WARNING: Driving a 500e/M119 that is missing or running on "4 cylinders"

[kmukherjee]

Don't do it !!! Helping a friend getting his newly purchased 500e [Silver/Black] to the mechanic. Decided to drive car to mechanic about 15 miles away. Long story short fuel dumped raw through exhaust to cat and caught fire [or about to - wasn't studying - was looking to stop situation]. Luckily was at mechanic shop when noticed and caught it.

These cars are getting older and when they sit for a time and brought to life they do strange things - Be safe and drive them like you stole them !!!!!!!


Owner Tip # When talking to the mechanic tell him to look over the complete car and alert him there is a slight shimy at 140 - Please address !! This will ensure you get a 500e back not a 300e

 

[Joncf]

Don't do it !!! Helping a friend getting his newly purchased 500e [Silver/Black] to the mechanic. Decided to drive car to mechanic about 15 miles away. Long story short fuel dumped raw through exhaust to cat and caught fire [or about to - wasn't studying - was looking to stop situation]. Luckily was at mechanic shop when noticed and caught it.

These cars are getting older and when they sit for a time and brought to life they do strange things - Be safe and drive them like you stole them !!!!!!!


Owner Tip # When talking to the mechanic tell him to look over the complete car and alert him there is a slight shimy at 140 - Please address !! This will ensure you get a 500e back not a 300e

This almost happened to me last year when I had a new distributor rotor fail. Half of the engine had no spark.

I pulled over when I smelled the burning, and the crossover pipe before the cats was steaming. Luckily, it didn’t get any further than that. My cats were already failing internally so I soon after had them deleted.


I had the car towed home just to be safe.

Also, after I figured out what had happened, I realized just how lucky I was to have an engine with two distributors as I was able to safely pull into the closest parking lot. The honorary cylinders of 1,4,6 & 7 had my back.. and prevented me from getting stuck on a very busy state road. Had this happened with an M117, M103, or any of their predecessors, the engine would have just quit.

 

[gerryvz]

A good warning indeed. When my EZL failed back in early 2009, I drive my car about 15 miles from my home base of The Woodlands, TX up to a mechanic shop in Conroe, TX. Didn't notice any burning or anything like that, but looking back I was lucky. I was also lucky that the fuel dumped into the exhaust didn't poison my cats.

 

[ChrisH]

Gerry just read your top end rebuild series and enjoyed it.I noticed you had to prelube a lot of seals and o rings, have you ever tried P80 emulsion for assembly? I learned this trick from Vintage Bike when assembling o rings on the rocker shafts, really slick( no pun intended). Give it a try.Available of course on Amazon!