Hi guys..

I'm a new owner of a black 04 Xfire Coupe Auto and have to tell you that I'm extremelly disapointed with the car, service and Daimler-Chrys CO. I have been trolling this and the other forum for the past 3months but havent post anything yet. The car simply is a Big Lemon my story starts with the battery that died the 1st day of purchase followed by the air preasure sensor alarm, BAS/ESP alarm the next week, Lifter-powertrain noise from de passenger side of the car and lastly auto tranny failure..! all this in les tha 1Kmiles and 3 months.. Mercedes and Chrysler quality-service sucks big B@lls.. ! For all 2004-early 2005 Xfires owners that think the engine sounds noisy especialy like lifters don't hesitate and go to the service Dept. My car was denied by the dealer of having engine related problems especialy the Cam,lifter,rocker area. I went to the offices of Daim-Chrs with my car and demanded tha the specialist mechanic just listened to my car. He confirmed that the car had problems and issued a Tkt to work the car. What they found was thas some of the early models had problems and came with defect in the rollerrocker arms and that the rocker was causing extreme wear in the lifters and Cam. He told me that this was the first car Chrysl. had received with a complaint from a owner and the Tech mechanic said that he personally had heard other Xfires with the same problem but that the owners never complain and Chrysler never issued a TSB for it sinse no-one complaint. They had to replace the CAMS, LIFTERS, ROCKERS, OIL, CAPS, NEW STUDS, GASKET,etc in order to fix my car. So you guys that think that your car is making exsesive noise and the dealer saids is OK, demand that a Chrysler specialist inspect the valvetrain of your car BC's probably has problems why settle with rattles when they can get it fixed... If any of you have any doubt of your engine problems dont hessitate to contact me here and I would help you pinpoint the problem of your valve train problems with part numbers and the job tickets info done to my car as reference in order to help make justice in our case.

Sincerely

T-Fire owner of a 2004 BackFire Coupe.

 

Did you have this noise all the time or only for a few seconds on cold startup? What else should we look for to detirmine if we have this problem? Hope your problems are solved.

Steve

 

what's your build #.? Thanks .

 

Thunder-Fire, I believe I have the same problem. I took it in to the dealer and was also told that the lifter noise was "normal". Mine is a constant ticking noise when the car is at idle and is louder when it's cold, but still very noticable when the car is warmed up. I would really appreciate any information you could provide. I need to take care of it quickly as I only have about 4,000 miles until 36,000.

 

I have the same problem, very loud. Thought it was normal to sound like a 94 Talon at idle. Good maybe it will finally break.

 

Leave it outside it will freeze to DEATH !

 

Well the car had 300miles when I noticed the noise but i believe it was there all the time from the begining. I will post the build # when I get home. The noise is always there but increments with RPMs especialy from 2.5K-up. If you can hear valvetrain noise from inside your car while you are driving and windows rolled up you might have the problem. Also if you stand in front of your car at idle. In my case the problem was a defect of the rocker arms, but they need to replace all the parts I mentioned before sinse all are going to be affected. This is a serious condition bc's it causes the engine internals to deteriorate faster as all the small debris (pieces of metal) will make it to other components of the engine and cause premature engine failure.

 

I guess since I have 23,000 miles if I had the problem I would have known it by now. I checked on the MB boards and couldn't find any instances of this problem. Some said the engines were a little noisey but thats about it. No catastrophic failures.

 

I followed knowit's lead and searched for the problem and I found information in the following links. Let me know if you think we've got something here...

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/foru...sp?tid=1186235

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/foru...osts=14&fid=29

http://www.alldata.com/TSB/35/0235BIAF.html (I believe this link has a TSB for the problem we are experiencing, see #17)

http://www.mbnz.org/forums/forums/th...osts=11&fid=21

 

Seems to be isolated incidents...

 

Hey Thunderfire,

my car has the exact same problem. It's in the dealer right now for the exact same lifter noise. My 2000 CLK320 which has the same engine had it's lifters replaced at just 26,000 miles. Now my '05 has the same sound coming from the passenger side and they keep saying it's bull, however i know my cars well and have won two lemon law suits before so i would not hesitate to do the same with Daimler Chrysler if they can't fix it.

The mechanic heard it so hopefully they can diagnose it enough to replace the parts. THis is RIDICOULOUS my car only has 13,000 miles however the sound began at around 4,000 miles. THis car has had lots of problems from day one.

My battery died the 1st day of ownership, when it was towed in to dealer for battery replacement they damaged a rear rim and tire on my car. Then the cooling fan disintegrated leaving me on the side of the road with an overheated engine. Then a steering component needed adjustment due to that everytime i drove the car would drift to the right and it needed alignment like 3 times. Now the lifter problem. I'll keep u guys posted with the outcome.

 

I hate reading these threads and thinking "Damn! I have this"... There is definitely clicking going on at idle. I hear it everytime I get out of my car to check the mail. By the time I get to my mailbox after work I've been in traffic for 20 minutes so the car is definitely warm. It'd be awesome if we could get a recording of this noise... Mine is coming from the drivers side. Other than being an annoyance I hadn't thought anything of this..... <sigh>

 

I'm taking mine in on Thursday to have it checked out again. I'll let you know what I find out. If it's like my past visits, they'll just say it's normal and send me on my way. I'm going to really push them this time since I have less than 4,000 miles left in my 3/36,000 warranty. I'd appreciate any advice that you could give me on dealing with the service department.

 

Great info, but I didn't notice any issues pertaining directly to the SLK320. I have noticed an unusually noisy lifter or cam noise from the car since day 1, but just assumed it was part of the normal engine noise for that type of car. If you convince DC to issue a TSB or recall, please let us know.

I'm still trying to get them to fix a rough idle problem that doesn't show-up in any error codes on their diagnostic computers, but can be felt by anyone who sits in the car while it's idling. Good Luck !

 

Your misfire could be caused by a worn camshaft or failing valvetrain..you could get extra for that..There isn't a TSB for this problem but ask them to check the rockerarms the are probably causing valvetrain wear that's going to reflect in marking the camshaft and lifter base...Keep puting preasure..dont give up.

 

I always had the sputter when at idle but the lifters are very quiet, and mine is a later 2004. So, if yours is clacking, it isn't NORMAL. I would have thought that a noise from only one side is a faulty lifter. Let us know.

 

It depends. If I don't drive my car often the lifters get noisy at startup. The lifter noise goes away if I drive the car often or get the oil up to temperature for an hour or so. I've read about this concern for years and the issue seems to be, to me anyway, more from a lack of use than real problem. Go for a long drive and check back.

Les