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06 E350 Heavy Misfire timing chain tensioner?

9K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  Jak6389 
#1 ·
So I have been reading a lot of posts about camshaft solenoid adjuster. Bad timing chains, flashing check engine lights. Bad engines M272. But I seem to never read the answer, what was the fix? My car pretty much limpped home flashing check engine light bad misfires my son driving. When I put the machine on it all I got was misfire codes for the three driver side cylinders. I have up to now replaced plugs two suspect coils and now both oxygen sensors before and at the catalytic converter. MAF is fine. Still the hard miss and backfire through the intake. I have 4 camshaft solenoid adjusters, but I am beginning to feel it may be an actual mechanical breakdown. Already reaching out looking at salvage yards for a replacement engine. BUT!!!! If anyone has an actual "hey that's what I had!!" And can point me in another direction?? Or Southern California Mercedes Salvage Yard of choice? If it is the defective tensioner is there any way I can avoid buying another engine with the same issue?? Meaning how do you know if the warranty work was done? Also if I do find the issue before the swap I will post!
 
#2 ·
I have not had it happen, but never owned the M272 V6 or the M273 V8.

What codes have you come up with? If the engine is a victim of the soft balance shaft sprockets it will throw two codes that usually end up being grim.
Hopefully, you don’t have any of these codes: Fault Code: P1200 or P1208 Pending or Stored. If your scan tool can not read these codes you need to find one that read MB codes or a mechanic that will do it for very little money.

If those codes are present a 20-30 minute procedure that is a visual inspection will show if the timing is off due to soft balance shaft sprockets.

Until that is all checked I would not spend any more money on parts like O2 sensors.

If you do get an engine from the same year you could run into the same problem. I would look for a late 2008 production engine. By that time the soft balance shafts were not an issue.
 
#4 ·
Well if the scan tool only does ODBII codes it won't show MB specific codes so that is why you are only seeing multiple misfire codes.

You may have gotten lucky, usually both sides of the V6 start misfiring. Inspecting and getting a MB capable code scan done will tell you a lot more.
 
#6 ·
That is one that members like. The Autel MD802 is another along with the Foxwell 924.

There is about $100 difference between the 3 brands. The Autel is about $200 or less on Amazon with factory support. I really have not tried the i980 or Foxwell.

Wish I had more help for you on this topic.
 
#7 ·
So I had a little time to play today. That means work on my car. I saw Nifty YouTube tutorial about how to do a visual inspection on the camshaft balancer issues. Included are the pictures that I took afterwards. So it looks like the timing chain camshaft balancer whatever you want to call it has not slipped. Yes one of the photos doesn't show it exact but I can assure you that's because of the positioning of the camera I triple double look these over. We can now eliminate oxygen sensors both on the exhaust driver side. Crankshaft position sensor. Two spark plugs and to suspect coil packs. Any ideas? I did come across one unusual thing in the car it's a little high on oil. Like I said my son's been driving it and he didn't understand how to read the dipstick. His quote to me was more is always better right? Well I'm not sure it isn't floating in oil but it's definitely at least a quart heavy. Any ideas would be great. Also I'm going to look into a new OBD tool today at work see if I can get one on line. Thanks again I will keep writing until this thing is fixed. And then hopefully I'll have a reason why it broke.
 

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#9 ·
Hi Stu,

Did you get this figured out? I think I have a very similar problem. Hoping you hav some ideas because I'm stumped at this point. Have 2007 C230 272 engine that is outside the balance shaft gear problem range. In addition, I ran a bore-scope into the engine and confirmed the balance shaft sprocket is fine as well as the crankshaft sprocket. I keep getting a P0016 (P1208) error code and occasional P0305. (I DO NOT ever get a P0017 (P1200) code) I'll clear the codes, drive the car, no CEL while driving. Turn the car off. When I restart the car the CEL will turn on with at least the P0016 within driving 10 ft. While driving, the car runs smooth, however at a stop sign it does idle rough.

I've replace all 4 camshaft sensors and camshaft magnets. To do the bore-scope I had to remove the camshaft cover. The alignment marks looked good on passenger side and the chain didn't feel loose.

The only thing I can figure at this point is I have some issue with the ECU? Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
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