Whats everyones opinions. I believe the engines are tough as old boots when standard and well looked after..

 

depends how you drive and maintain them id expect, ours gets driven daily and has never had anything major go wrong, the worst was a snapped exhaust cam, they can be reliable, tho i personally think people who only use em 4mths a year have lots more running problems from what ive seen

 

...very tuff upto a stage 3 thats got a proper chip in it that has written on to it a procedure for folk to hold flat out for more than 60 seconds!!!!...Also make sure you replace the fuel pump wiring and check fuel pressure.

 

In my experience, they are bullet proof when standard or with just a couple of bits. But as soon as you start to play with modifications etc then expect unreliability and regular repairs.

However, they are quite simple engines and parts are readily available. I think if you treat them like a 'delicate little lady' then they will treat you with the same courtesy. If you treat it like a whore, then it'll f*ck you!!

 

They used to be reliable when they were new, now though typically the rooms are rotting, the sensors are all fucked and the engines are badly worn.

Get them back into "as new" condition though, and like Phil says, reliable even when moderately tuned

 

if the right parts are used, the engines are very reliable at 400 BHP and even above that figure (as mike r can prove )

transmission is a big letdown on 4x4 units

 

I suspect Mike's engine is what a lot of people would class as unreliable.

If you asked a random person in the street to say how many miles he expects a fairly modern engine to do without problems they would reply "a couple of hundred thousand" I suspect.

So while to those of us who know a bit more about tuned engines mikes 20K+ or whatever it was seems reliable, to the average man on the street it wouldnt.

 

i agree with you chip,,, but would YOU class it as reliable? i think its 36,000 miles isnt it

 

Couldn't fault my Escos for reliability. It's all down to how it's maintained IMO.

In 7 years ownership, it fried a lambda sensor, destroyed a gearbox [which I thought it would once it got 380bhp] and it split a couple of hoses. Other than that it was 100% reliable.

 

...apparently my 5.4L is just run in at 108000 miles ...in a Cossie youd be on rebuild number 4 atleast

 

Yes I would class that as absolutely the best its going to get at that level of tune.

Doug stirling got 28,000 miles out of his 511bhp T4 motor too, another great example of what is in my opinion very reliable for a big power motor.


200,000 miles at 250bhp per litre, just doesnt happen if you ever actually use the car hard IMHO!

 

Leakdown test it and I bet its a little more than "just run in", i think you have been listening to the salesman too much

 

...dont need to do that until 250k mate...its AMG hand built by a pro not a back street tuner or a DIYer

 

this is always something that annoys me tbh...Cossies are the sort of cars that some people buy,without having the money to maintain them, then when they go wrong (usually through lack of maintenance or poor setup) they get labelled as unreliable

the YB even standard doesn't actually wear that well anyway,it's just one of those things...so pushing double it's intended power or more, is of course going to shorten it's life,this doesn't mean it's unreliable at all!! how many miles do people think the old RS500 touring cars did between strip downs??? not 10's of thousands of miles !! literally only hundreds i'd guess! (i know it's an extreme example,but these power levels take some maintenance)

if every person who bought one,put aside Ł500 for all new sensors,and a proper setup..then there'd be less broken cossies in the world!

the trouble is every new owner wants to increase power asap,and sometimes as cheap as possible...not a good idea!

For the record neither of my cossies have ever broken down on me,not once!! i have had small issues,but nothing worse than a missfire really....i rebuilt the engine in my first one through choice,not necessity as such...

 

Bud....i agree but my first one i had i had no clue whatsoever and just drove it...100miles later it spun a shell ...and from there my DIY saga started

 

Pro or not the piston rings will have worn against the bores after 100,000 miles, thats a hell of a lot of hours of two bits of metal rubbing together with only a moderate amount of lubricant between them.

Im sure it will keep going a while yet, but its a LONG way past "just run in" that would have been within a thousand miles, in fact probably a lot less with modern engine building techniques.

 

Chip why be so serious? ...They say the same for M3's aswell...its a term used because they are bullet proof engines

 

tbh i kinda know what your saying Phil....i mean a YB that's done 108k WILL be needing a rebuild soon,and probably uses shed loads of oil and smokes like a bastard..

whereas a modern Merc engine would probably still be like new,so to speak

 

I think what he is trying to say is it's not just run in as such, But is far far from being worn out.