2010 Mercedes c300 sport. 93,400 miles.
Check engine light says P0016 and P0017: technician found 1 bank camshafts off due to balanced shaft wear and timing chain stretched.
-- but car still runs good!
Repair estimate: $4,500. I still owe $3,300. Car was worth about $5,000.
Please advise. Thank you.
Hmm. It seems you basically have three options.
1) Fix it. The most expensive option. $4500 (repair cost) + $3300 (what you owe on the car) = -$7800.
2) Sell it. Not sure if you can get $5000 for it, but if you can, you can put it towards a more reliable car. Obviously, you don’t want to sell it for less than what you owe. $0 to +$1700.
3) Keep driving it until it can no longer be safely driven. -$3300.
I’d probably do either option (2) or (3). (2) if the car was on it’s final legs. (3) if I could squeeze more life out of it with minimal maintenance cost.
Sorry, I meant to upvote your answer. Thank you!
sell sell sell
I'd go to a different mechanic, preferably one that specializes in Mercedes, and ask for his diagnosis.
A lot of the time, codes like these on the 3.0L V6 are either bad timing chain tensions or a dislodged camshaft impulse wheel.
According to the internet, you'd have to ignore obvious bad tensioner symptoms for a while to need a full timing kit.
If you can get more than you owe on it, or close to it, without having to invest anything - why not.
But if you can't, make sure that all of the repairs they're planing to do on it are actually necessary.
I think that $4,500 is ridiculous for a timing kit, VVT sprockets, and some other work.
Good answers. Thanks. I'm just afraid I'll spend a lot of money and the Check Engine light still stays on.