Hello All,
I have been lurking here for quite some time. I have done many mods to my '04 Black Crossfire. She's my daily driver and I love her like a member ofthe family. (I commute about an hour and a half each way six days a week)

Last Tuesday that member was hurt severely. It was storming badly on my way trip home. I was driving in the center lane of a particularly semi-flooded road. A less than courteous driver in a bobtail semi sped past through the deeper water. A VERY large wave engulfed my dear Crossfire. Her engine sputtered and died where she sat. Afraid, very upset, and a tad ashamed I had her towed home. After letting her sit in the garage for 2 days to 'dry out' she would not start. Nothing the starter at all. All 'other' eletrical worked fine. I thought it was the 'Myster No Start' issue. I went to the local MB dealer & bought a Relay Control Module. ($190.00 plus tax) I installed it. No Change.
I put her upon jack stands & set forth to change the starter. OMG That was not fun. I had to remove the section of exhaust pipe from the manifold to the cat. (Of course the bolts were rusted - mmm Dremel good) Then the wires are JUST short enough to be a huge P.I.T.A. (Here's a tip - disconnect the other end other end of the positive from the back of the Alternator) After a long long night I got the starter changed and all parts reinstalled. (The original starter was COOKED. The inards were cooked black & OMG the stench of burnt electronics)
I cranked her up. I was greated by a disturbingly loud knock knock knock that brought one of my neighbors over to see what the rucus was about. (I have to ADMIT it was WELL after 2AM) She's running ROUGH. Like engine lurching from side to side rough.

She is pushing steam? out of her exhaust pipes. (I figured that would subside after a couple seconds, but no such luck) No water in the coolant, yet. The oil on the dir stick and inthe cap is the normal shade.

I'm HOPING its something quasi-simple like a head gasket (please God let the heads and block be okay).

I'd do a compression check gut getting to the spark plugs looks like it will be a bigger P.I.T.A than the starter.

Encourging words? A 'How To' that I might follow? Is it time to spend $1,800.00 (plus install) on a replacement engine? Anyhone wanna buy 'Relay Control Module'?

H E L P

Wayne K.

 

I agree, things don't sound good. If you find out that you need a new engine, check with LKQ Salvage, they will probably be the most econmical way to go. Good Luck.

 

I'm sure water got in through the air intake.

 

I already contacted LKQ. They are the ones who quoted me the $1,800.00 price. It's like $1,699.00 plus shipping and insurance. Here's a link to the engine - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...223382213&rd=1

You should have seen the water pour out of the intake when I took it off (after having her towed home). I wanted to cry. Now I will 'have to' drive my M3 as my daily driver. <pout>

I've contacted my insurance company to see if this is something that they will cover. (Keeping my fingers crossed!)

 

stock intake or cold air intake?

 

It was a factory intake. I havn't done any mods to the engine. I enjoyed driving her just the way she was. For sheer HP I just just drive my tweaker of an M3. <Grin>

 

remove one of your plugs and crank the car to see if water comes out. i hope you did not hydrolock the motor, if you did the insurance should cover it since the car is stock.

 

I just went into the garage to spend some quality time with my wounded girl.

I pulled the plugs out of the 1st 2 cylinders on the passenger side. (Cylinders 1 & 2 - What order does MB use for them?) They were normal looking. No water, no excess oil, etc. Just for the heck of it I cleaned the plugs with degreaser, a fine wire brush, & electrical contact cleaner and re-installed them. I

I pulled the plugs out of the 1st cylinder on the drive side (cylinder 4?) (right under the oil fill spout) Both plugs were fouled with oily gunk. I cleaned the plugs with degreaser, a fine wire brush, & electrical contact cleaner then re-installed them. I pulled the plugs from the next cylinder (cylinder 5?) They looked fine.

I cranked her up for about a minute. She started right up but that noise is E V I L. It sounds like there is a Gnome with a steel mallet inside the number 4 cylinder and he wants OUT!

I'm worried that the rod is bent, block cracked, head cracked. You know, the generally evil & expensive stuff.

What makes life worse is that State Farms claim center is closed because of the holiday. So I have to WAIT until Tuesday. Arg! (Have I mentioned I'm NOT very good at waiting. LoL)

Does anyone know who sells the top end rebuild gasket kit and a GOOD set of Torx sockets? This way if they say 'NO' on covering the damage I can pull the head and see what's up.

BTW what year / engine does this engine equate to in the MB line? (My car is a '04 Crossfire) I know I've read it on here a few times but damned if I can remember it right now.

H E L P



Wayne K.

 

The motor you have is the Mercedes Benz M112. There is no specific year/make/model they are in because they've been in cars since the late 80's I believe. Any Benz with the number "320" in it's model has that motor since they name their cars with a "Class" (C,E,SL,SLK, etc.) and then the motor size (3.2L 320; 5.0L 500). Don't race anything with a 2 number engine designator, that's AMG territory.

 

Sorry to hear the sad news.....Water doesn't compress very well and you most likely bent a rod, so you're going to need to go thru the bottom end. Good luck with the insurance and let us know if they cover it

 

If you found water in the intake and it stalled from water intake, I would say with a probability of 99.9% you have at least one bent rod if not more. I would do a compression test, but I would bet it is time for a replacement. I've done a couple for the exact same reasons. One was covered by insurance, and one was not.

 

might be a good time to look into a stroker kit instead of just a stock replacement if the block/heads/ect. are up to the task. something like this scares the crap out of me, because mines also a daily driver, but unfortantly i don't have a back up car. my wife thinks its stupid to have more than one car per driver. thats another battle.

good luck with getting your little lady back on the road quickly and painlessly.

 

wow, thats pretty cheap.. hopefully insurance covers it! good luck buddy.

 

U P D A T E -

So the insurance company says they will cover the damage under my comprehensive coverage, IF the dealership PROVES the engine was damaged by water. (Otherwise I'm stuck with the tead down costs)

I had the car towed to my local dealer. They gave me a quote of (you'd beter sit down) $19,280.00 PLUS labor to install it! The adjuster almost fainted! Poor lady!

I told the the adjuster about the LKQ engine. She was VERY open to that idea. LoL

I have to meet with them tomorrow at the dealership to sign the paperwork. This has been a emotional roller coaster ride from hell!

 

As others have stated, I'm pretty confident that you've bent a rod or two.

 

Wow, for that you can buy another one.

 

Oh man, I am really sorry to hear about this happening to you. Good luck with everything!

 

This was from another thread I recently started:

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...8&postcount=12

 

For 19K, you could get a SRT. Ever considered it?

 

Geesh! I traded in my MINT black 2004 crossfire coupe with 3000 miles on it for 15,000. And you can't get a better car than that! Just but a new one, don't get this car fixed, it probably will never run like it did. Sorry about that. Hope all works out!