Discussion
Do you still have to be worried about balancer shaft issues on early ones, or are these problems likely to have either been fixed or blown up the engine by now?
Are early ones that are affected nearly unsellable? There's one near me private sale 05 reg 75k miles for 4.3k which seems smashing value for a 270+hp merc sports car.
Are early ones that are affected nearly unsellable? There's one near me private sale 05 reg 75k miles for 4.3k which seems smashing value for a 270+hp merc sports car.
We have an early R171 SLK350 that we have owned for around 4 years.
When we were looking, we read up on the issue. From memory it was a small batch of gears over a 4 year period, so difficult to pin down.
I think the general consensus was, if it was going to grenade, it would likely do it before 80k, we went for a higher mile example and to date it has been great.
Sounds great, goes well, lot of car for the money
When we were looking, we read up on the issue. From memory it was a small batch of gears over a 4 year period, so difficult to pin down.
I think the general consensus was, if it was going to grenade, it would likely do it before 80k, we went for a higher mile example and to date it has been great.
Sounds great, goes well, lot of car for the money
If you want some more info: here's Tech Bulletin on the ailments of the M272 engine: http://benzbits.com/BalanceShaftTSB.pdf
If the engine number of the car you're looking at is before 2729..30 468993 then risk of the balancer shaft issue.
If the engine number is up to 2729..30 759427 then potential solenoid issues.
As per KP's post (hi KP !) you can get the engine number from the VIN.
Want more info on the M272 engine ??? https://forums.mbclub.co.uk/threads/the-complete-m...
If the engine number of the car you're looking at is before 2729..30 468993 then risk of the balancer shaft issue.
If the engine number is up to 2729..30 759427 then potential solenoid issues.
As per KP's post (hi KP !) you can get the engine number from the VIN.
Want more info on the M272 engine ??? https://forums.mbclub.co.uk/threads/the-complete-m...
I had this engine (which was a lovely smooth unit as it goes) in a late 2005 built W203 C350 saloon. It was right in the middle of the affected VIN range and sure enough at about 70k miles I started getting lots of cam position sensor warnings and the like.
5k miles later I traded it in against a W204 and thought nothing more of it. A few months back it cropped up on eBay now with 95k miles and the advert clearly stating that the EML was on. Price has dropped from something silly like £4k to £1.6k which makes me think it's this issue. If it was something more simple they would presumably fix it.
So I don't think the engine will self destruct without warning, but will probably just get steadily worse until it fails. It's a real shame, as there are some lovely cars out there with this engine but the costs of fixing it are far in excess of their value.
5k miles later I traded it in against a W204 and thought nothing more of it. A few months back it cropped up on eBay now with 95k miles and the advert clearly stating that the EML was on. Price has dropped from something silly like £4k to £1.6k which makes me think it's this issue. If it was something more simple they would presumably fix it.
So I don't think the engine will self destruct without warning, but will probably just get steadily worse until it fails. It's a real shame, as there are some lovely cars out there with this engine but the costs of fixing it are far in excess of their value.
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