I have a 2007 mcs. It went off the road 2 years ago due to the garage diagnosing a stretched timing chain. It’s been lying up my driveway ever since.
I finally got round to replacing the timing chain over Easter. Had a broken water pump drive friction wheel which stopped me getting it all back together. Part finally arrived so this weekend, engine is back together, sump was dropped and cleaned out, fresh oil and filter done.
Moment of truth...took a wee while to start, but then it has been sitting for 2 years.
It’s running beautifully at 2000 rpm, but lift your foot of the throttle and it splutters and conks out.
The timing is absolutely spot on...I checked it over and over.
Could it be the vanos solenoid that’s causing it?
Any other things to check?
No check engine lights came on. I don’t have a code reader to check if there are any being reported.
Turns out it was the vanos solenoid sticking (it got some of the thin mesh stuck in the pin so wasn’t actuating.)New solenoid cured the problem. It was running like a new car!!
However, after a short drive, It now has a loud knocking noise which I think is a timing chain tensioner failure, but I’ve not had time to rip it all apart again. Other possibility is that the tensioner hasn’t failed, but there could be a blockage in the oil feed to it stopping it from tensioning.