal and spendy. She doesn't like that... this is the first car we've ever made payments on, and we're only 3 months in.

So, I decide not to start it again until I do some reading. I hit mercedesshop.com and start searching threads. Things get spooky pretty fast. Within a couple hours I start piecing together the symptoms into a possible diagnosis.

Bad spray pattern on the injectors, they start nailing or dribbling. Poorly atomized fuel either streaming right onto the piston or the cylinder wall.

Pistons burnt through, or rings seized. I feel sick. I should have had the injectors rebuilt when I first bought the car... I had it the car apart anyway and I just skipped it. And when my wife first called, I should have had her stop and get it towed. Maybe it was OK then and we killed it by not being cautious when she heard that noise. Either way, I have probably murdered this engine, and a used one is 5-6k.

Maybe I went in over my head with this car. It's one thing to maintain a couple cheap VWs, when I can get a used engine for $500 if I screw up. But this car... probably dead now because of a hack DIYer. Stupid. Always trying to save a few bucks, and looks like it REALLY cost me, this time.

It's late, I decide to go to bed. My wife is asleep so I don't have to break the news right away. Had a hard time getting to sleep.

In the morning I postpone telling my wife what I think is wrong... I thought I'd listen to it again and double-check everything. I start it up, cranks and cranks and then PANG PANG PANG stumble stumble PANG PANG PANG PANG.

I shut it off, and then hear a funny sound, very faint.

fft fft fft fft.

[Rot 911]

Jake, quit starting the damn engine. You know it is something serious. You are just making things worse. Time to at least get the head off and see what the damage is.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by Kurt V

Jake, quit starting the damn engine. You know it is something serious. You are just making things worse. Time to at least get the head off and see what the damage is.

Kurt, that's what I thought too.

but that sound...

fft fft fft fft
.....
.....
.....
gurgle gurgle

[masraum]

That really sucks! I feel your pain.

I do have to say that you have a way of telling the story that makes it sound pretty funny.

[Jims5543]

Jake,

I am so sorry to read this. I hope it turns out fine although it does not sound like it will.

I hope you can find a reasonable and affordable fix to this.

[notfarnow]

Anyone want to play "name that sound"?

Any guesses?

Answer to the quiz coming in one hour!

[JeremyD]

Well it's not going to fix itself now is it?

Time to dig in Jake - you are a pretty resourceful guy - Sorry it happened to you - it might be something you did - or didn't do - It's an older car - things happen - I wish you the best - and hopefully it will turn to an easy fix.

[Joeaksa]

Jake,

Post on the MB forums and see what ideas they have?

Hope it works out better than it sounds like it could.

[JeremyD]

I'm going to guess it dropped a valve head into the combustion chamber. And glad to hear you are digging in my friend - good luck.

[notfarnow]

Oh I know 100% what it is! I want to see if the PPOT crew can guess the answer

Answer at 12noon, AST.

ffft ffft fttt
.....
....
....
gurgle gurgle

[Tim Walsh]

Injector pump gone bad?

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by Tim Walsh

Injector pump gone bad?

I would be inclined to guess that if there we 2 fttt's and 3 gurgles but the other way around is telling me its the turbo.

So my guess is your turbo let go and its pissing oil down the exhaust and into the intake.

[Joeaksa]

Come on Jake, give us one more clue!

Power steering pump?

[TerryBPP]

Bad head gasket?

[legion]

A hole in a piston that is churing up the oil in the crank?

(I'm guessing he gave it away in the title.)

[competentone]

Originally Posted by notfarnow

My wife was out and about on Saturday in the e300d, and on the way home she called me to say the car was running rough and smoking....

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT?!" I asked. (Go directly to jail, do not collect $200). She goes inside, pissed.

The "d" in "e300d" stands for diesel, doesn't it?

Let me guess, your wife stopped by the gas station, and put gas in it?

Edit: Re-reading your post, you seem to be blaming yourself. Is this the one running on vegetable oil? Did you get some poor quality oil from your local fast-food joint, or didn't filter it properly?

[Joeaksa]

As their other cars are VW diesels would hope that normal gas was not put in the car.

Come on Jake... give us another clue!

[notfarnow]

A few great guesses:

Originally Posted by Jim Cesiro

I would be inclined to guess that if there we 2 fttt's and 3 gurgles but the other way around is telling me its the turbo.

So my guess is your turbo let go and its pissing oil down the exhaust and into the intake.

I had that exact thing happen on my jetta! Wheezy little K03 turbo. Only thing is that the design of the turbine housing would allow oil to POOL, and now ant then you'd get a great big gulp of oil. Death rattle and tons of smoke.

Originally Posted by legion

A hole in a piston that is churing up the oil in the crank?

(I'm guessing he gave it away in the title.)

That's exactly what I thought was going on.

Originally Posted by competentone

The "d" in "e300d" stands for diesel, doesn't it?

Let me guess, your wife stopped by the gas station, and put gas in it?

Good guess, that's exactly what happened with my samurai on the day I bought the Benz. She called me furious that it had died on the highway without warning. Turned out she filled it with gasoline... has never run right since.


Answer coming in a minute while I upload the gory picture. Any last minute guesses?

fft fft fft fft
....
....
....
....
gurgle gurgle

[legion]

As a 944 guy, I'm going to go all-in and guess that someting in the timing system broke and Mr. Piston got very up-close and personal with Mrs. Valve.

(And that doesn't make any sense to me based on the symptoms.)

[9dreizig]

Since it's a Benz I'd say that was the sound of money being sucked from your wallet ???