Mercedes S550 M278 Bi-Turbo 4.7 V8 Failed Engine Teardown! Damage EVERYWHERE! Still Better Than N63.

*4.7L*
Want to see a particular engine torn down? I may have already done one! No really, check out my other videos for the engine you'd like to see! I've made over 60 other teardowns from Cummins to an LS7, and from Rotary to Ram Ecodiesels. Check them out here • Blown Up Engine Tear D...
My name is Eric and I own and run a full service auto salvage business called Importapart located in the Saint Louis MO area. Part of our model is dismantling and selling parts from rare and niche market engines. If you're interested in buying parts from this engine or the other engines I've torn down, email us at [e-mail].
In this video I teardown an M278 Bi-turbo 4.7L V8 from a 2013 Mercedes S550. This is closely related to the M157 AMG version of this engine. I bought this engine as a core with the hopes I'd have a bunch of parts to sell. Good news is I do! There were several failure points on this particular engine, and some mystery material inside? As complicated as this engine appeared to be, it was one of the most logically assembled engines I've torn down. I had been putting this engine off for a while, but for no real reason other than it "looked difficult". Glad I bit the Bullitt because this one was fun!
I hope you enjoyed this teardown and as always,
I love all the comments, feedback and even the criticism.
Catch you on the next one!
-Eric

[@litz13]

"Overzealous Malarkey" - best description of Precision German Engineering ever

[@emilschw8924]

That's what us Germans do the best. Muhuhaha.

[@tomast9034]

@@emilschw8924 its history nowdays....

[@Backroad_Junkie]

That's why last week's teardown was so refreshing, lol...

[@htimsid]

And many DB engines actually have the prefix OM!

[@ancientheart2532]

The Germans think of everything.

[@justsumguy2u]

This wasn't an oiling issue at first, it was a severely overheated engine that caused an oiling issue as a by-product. That's why most of the bearings looked ok, yet the piston skirts and bores were heavily scuffed---severe overheating causes bore distortion. It's also why the head bolts were so tight, and why one broke off in the block. I'm glad you got good heads out of the deal, as well as turbos

[@I_Do_Cars]

Interesting.

[@hydrocarbon8272]

The only problem with overheated OHC heads is any warpage will be present in the cam journals too. That's why some rebuilt OHC engines will randomly have cams break and show odd journal wear - the head warped but the journals were never align-honed. Faye Hadley's channel has a vid with Daniel Soliz that shows how far a Toyota inline-6 head can warp and interesting ways to bend it back.

[@Prestiged_peck]

@@I_Do_Cars you need to tear down a GM atlas motor, holdener managed to break I think EVERY SINGLE HEAD BOLT on the 4200 he tore down for dyno testing.

[@chash7335]

In my experience, head bolts are loose in a severely overheated engine as the head under the bolt is crushed from excessive expansion. Sometimes the threads in the block will be stripped- a fairly common issue on overheated Benz engines.

[@cmcrisp42]

Gives me a theory: the Orange flakes are absolutely pieces of RTV, so they poorly replaced something possibly involving the radiator. RTV ended up in the oil. They botched the repair but used the proper Mercedes coolant (it's blue) as the coolant that came out looked near brand new. So engine circulated the coolant before becoming clogged and causing major overheating

[@gtpanoz]

On tonight's episode, we watch as 20 very stubborn M-B headbolts try to break a hardworking family man.

[@Prestiged_peck]

And he manages to break one of them. I can't wait until he does an atlas, holdener managed to break EVERY SINGLE HEAD BOLT when he tore the one he got for dyno testing down.

[@cameronpearce4472]

@@Prestiged_peck the atlas ones are known to break. When I tore mine apart, I didn’t break any head bolts (luckily), but I did break two main bolts.

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

I want to see him demonstrate the installation process of these TTY bolts and (245) pattern on this engine. Oh boy is that installation and torque sequence a friggin nightmare. {0.o} 1st Bolts 1-10 40, 2nd Bolts 1-10 turn 90 degrees, 3rd Bolts 1-10 turn 90 degrees, 4th Bolts 11-13 18. {0.o} Eez ver making zem GUDENTIGHT!! 😆😂🤣

[@originalmianos]

@@MAGGOT_VOMIT legit street cars channel does an installation. Torque then turn more.

[@deansapp4635]

Thats perfect

[@paulym5814]

I know you don’t make much money in parts but I love seeing these damaged engines and seeing what the diagnosis is.

[@dcinhere]

What are you talking about? Do you not see that shop? He owns it! Insert eyeroll.

[@paulym5814]

@@dcinhere yeah, he’s got that nice shop from selling used parts not KZbin. I’m sure he wants it for content but he still wants to make money on parts. Fuck your eye roll.

[@nicwilson89]

@@paulym5814 Wait...he owns that nice shop from selling used parts not KZbin but doesn't make much money in parts? No one suggested he got the shop through KZbin since he had that long before he was making KZbin content (I imagine). I'm sure you just mis-wrote that slightly, but it does seem like you're saying that he doesn't make much off parts in one comment and that he does in another comment. Did you mean to say he doesn't make much money from KZbin?

[@MeaHeaR]

He mite not owning it but a employee in the factory

[@Eamador3]

@@paulym5814 go home. You're drunk.

[@dougjones9493]

Tighten until they break, back off 1/4 turn.

[@jennifurzoe1302]

Or,"if it ain't broke fix it till it is.".

[@repete2362]

i don't know much but aren't the new headbolts torque to yield? as in no reusing head bolts

[@gwick358]

My Saturday night habit. I love watching these teardowns.

[@christopherweise438]

Guy Curwick - Same here. In my 20's i was always looking for the party......now in my 50's THIS is the party.

[@wallacegrommet9343]

Beer, chips, IPad, and Bluetooth speaker

[@alanbare8319]

Your running commentary as you discover the carnage inside the engine you're working on is always entertaining! Love the content!

[@MarkPdot]

I have an old pry bar that I bought over 20 years ago. It's a knock off no name special that I needed for a job. Literally thousands of uses later & it's still serving the needs of this old mechanic. Glad to see "old blue" serving you well.

[@topfell8277]

Who cares who made the tool still works got your money out of that one

[@Alanthe918mobilemechanic]

Beautiful welding on the manifolds

[@seancotter1965]

"Life lesson: never go back to front" - that caught me out of nowhere, thank you for the explosive choking on coffee moment haha. A fascinating engine, definitely a case of engineering led design but obviously still fallible to the same issues as every other engine.

[@craigweis1675]

RPM kills ... Sean Cotter. 3 purposes of oil. ~Cooling, ~Prevent/float metal to metal contact, and ~Hold contaminants until dumped. The difference between a new engine and a junk engine is about 3/4 ounce of 'metal mud' in the engine oil sump. SideBar: Museum of Since and Industry in Chicago has a 3500 lb steel disc that can directly be spun with a bicycle crank. The wheel rides on an axle shaft and bearing assembly. Visitors are instructed to manually pump a gear-driven oil pump off on the side to about 3 to 5 lb pressure and when a little plastic ball hits the line on a vertical tube gauge feeding oil pressure to the bearing on the wheel, the wheel can be spun until the oil pressure drops to zero. Then the wheel locks up tighter than a wh---e in church.

[@ralphwilliams2396]

Definitely great 1 liners

[@gregvondare]

re: life lesson -- That's what she said!

[@edbo10]

@@craigweis1675 it's ok to say whore on youtube, you won't go to jail at least not yet anyway

[@MrMrScotti]

I must be an idiot, just now I figured out the back to front line. I was debating whether to ask what he meant.......sheesh

[@steamfan6325]

39:23 -loosens bolts on #2 rod cap. --39:36- “why are they loose?” You know you’ve had to remove way too many bolts when you forget what you’ve already loosened…

[@billharris3650]

That gave me a giggle. "someone's been in here before me"... yeah, you.

[@JackS425]

I think that's one of them new fancy variable output oil pumps. That's why the housing around the veins of the pump could slide and I bet that solenoid applies pressure to one side to slide the housing over for less oil volume.

[@ElectronsOnly]

Yep, I think that's it. I've taken a big hydraulic pump apart with a charge pump. The vane housing will shift over once it gets up to a certain pressure to reduce the pumps oil flow

[@emilschw8924]

Now that is an interesting concept.

[@LesNewell]

Yes, that was my first thought when I saw the spring loaded housing. I'm not sure it even needs a solenoid to operate. Oil pressure in the pump will tend to push the housing sideways.

[@callishandy8133]

You are right Oil pressure regulatet by moving these inner housing . High oil preassure and the inner housing press against the the spring. Than the wings of the pump are round (=reduced oilvolume e.g. pressure) and not oval (= high oil volume e.g. pressure). It is a volume oil pump. Ok all oil pumps are volume ...

[@josepeixoto3384]

@@emilschw8924 oh,yeah,it'll fail for sure and joe blow will need a new engine, the manufs know it all; but then again it's for emissions compliance, to squeeze another drop of gas another EGR valve, EGR valve KILL all engines ALL the problems in engines are because of the emissions laws, i repair them for a living,it it saddens me to see it but,as the GOVs also make money on new sales,let the assault on the planet go on,in the name of saving it

[@DOCTOR_KIA]

btw i just took a 3.5 kia sorento engine out of a 2011. and have disassembled it completely to the bare block (found water in the chambers so decided it was going to needed rebuilt and figured i’d give it a shot with what i learned from here) so long story short the rod/crank bearings looked just about as good as how many of yours look haha it was a fun time tearing it down and finding things that you commonly find.

[@PorscheRacer14]

How many miles on it and what happened to it? I'm curious as my my dad has a 2007 and mom has a 2009 (which would be more similar to the 2011 at least engine wise). SO far both are going strong, I've just been dealing with rust for the most part. 2007 has ~360k kms and the 2009 has 120k kms.

[@DOCTOR_KIA]

@@PorscheRacer14 only 70k miles it was user error, the previous owner over heated it and blew a head gasket and just kept driving it and filling up the coolant with water. the kia 3.5’s are good engines from what i’ve heard

[@PorscheRacer14]

@@DOCTOR_KIA Thanks! Yah I haven't heard anything bad about those, just the new ones but they like those ones with body on frame and 4x4 for getting to the farm.

[@sfbfriend]

@@DOCTOR_KIA Most failures are user induced! Usually lack of maintenance or just ignore that light on your dash!

[@censorbot0454]

Reminds me of replacing a cylinder head on a 4.2 GMC Envoy. Broke 11 of 14 headbolts. Spent the rest of the day drilling them out. What fun.

[@jettyeddie_m9130]

😬

[@ElectronikHeart]

A reminder to never reuse head bolts, especially in this engine !

[@FuzzyWCTX]

Or use a torque wrench to take them off! That's what it sounds like

[@AlessandroGenTLe]

@@FuzzyWCTX There's no difference to use a breaker bar or a torque wrench to take them OFF... If it's going to break with a breaker bar, it will break also with anything else, unless you just don't take it out...

[@sfbfriend]

@@FuzzyWCTX You should never use a torque wrench to break loose a bolt, unless you are recording break away torque!

[@MAGGOT_VOMIT]

or any engine that uses TTY (Torque To Yield) bolts. Oh boy is that installation pattern (245) and torque sequence a friggin nightmare. {0.o} 1st Bolts 1-10 40, 2nd Bolts 1-10 turn 90 degrees, 3rd Bolts 1-10 turn 90 degrees, 4th Bolts 11-13 18. {0.o} Eez ver making zem GUDENTIGHT!! 😆😂🤣

[@mikefoehr235]

TTY bolts are disposable

[@tomnekuda3818]

I really enjoy watching you feel your way thru these teardowns. That's what most of us have to do on any of these foreign engines; it's called getting experience. I find it intriguing to see how the construction of these engines seek different ways to solve the same problems that American motors have. I learn a lot each time you dig into one of these. I also appreciate how you handle frustration without swearing, etc and I'm taking more than a few lessons from you. Thanks, Tom

[@emilschw8924]

I think he want to swear like us, but I admire the way he is handling the frustration. Lesson to us all. And I also admire his efforts. Good stuff.

[@garypostelwait6172]

After you have kids you will learn how to not swear.

[@emilschw8924]

@@garypostelwait6172 I have kids, and you do have to watch your language 🥴

[@tomnekuda3818]

@@emilschw8924 Agreed 100%!

[@mugz6016]

@@garypostelwait6172 Got no kids, but clients tend to have the same effect.

[@thethomasj1795]

I never saw a blown M278 bi-turbo. Very rare indeed. Great find. I learned quite a bit from this one.

[@MrBitemeidareya]

I actually have one in the shop that has the same problem this one had. I haven't torn into it, but I'm gonna guess it did the same thing this one did. Pulled the oil filter and it's full of metal

[@bicylindrico]

@@MrBitemeidareya Curious if they have the same failed oil pump pick up oring as MB's prior engines

[@MrBitemeidareya]

@bicylindrico idk, probably not. Not going to find out though, quoted a new engine. It's gonna cost more to teardown and rebuild it, if the block isn't toast.

[@bicylindrico]

@@MrBitemeidareya I hear ya. I was MB dealer tech for over 20 years and we never dug into anything like that unless warranty made us. That was the issue though on the M272 with heavy rattle on startup. The colder the oil was when starting the longer it would rattle and shake.

[@Alejo__]

I work at a benz dealer and we have had atleast 3-4 m278 engines either needed a new one or a rebuild. My m278 on my s550 we rebuilt under warranty last yr with new rods and pistons

[@ninjamanghost5825]

Awesome to watch! I work at Mercedes Benz as a technician! Great work! Keep it up!

[@LaxerFL]

Do you know the factory torque spec for the head bolts? No way they are meant to be as tight as these were!!!?

[@timsa626]

@@LaxerFL I’m also a MB tech and the V8s/V6s have extremely tight head bolts. They’re torqued downed in stages. It’s like 100-ishNM and 3 stages of degrees after that. When we have do do a head/piston of a M276 motor, one person has to hold onto the engine while the other uses all their might to break the head bolts loose. They’re stupid tight compared to the 4 cylinders.

[@HooyahPeacock]

Lol you people don't know how to spot fake foreign accounts do you lol

[@timsa626]

@@HooyahPeacock me mekanic, me don’t no

[@SDMF5000]

My son just walked in saw what I was watching and asked..."Does Adam Sandler build engines?" LOL

[@daveh2612]

Nice tear down, and timely since I just bought an M278 powered GL550 without a warranty. I will say this much, it’s an absolute blast to drive and gets decent MPGs for a almost 3 ton SUV.

[@TheAviam]

I have it in a 2013 Mercedes CL550. Awesome engine. Speed Governor pulls out gear at 140 mph, so i dont end up as a fire ball. I surprised its really decent on gas.

[@OtherWorldExplorers]

Waiting to see you sword fight with the oil dipstick on this one...

[@thomasfletcher4765]

That would be something to see 🤣

[@ericcindycrowder7482]

My gut feeling is when you see that kind of abnormal wear on the cam lobes, but the cam journals look good, it’s from poor or defective manufacturing of the cam shafts. Specifically the heat treating was done in a sub-standard manner where there was not sufficient hardening of the steel, and they wore through the case hardening and got into the softer inner part of the steel. Just my theory.

[@drwombat]

I would imagine that to be somewhat true especially for these low output slash hand built engines of the Mercedes/amg company... If you combine that with thrashing on the motor or another pattern failure like the intercooler issue he mentioned at first cascades into a catastrophic failure that otherwise may never have been an issue should the other problems not have occurred. Part of the reason I refuse to own one... Low production numbers and thus lower quality control by scale

[@timlee4204]

Friday afternoon job !

[@denniss5512]

Great shop tour last week. Rarely see a guy who remembers all those details of the inventory cars in the yard.

[@DanBowkley]

I'm gonna take a guess that there was a coolant leak somewhere that made it overheat, someone "fixed" it with some orange RTV, it ran a while but they went a little nuts with the sillycone and some of it came off and wound up in the oil. A chunk clogged up that oil passage in the crank and that was the end of that problem.

[@eliotmansfield]

how would it get past the oil filter?

[@Alabastard]

1. this is like deja vu for me i get to tear down mercedes engines all the time especially the m274. and 2 mercedes doesnt fuck around with head bolt torque

[@dirtfarmer7472]

How much torque are those heads supposed to have, just curious.

[@Alabastard]

@@dirtfarmer7472 it's a 5 stage bolt 1. 20nm 2. 40nm 3. 90° 4. 90° 5. 90°

[@benaldredge2671]

Awesome and informative video as always. You crack me up with the “that’s what she said” comments….”longer than I anticipated” 😅

[@wgmskiing]

The valve cover/cam cap combo is actually pretty neat. I like that better than the two piece heads with a plastic valve cover on top.

[@yeahitskimmel]

Seems like a nightmare if you ever need to replace cams/bearings and have to assemble all that to check the clearance of one cap

[@TheCZpyro]

Yeah some vw engines have it too i think the best combo Is on the m50/52 engines where the cams have their own tray you can replace if bad and not need to replace whole head :)

[@ethandonivan5175]

@@yeahitskimmel Volvo has been doing it that way for a long long time, but never seems to be an issue nothin up there really gets worked on often cuz it is a Volvo 🤣

[@TassieLorenzo]

It's pretty common for racing engines (F1, Indycar etc), I guess it saves weight. A lot of European production engines use this design.

[@MrDrmorbid]

Soft cams have been issues for Mercedes and AMG for a long time. I tend to think this was overheated- it's fairly common in German engines where the pistons are slightly oval when cold and then when they warm, they go round. When hot, they go oval again, but 90 degrees to the original oval, so that would explain the skirts being worn. I tend to think also that it was run hot and low on oil at the same time. Some goofy mechanic was probably in there as well. I think for some off-warranty stuff. For the right shop, the crank can be reused by welding or spray welding the journals back. I would look into it because the latter is something you might be able to do in-shop, but some machine shops are specializing it in now. For expensive and rare cranks, this might be the way to go.

[@ACabral711]

after 50 years you'd think they would have figured out the cam issue thing. I hope my 89 M117 doesn't ever need cams, but they are known for it too, though not as bad as the pre-89 M103 cars that had a heat treating issue.

[@SaltyTubers]

As mentioned previously NEVER reuse Mercedes head bolts, this has been the rule since the aluminum heads showed up in the early 90s. Tightening torques for the M278 M11 head bolts: Stage 1: 20NM Stage 2: 40NM Stage 3: 90deg Stage 4: 90deg Stage 5: 90deg

[@mphilleo]

I have a 2012 JK with the 3.6 Pentastar. Recently, I replaced all the rocker arms and lifters, among a laundry list of other stuff for preventative maintenance while I was there. There's A LOT of common parts I see in the valvetrain in your video. Only difference is my cams looked a lot better. 🤣 Interesting thing to note, the plastic fixture on the right-most cam is a PCV valve centrifuge to separate oil from the emissions pass through. That valve is a big PITA to change, but objectively it's cool German engineering.

[@MultiMightyQuinn]

They really wanted to make sure that engine was going to stay together. Stay rotating...eh....not so much. Thanks for putting in all the effort, enjoyable teardown. Can't wait for the next one. Thanks for bring us with you.

[@oceanbytez847]

tbh it looks like it might have. The multiple signs of care seems to imply it saw service. I'm betting a botch job or perhaps a missed failure led to a cascade.

[@KI4HOK]

Those head bolts reminded me of redoing the head on my 01 VW ALH. Torque spec is 33 ft-lbs, 40 ft-lbs, 90 degrees, and then another 90 degrees. The bolts were under about 225 ft-lbs after they yielded.

[@hellkitty1014]

"Little longer than I anticipated...thats what she said". 😂😩

[@ardenpeters2952]

Love seeing these megabuck engines torn down; love your attitude and sense of humor. Always amazed at the complexity of modern engines; electric seems much “cleaner” except for the wiring and cooling!

[@DragonRides75]

Catching up on old videos and gosh what a super human effort to loosen those head bolts

[@notme8121]

That may be the biggest timing cover I've ever seen and I lost track of how many chains this one has. But Malarkey is a good choice of words. It's a family-friendly word for all of the Malarkey on the front of that motor

[@gusrubio489]

I love seeing that expensive, top-shelf engines can suffer the same failures as mere mortal engines. Keep up the great work, love this channel!

[@mikefoehr235]

German engines are not top shelf. They are rolling piles of junk.

[@theewelder]

lol

[@theewelder]

@@mikefoehr235 lol

[@josephbargo5024]

@@mikefoehr235 just because something is hard to work on doesn’t mean it’s junk. I’d love to know what motors you consider top-shelf.

[@mikefoehr235]

@@josephbargo5024 The ones I consider top shelf is ones that don't break. From personal experience and now having owned a 4th one of this brand, Toyota is tough to beat. Example...2004 Corolla...350 000 kms and drove the Snot, guts and shit out of it...it never failed. All it needed was oil changes and other fluids as recommended. Ditto for my 13 Tacoma. 4 litre v6 is one mother fn tough engine. Towed a 5000 pound RV 10 000 KMS across Canada...gas and one oil change. Those are TOO SHELF FOR SURE. NO and I mean NO NO NO NO other brand even comes close.

[@chriscall31]

Just wondering if one day you could do a video on how you started your business

[@Lokisword]

My money is on the wife going "My god, you have too many car parts, this place is like a wrecking yard"

[@sirfartsalot1328]

The intercooler in the valley?! That and the "Hot-Vee" design from BMW have always made me raise an eyebrow. Also, those old kitty litter buckets are great aftermarket products.

[@nhojyelbom]

mercedes has a hot V also, M177 4.0l biturbo

[@bramsmith9529]

I recently, bought a 2013 GL450. you just made my day! thank you for doing these tear downs!

[@morganlovell8408]

I come home from working on engines all day just to watch another guy work on engines 😆

[@agenericaccount3935]

Lord, those double snaps on the head bolts 🤭

[@bigstiff1420]

Greetings from Luxembourg ! I like your Engine Teardowns and it's my weekly routine to watch your videos on a Sunday evening. Keep up the great work ! 😎

[@robertcounts5300]

A buddy of mine got a bullet car about 6 months, don't remember the miles, he paid $19,000 for it. I will say this for it, it is nimble and quick! Great tear down, keep up the good work!

[@donaldhoot7741]

The CDC and Dr. Fauci say, "Never go back to front". Great Teardown!

[@hernandovillamarinbuenaven7476]

@Donald Hood : You killed me w / 'Fraudci's remark!!.. 😂🤣😅 BTW: 'Fraudci' & Co., will ALL be right at the very front of the line, bound to take their timeless 'bath' in the boiling glass/ sulphur bath quite soon... 🥵

[@CoIoneIPanic]

@@hernandovillamarinbuenaven7476 fuk fraudci

[@donaldhoot7741]

It's OK to go front to back as long as you never go front again.

[@TheAviam]

Fauxi can "divide" an engine by pouring covid 91 on it. LoL

[@Viper30330k]

Love the great content, I love tearing stuff apart. I would be interested in seeing some of the prep work you do to parts to get them ready to sell.

[@no-damn-alias]

27:40 you can see that the rod said goodbye due to severe knocking. This is such a high frequency and intensity situation that it removes the carbon from the pistons in those spots and you can clearly see where it happened

[@no-damn-alias]

Also visible in on the step/edge of the piston left of it but way less intense on smaller area. You also use this to determine knock when developing an engine

[@WRCWRX]

Mercedes Benz technician here. This is all too common when it comes to the M278. Maybe not the spun bearing but for sure excessive camshaft, rocker & piston wear. After 80k these engines grind themselves apart. Seen so many come in knocking, misfire faults or metal debris in oil filter. Unfortunately I can not recommend owning a vehicle that has a M278 in it if it has over 80k on it unless you plan on replacing that motor in the future.

[@danielbec4287]

Very interesting and good to know But also, very disappointing. My question is, why? Why are their grinding like that? I am shocked to see how much this was grinding itself, as you say, but why is that happening?? Do you have an explanation for it? And the funny part is, I was planning to buy one of these Mercs because I know this engine is very powerful Now I'm...🤔🤔😪

[@WRCWRX]

@@danielbec4287 I only can guess it is due to heat & the long oil change interval that MB recommended. 10K oil change is a terrible idea on this motor. Lots of customers stretch it even further. It is a very costly engine to repair also as usually the engine has to be removed for lets say a turbo replacement which also is common after 100K. The M157 AMG version of this motor is slightly more reliable I will say but still seen some with same issues with higher mileage.

[@danielbec4287]

@@WRCWRX I think you are right When my brother got a c300 Mercedes, he told me that the dealer only charges the oil for him once every 15k miles I said they are crazy I don't care what oil it is, it's not gonna be good for that long. This is a scam started by Mercedes

[@jacobmeisner9255]

I love the German engine teardowns.

[@johnnicol8598]

Me too. It's a horror show of ridiculous over engineering and things I never want to own!

[@michaelhofer9149]

I think Mercedes needs to consider using hardened head bolts instead of the "ALL THREAD ROD" they are using. No wonder the head bolt broke. I've NEVER seen head bolts that looked like all thread rod like these head bolts. I'm impressed that you actually use a flex handle to crack the bolts when tearing an engine down. I couldn't be bothered so I had my 3/8" and 1/2" pneumatic impact wrenches waiting for their turn at disassembly! Awesome video sir, please keep them coming as it's possible. Life gets REAL busy when the second child hits the house but THAT'S what life is all about! Thank you for educating an OldGoat on these modern marvels. In the 60's they told us by the turn of the century we would be driving flying cars. Now I understand why they didn't specify WHAT century! Chick$hits!

[@josephreisinger33]

I worked at a MB dealer for 20 years. I have seen some really stupid shit that go's on behind showroom. Some of it was the service manager and or technician and a lot of BAD MOTORS FROM MB..... Like when the CLA came out. And AMG S class. Tanks dude, Great show as always.!!!

[@romeokabatay4655]

I find your engine tear-downs intreresting and informative, thank you very much.

[@Cartier_specialist]

It looks like when you're tearing down a Mercedes engine you might want to add a cod piece as a safety device.

[@emilschw8924]

Lol, and start a new fashion statement with codpieces...

[@sfbfriend]

I'm impressed! Someone on the internet actually using "You're" Nice to see

[@emilschw8924]

@@sfbfriend Now if we can sort out breaks and brakes...

[@Tracked350Z]

Or then and than.

[@sfbfriend]

@@emilschw8924 No shit!!

[@mkfaruki]

Awesome job on the teardown. Shocked to hear the snapping sounds from the head bolts. The orange stuff is Permatex Orange High Temperature Silicone, normally used on Porsche 911 engines, it is used because there are no gaskets on the block or timing covers. Looks like it was repaired before, they overtightened the head bolts. The cam, rod bearings, main bearings were oil starved, was messed up from being run dry, no oil. I have seen that happen from not refilling oil during an oil change. The orange color coating is varnish from running high temperatures or low quality oil. Blue antifreeze is factory spec on newer Mercedes. Im wondering if the pistons were reversed causing the bore scoring. The Aluminium Silicate Crystal bores are heck to repair, bore, hone and chemically regrow the lining. Crankshaft can be reconditioned using Metal Spray method. Loose rod bolts could be fatigue, Mercedes rod bolts are Stretch bolts, must be replaced during rebuild. Overall Mercedes have got way complicated, unnecessarily so. With turbos you dont need variable valve timing, just use turbos with variable exhaust vanes. Have fun 👍

[@lordcorgi6481]

Yeah those head bolts are a familiar sound. We call them home runs, because it sounds like hitting a baseball with an aluminum bat when they break lose 🤣 Mercedes head bolts are always extremely tight.

[@beyondmywildestdreams6942]

I really enjoy and learn so much from your videos,so I wanna thank you for making all these amazing videos,good luck🖖

[@ThisIsInput]

The torque specs of those head bolts are "Guten Tight"

[@andrewkennedy9704]

Was searching for this comment so thank you.

[@lastguy8613]

I always thought that torque spec was called all of it!

[@andrewkennedy9704]

@@lastguy8613 not for German engines.

[@2down4up]

The head bolt torque is 20Nm, 40Nm, and then three 90 degree sequences for a total of 5 steps. The struggle is real and everything you dealt with is normal, though I don’t know of broken bolts being common. Also if you think breaking them loose sucks, try having to tighten them all.

[@josepeixoto3384]

someone neglected to proper lube the threads,male and female, and the underside, on that one not easy,and time consuming, it's a job in itself,you need to do and undo them up and down a few times with a very low speed cordless drill in order to lube both threads well,and slow in order not to centifuge it off; and the underside of the nut,that needs a trully special lube,copper based... i assemble, alone, Jaguar V12s for racing boats there,then stiction took its toll

[@brandonsabella3187]

Awesome tear down! I love these videos

[@markandkiminnewzealand2702]

That was cool. Quite a complex engine. Thanks for sharing

[@paul9874]

The only things I saw that were orange in the tear down were the timing chain tensioners that looked to be plastic. That is my guess.

[@brycebalke859]

As an MB tech, I’m thinking the same. Only orange part in the engine

[@hydrocarbon8272]

It looks like that oil pump is a variable displacement type. That "servicable" outer ring moves left and right, altering how far the vanes open & collapse. That's probably what that first dohickey was you pulled off.

[@notme8121]

In other words the Germans even over-engineered the oil pump

[@notme8121]

All It has to do is pump oil doesn't need to be complicated

[@landolfi4352]

i work for benz i love that engine the raspines and the low lag you get its amazing

[@1rednecktech]

That cam may have never been hardened. Early 90's Mercedes 603 diesel head bolts are TIGHT, when I'm in a junkyard getting a head I use a floor jack handle on a cheater bar to remove them.

[@darylmorse]

Thanks for tearing down this engine. Really enjoyed it. If anyone wants to see M157s getting rebuilt instead of just getting torn down, check out this channel: kzbin.info. Tasos builds these engines with Darton sleeves and aftermarket rods and pistons, apparently good for over 900 HP. He has also built a few N63 and S63 engines, plus lots of other types. It's another channel that I watch regularly.

[@trentdawg2832]

Tasos is the MBZ god!!!!

[@jimsvideos7201]

This engine deserves the "how much sh*t can we bolt to a V8" award, with an honorable mention in the "bolts made of f*cking what?" category.

[@dennisyoung4631]

“Why, they’re made of *Cheesium,* of course!”

[@h2oaddict28]

Apparently it makes 6hp/l more than its NA V6 brother.

[@MrBitemeidareya]

Oh man, you should see the M176/7/8, those have so much more shit crammed in them

[@sfbfriend]

@@MrBitemeidareya Typical German over engineering! Every other engine I've seen him tear apart has a typical Ger-Rotor oil pump, very simple, also used on aircraft. Don't see why you need a variable oil pump designed like that, seems over complicated.

[@MrBitemeidareya]

@@sfbfriend The theory behind it is to free up engine load when that extra oil pressure isn't needed. That increase fuel economy

[@dans_Learning_Curve]

I enjoyed the walk around and learning more about you and your business.

[@johnelliott7375]

Thanks for sharing your work with us again and I will say that shirt you have on is awesome.

[@HeavyTanker-vx4oq]

The only Enigne i wanna see torn down eventually is one of the Lincoln/Ford AJ-8 3.9Ls. Interesting Engines, and as the Owner of 2 Lincoln LSs id like to see inside my own engine, without taking it down to the short block.

[@Prestiged_peck]

I always held the belief that those things were based on a jag design.

[@HeavyTanker-vx4oq]

@@Prestiged_peck It is, its specifically a Modified version of the 4.0 AJ-8 that was in cars like the S-Type and XJ-8. With a shorter stroke, and different materials that actually make them a little more durable.

[@life_of_riley88]

You'll likely find good bores, clean looking bearings, etc. The Aj V8 is a wonderful engine, so long as the timing chain tensioners are sorted(2004+ already had this done from the factory). I've owned two of these v8's, one of them the supercharged 420hp version and they have been wonderfully reliable.

[@FrankyRedEyes]

SO MANY fasteners! Tremendous contrast between this Mercedes engine and last weeks Chevy 350.

[@scooterwoodley195]

Another stellar episode of Saturday Night AUTOpsy. When someone asks you what you do, you should tell them you’re a coroner in charge of death investigations and autopsies, and dabble in internal and external body parts sales.

[@rogerfleury3591]

I believe this is what’s in my S550? My car is in a heated garage. Serviced on scheduled intervals as my owners manual suggests. I do however change the oil and filter every 3 months no matter how many miles I drive. Which is between 900-1800 miles. I’ve been that way with all my vehicles. And have gotten many years of trouble free driving with this method. My friends think I’m nuts, but looking back at their cars and the repairs they’ve had to make tells the story. Paying for preventive maintenance cost so much less in the long run than them abusing their cars until they have to be towed to the dealership for repairs that could have been avoided by taking better care of them. Not to mention the huge repair costs they have to cover. I just smile when they tell us about their vehicles braking down. Who’s nuts now? I own my S550 4Matic,1993 300CE convertible,1996 Ford F150, and last but not least, 1967 Volkswagen Beetle. All in showroom condition. I don’t eat anything or drink anything but water in them all. I don’t use them as garbage cans as a lot of people do. Roger in Pierre South Dakota

[@chash7335]

I've had to use a 6' cheater pipe to loosen the head bolts on Mercedes M110 6L engines. They come loose with a bang that will jar your teeth. Thanks again for a very interesting tear down.

[@mikefoehr235]

Spring loaded

[@CaptainSpadaro]

12:29 the new DOHC J-series in the Acura TLX Type-S does something similar, except the cam journal/tower caps are apparently integrated with the VC itself. I had been wondering where they got such a silly idea.

[@jeremymurphy7320]

Ahh...takes me back to my high school days and helping a friend pull apart a 350 Chevy in a '75 Malibu. We had to use a 4' snipe to break several of the head bolts loose. That car also had one of those optional really low-lift camshafts along with the accompanying concave lifters.

[@anthonybertone2336]

Lol Old Blue, I’m really happy that you take the time to make a weekly video,

[@snakehead324]

Would love to see a w8 from an older vw sedan if you ever see one on the cheap.

[@RobGriffiths]

Cause of failure, cam phaser screen material blocking oil passages on the auto engines ;)

[@taomicioli]

humble mechanic did a tear of one

[@nickma71]

Seeing the carbon in all these direct injection engines shows why "old school" LS, Supra, 5.0/4.6...is desirable.

[@I_know_what_im_talking_about]

They made these engines like this ON PURPOSE… so they can now push a $1,500 carbon cleaning service on all these cars. 🤷🏻‍♂️ it’s brilliant… for their bottom dollar. Sucks for all the second & 3rd owners who buy these out of warranty.

[@MrBitemeidareya]

Yeah but you're not LS swapping a mercedes

[@nickma71]

I would never buy any Mercedes-Benz product anyway.

[@nickma71]

@@MrBitemeidareya Because I would never waste my money on MB.

[@MrBitemeidareya]

@@nickma71 to each their own

[@callishandy8133]

I love watching these teardowns.

[@andydsm]

Hey Eric, Loving every bit of your teardowns and congrats for 100k! Please, pretty please with a cherry on top, do a teardown of a Mitsubishi 6G72 twin turbo engine :)

[@mathuetax]

Yipes that valve fouling! Head torque specs. 7,37,74,103,133-140, +90-100° Yah, they might be tight.

[@chrisbrown3925]

NM?

[@damanifesto]

There's a product you can spray into the intake on direct injection engines which will clean some of that carbon buildup off.

[@michaelskinner896]

What is it?

[@damanifesto]

@@michaelskinner896 CRC GDI intake valve cleaner.

[@TheAviam]

I did enjoy the whole teardown. I have a 2013 Mercedes cl550. Bad ass twin turbo engine. Governor pulls it out of gear at 140mph. Great description & narration. 5* Glad to know u have import parts as well.

[@davidbeer]

Really enjoyed this teardown.

[@CharlesVanNoland]

Seems like the steel anti-backoff strips could've just been yanked with some pliers pretty painlessly.

[@Butterfingerme]

They’re not as easy as they look, they’re meant to keep bolts from backing off so they’re pretty sturdy

[@231mac]

So... he's having a small issue, albeit, but still an issue none the less, with pulling off the strips (that have 20 sharp teeth anchoring into the nut) with a FULL SIZE PRY BAR, but you think an ordinary set of pliers would have just easily ripped them off. Yeah, that's a pretty asinine assessment, Chuck.

[@CharlesVanNoland]

@@231mac Do you always go around the internet having a cow? PS: It's Charlie.

[@OgamiItto70]

@@CharlesVanNoland Isn't that what the internet's for...?

[@CharlesVanNoland]

@@OgamiItto70 Sure, If you suck at life, at least from my experience.

[@baitse7676]

Cool seeing you on Nathan's channel! How's that yellow 996?

[@I_Do_Cars]

Pretty good, but WAY too loud. Already have a pile of parts for it

[@hbmbc]

love this channel.. i have learned alot watching you tear down engines :)

[@Leftie498]

Yooo these videos are awesome keep up the good work you go over everything instead of putting music over the video 10/10

[@mattt198654321]

I'm imaging a room full of German engineers laughing manically as they describe how overcomplicated this engine is going to be... "Und zen, ve vill put shtainless shteel brackets over ze exhaust manifold...muhahahaha!!!"

[@pgill2682]

The m278/m157 looks complicated but are very simple for the most part. I would work on on m278 all day vs an N63 BMW V8

[@Phuong_Nguyen_]

Mercedes are pretty easy to work on, the whole car. Not hard at all.

[@pgill2682]

@@Phuong_Nguyen_ I agree .

[@JonathanHernandez-mq5zy]

Come work on mine😂

[@pgill2682]

@user-ng9sm7tw5u what's wrong with it? Lol

[@JonathanHernandez-mq5zy]

@@pgill2682 well i dont know i think my water pump is leaking or a hose is leaking i thought these motors were bulletproof from what i read but now digging more in it seems they have a lot of issues i have the e550 2014 4matic

[@l.b.stringfellow2413]

Awesome video !! Great seeing what mine looks like inside.. have owned 17 MBs and always change oil at 5-6k. NOT the recommended 10-12k. Never ever had an engine issue other than a couple painful intake parts .. my CLS 550 has 127k miles now , runs like new and actually been most reliable overall .. overmaintain these beasts and don’t drive if the ck engine light won’t go off. The Germans use those for night lights but get it scanned anyway

[@martinmiller7623]

Best stunt mechanic. Love your channel.

[@dwtrksvc]

Any ideas on how many miles were on this engine? Asking for a friend who owns a CLS550 with a similar (same?) engine. Great video Eric!

[@Anderwist]

I would also like to know the mileage

[@Varodd99]

It almost seems like someone did some work but did not fully tighten all the rod caps and the one spun.

[@drswanny9000]

Look at 39:23 he loosened the second rod and forgot…

[@michaelbaldwin9168]

I had just purchased a bi‐turbo M278 in a W221 S-550 Benz from Copart this week. Listed as Runs & Drives. Lol Got it home and I believe it has a bad head gasket. This video was super helpful and much appreciated from a fellow St. Louisian

[@danielmarson1131]

Absolutely love your work. Cheers

[@lastguy8613]

Every time I watch you work on a German engines I realise again why they lost ww2

[@danielbec4287]

No Just no

[@TheAviam]

There's a reason why they almost conquered all of Europe. Luckily my Ukrainian family got to usa before WW2 or id probably never would have been born Ukrainian Tunisian Israeli

[@JadXtreme]

I wonder if the Mercedes Benz extended oil changes killed this one 🤔

[@danielbec4287]

Very possible!! Turboed, and direct injection engine do not tolerate old oil They need it fresh and frequent

[@cessna195]

I have two MB with these engines. Change oil less than 5000 mi. 10000mi oil change is just plain crazy IMHO!

[@SamwiseOutdoors]

I was a warranty advisor on a 166 chassis GLE with one of these. The piston came apart and got mashed into the combustion chamber. We got warranty approval from MBUSA for (drumroll) one piston and associated labor. The head was hashed, the valves were toast, the cylinder walls were *gounged* and MB threw us a freaking piston and said "good luck".

[@TheManny1952]

I just got a recall noticed from MB on my 2015 SL550 with head problems extending warranty to 120,000 miles.😢 Thanks for your video