Today, I had my oil changed at the local dealership. I provide the oil and they provide the filter & labor for about $35.

In the next stall is an obviously well maintained '05 roadster. It had 26,000 miles. The technician tells me the following story:

The owner noticed a bad knock in the last cylinder on the right side of the engine. Both plugs were pulled and found to be covered in oil. The technician called STAR and they stated that a new engine is in the $20,000 range, so they elected to send a short block.

The piston and the cylinder wall were both scored and STAR indicated that this is not an isolated problem; they've seen it on multiple occasions.

Kinda scarry, huh?

Don

 

Extended warranty! Extended warranty! Extended warranty!

It's a Mercedes!!!

 

My first Viper was a 1994 with a history of having defective head gaskets. Mine was under an extended warranty when I had to have the engine rebuilt.

While the warranty lessened the blow, I still had a vehicle which was out of circulation for several weeks.

My point is, that while warranties cover most of the costs, I'd still rather not feel like I could be the next owner to whom this happens.

Don

 

Worst/best scenario. Buy a used engine on ebay. Recent example.. used Limited engine 2000 miles for $1600.00 plus delivery.

 

what caused the issue?

 

my motor just like 3 days ago started makin a wird knocking sound. Hasnt changed performance for feel of it, idk i guess ill get it looked at.

 

I can't imagine any engine repair taking several weeks. Something else is wrong there.

 

Ha, the dealer had my car for 6 weeks for a freakin' seatbelt alarm!!

 

I will sell my engine if anyone needs it.

 

would you be able to feel it if it was 'star' i mean like runing ruff or loss of power cuz now im getting realy worried about mine?? mine doesnt knock till the motor gets hot either and its not super loud just loud enuff to hear. what you think?

 

Wow tht is very scary. 28,000 miles and a new short block??

If that happens to mine, my dad and I will just drop in an LS3.

 

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT

 

Engine repair. A decent mechanic can tear down a motor and rebuild it in under a week. Squirrely electrical stuff is another thing.

 

Totally possible, just need to hack out the old ECU and start from scratch. It won't take just a weekend, that's for sure...

 

Oh boy, I'm laughing now. My car went in on Jan. 6, and I get it back tomorrow. I also had a small "knocking' sound. Turned out to be a wrist pin on a piston. THAT was last summer; car down from may until august. The 'ace' mechanic, actually trained by Mercedes, really did not know how to work on these engines. This time, it was also the wrist pin but dont now which one. The complete engine is $27,000. A short block is $10,000. Chrysler would not pay for a whole new engine, but did supply the short block. Well after all these weeks, you might ask, what took so long?. When you have a small dealer with only one mechanic knowing these cars, their time is spent elsewhere, as in other warranty work. Did you know there are so many bolts that cant be used over again in a rebuild. That's right, use it once, throw it away. I know times have changed, but I rebuilt many a small block american engine, and the bolts held just fine. I guess my rant is this. These cars are good, but if you dont have a warranty, watch out. After these are out of warranty, a small shop is all that will take them. Mine is all under warranty thank god. These "one off" mechanics who might know the car still dont know what to do because so few have been rebuilt. Thats scary. I'll have a new engine now. Can anyone show me how to drive this car since its been a longgggggggg time since the last drive.

 

Sorry to say, not THIS engine, and not in a WEEK.

 

If he failed to order all the necessary parts, he's not a very good mechanic, otherwise this engine will tear down just like any other modern German v6 .

 

Good point. But to all other Xfire owners out there, I hope you have better luck then I did finding a good mechanic. Under warranty, everything is covered, except the mechanic. Chrysler's 5 Star dealers sent their best mechanics to school, but with the way things are going, just pray they stay in business and you find a dealer who will work on your car. 5 Star does now mean great service.

 

Mine's been into the Chrysler dealership twice. Once for an oil change which went fine. The second for a tire pressure light which didn't last a day so that's a 50% success rate. If I had real engine trouble, I would likely take it to someone specializing in German motors.

I see a problem when it's a factory warranty that would force you to bring it to Chrysler. They don't appear to have enough experience to properly repair the XF.

 

The tech was talking about the star center which is chrysler technical center on most expensive repairs the dealership has to have star center approval....