While driving home from work, I heard a ping, the check engine light came on, and I immediately took it in to have it looked over.


That’s when disappointment turned to devastation, as the dealer repair shop told me it’d cost around $7,000 and take up to three weeks (to get parts) to have my baby back on the road. It is a 2008, with just over 34,000 miles on it, barely out of the warrantee.


As I began to do more online research, I’ve discovered that this is a well known problem on this particular engine.

Engine malfunction indicator lamp

If illuminated while driving:​

>

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Have the vehicle checked at an authorized smart center immediately.​

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Kathleen,
If the "ping" you describe prior to the check engine was the engine hand grenading, I doubt you could have driven your smart to the smart Center without noticeable smoke and a loss of power?

"A well known problem on this particular engine" - means what? 5, 50 or 500 documented failures just like yours? Please point us to your findings on the web.

We commend you for your choice of a nursing career and your recent conversion to an environmentalist lifestyle but without the EXACT nature of the apparent engine failure (?) as diagnosed by your smart Center, members of this Forum can only guess at a possible solution . . .

 

Hi, Kathleen. Sorry to hear your Smart is in the shop. I may have missed it in your note, but I can't make out what the actual problems are with the car. I can't think of anything that could cost $7k. I've had to endure two replacements of the clutch actuator (one was on Smart, the other on me), but they 'only' cost $900 and $1500. You're right to be annoyed at Smart's lame warranty; 24,000 miles is far too little and demonstrates a lack of confidence in the product. The new Fiat 500s that are just now hitting the US come with a much more robust warranty (I think it's 5 yrs or 50k miles), as does just about every other car.

Knowing that I was going to drive my car for many miles, I opted for the extended warranty and basically broke even with it.

Best of luck!

 

I'm with Unicycle. I'm sorry to hear this has happened to you, but what is going to cost you $7k? Do they need to replace the entire engine? Did you somehow hit something on the bottom of your oil pan that would create a slow leak as to run the car without oil long enough to seize? That is the only thing I can think of.

If they need to replace the engine, look for wrecked smarts online that have a working engine, but just front end damage. That way, you can salvage the engine and save a great deal of money.

 

Sorry about your car issues. A new engine runs around 4,000 to 4,500 dollars, plus labor to install. Cars aren't cheap to maintain. We needed a Honda transmission in a Accord. It cost 4 grand. I wouldn't invest $7,000 in to a $10,000 smart car. No matter how much you love it. That would be crazy. I would just sell if off to a salvage yard. Get a new car for you 7 grand. Your just going to have to count your loses on this. That's too bad, for a car with only 34,000 miles on it.

The other thing you could do, is raise hell with corporate smart usa, sometime a car company will pay half of the cost, if the car close to the warranty period. Transmission went out in my brother Acura TL, just out of warranty. Acura paid for half. Give smart usa a call. Can't hurt.

 

First of all let me say thank you for being a caring nurse it seems that the nurses do most if not all the work and get none of the credit. Kudos to you.
my suggestion is to keep your head up and stay calm, my first suggestion is to find out exactly what is wrong with your smart, get a quote from the dealer, then get a second opinion. with the economy the way it is I would not be surprised to hear that you car has been half ass diagnosed and most likely the quote includes items that may be able to be reused. I have brought my smart into the shop for a warranty repair and all they did was make the problem worse so now I don't trust anyone alone with my car. I am a mechanic so now I choose to repair my own car even if its a warranty issue. it seems they rush through a repair and cause other problems down the road from leaving bolts and fasteners out to just plain crappy work. so who's to say the dealer that maintained this smart didn't cause the problem your having. either way get another opinion. for your sake I hope the dealer misdiagnosed your smart and that it turns out to be something simple or at least cheaper to repair.
my last bit of advise would be is to have a second form of transportation,
the smart is a cool car and people get many care free miles from them but when they breakdown they can be a pain in the a%& to get parts for. so if you depend on having a working vehicle for your career make it a priority to always have a backup plan as your services are critical to the patients that are depending on you to care of them.

 

This is exact;y why I don't recommend the Smart to anyone like a student, or someone of limited means. My guess is that you grenaded the engine -- that's the only thing on the car that could cost anywhere near that much (and actually it shouldn't cost that much even if that is the problem). YOu have a couple of choices. I'd push corporate to cover either all or part of it. ALso, you need a second opinion before laying ou that kind of cash. If Smart really won't help (even with part of the repair -- some companies will help with half or something) then you should find a mechanical friend and buy a salvage smart and do a transplant. It will cost WAY less than $7K to do that -- maybe less than $2K

 

Love to know what went wrong?

 

same here, known issue? I have only heard of two or three engine problems that were that destructive.

 

Has to be lack of oil, one is in the shop in Tampa, the girl ignored the check engine light and kept driving.
I was told it will. Take time before it's fixed.

 

You need to tell us about the problem.

 

.....As I began to do more online research, I’ve discovered that this is a well known problem on this particular engine. ....

What exactly is the problem with your smart ?

Where did you "research" this info? Please post it so others can read it !!!! (I couldn't find it !)

 

Merged the two threads; +1 on describing the exact malfunction.

 

Time to hear from Larry on this...

 

I don't think the Pano roof replacement is $7K....

 

LOL

There was a small "ping" from the engine, the "check engine light" came on and it started running rough. A compression check showed a dead #3 cylinder. It went to the only Smart car dealer in the state of Utah. They said that is a piston/cylinder problem and the block portion of the engine will have to be replaced with a new one for $5000 plus approximately $2000 labor.

OK fine, but the way to fix this isn't a new factory short block -- it just too danged expensive. If smart won't cover at least 50% of, which they should unless it was low on oil (which it may have been). It would be interesting to know when the oil was checked the last time. Still, it would be unusual for a Japanese engine to burn that much oil between changes (unless there was already something wrong!). Take it to an independent mechanic, order the engine that was posted and drop it in. There is REALLY no reason this ought to cost $7K. Like others have posted, you could buy a GOOD used car for that [instead of a Smart]. From everything I read on the web, this is not a difficult engine to replace. If the dealer and Smart won't help, there is no reason not to get a competent mechanic to do it for WAY less.

 

There was a small "ping" from the engine, the "check engine light" came on and it started running rough. A compression check showed a dead #3 cylinder. It went to the only Smart car dealer in the state of Utah. They said that is a piston/cylinder probem and the block portion of the engine will have to be replaced with a new one for $5000 plus approximately $2000 labor.

 

Thanks for the additional information, does sound like the hand grenade went off!

To Kathleen's comment - "I’ve discovered that this is a well known problem on this particular engine", don't confuse the 450 engine (Europe and Canada, CDI, gas and turbos) with the Mitsubishi engine that powers the NA 451. Sadly, all auto makers to include GM, Ford etc have engine failures before their time - sorry that your smart had to be the one . . .

I would agree with some previous posts, a low mileage used engine installed by a local mechanic who specializes in Euro vehicles might be a more "affordable" option?

Nice to see that this thread has awakened DALE, the SCOA Forum resident naysayer . . .

 

FYI, It is out of warranty anyway right?

Make some calls, you don't have to go to a smart center to get it fixed. And as other have suggested, For that cost a Used one from a front end damaged smart could save you BIG bucks.

 

Yessir!

 

Diagnosis of $7,000 repair on $10,000 Smart car

The car was taken to the Mercedes/Smart dealer in Lindon, Ut. The problem was diagnosed as a failure of the #3 piston/cylinder. THe quote is $5,000 for a new engine short block and approximately $2,000 for labor.
Parts availability is quoted at 1-2 weeks.

 

The car was taken to the Mercedes/Smart dealer in Lindon, Ut. The problem was diagnosed as a failure of the #3 piston/cylinder. THe quote is $5,000 for a new engine short block and approximately $2,000 for labor.
Parts availability is quoted at 1-2 weeks.

$5,000 for a 'short block' and $2,000 for LABOR? we sell complete LONG BLOCKS for v6's for less than that and the labor? OMG......that's something like 20 flat rate hours at $100.00/hr.

they MUST be thinking you bought a Mercedes, not a smart!

 

Once again we see another "happy and satisfied" Smart owner getting it where it hurts. I think we all love our little Smarts until we find that waiting down the road is the possibility of some serious cost issues that are not part of other vehicle ownership.

 

This is Kathleen again, just under the screenname I have at work.

As soon as the ping (like a guitar string that is tightened until it pops) happened, and the light came on, it was less than a mile from the house. There was a noticible loss in power, but no smoke. From there, it was taken by trailer to the dealership, not driven.

Rcadman has posted more of the information about my Smart (see above).

 

I've followed this forum for over 3 years now and haven't seen but one or two smarts with engine problems.
I've also done a fair amount of research into the Mitsubishi engine without any real problems?
I've had my smart now for 3 years, hope I didn't miss something!

 

How many miles were showing and what oil did it have in it at the fail point? Was the same oil used all along?

 

This is very sad indeed. I think that the right thing for you do to is complain to smart directly. Get all of your documentation in order including all of your oil change receipts and firmly request financial assistance from the factory.

If they don't help, then I think the best thing to do is purchase a used engine. Check with the local high schools. Sometimes they are looking for cars to work on. An engine swap (using a used engine from a donor smart) should be easy for them to do and fun too.

 

I just called LKQ, they have an engine in TX with 34,000 miles on it for $3200. Again, an engine swap for a competent mechanic is much simpler than tearing down the entire engine.

800-424-2002

jeff

 

I just called LKQ, they have an engine in TX with 34,000 miles on it for $3200. Again, an engine swap for a competent mechanic is much simpler than tearing down the entire engine.

800-424-2002

jeff

It's just a few hour job to switch engines from everything I read -- I haven't done one yet, but I'm thinking it couldn't be that hard. If you are going to own a Smart long-term eventually you will have to do the engine. Fortunately I only have about 6K Km on mine, so it will be awhile before I have to tear it down.

We have been waiting for you larry

Unfortunately, sometimes the trolls are right. There are a LOT more reliable cars out there that are cheaper to own and operate. I, like most, bought the car for fun. I [still] wouldn't recommend one to a student, or someone with very limited means -- it can be just too expensive to fix if something goes wrong. Better for them to get a car that won't have issues. I still like mine and would never trade it off, but I'm not delusional about it.

 

$7K can buy a very low mileage Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit or Nissan in perfectly pristine condition that gets better mileage, has no $7000 parts, can be repaired in any number of non-dealer-ripoff repair shops by ordinary mechanics and don't use $24/quart special transmission fluid and $9/quart Mobil 1 oil.

Our mistake.....we're all paying the price. Dump it and buy a nice used little car from a japanese or korean car company that can be reasonably fixed. My neighbor's Yaris has 84,000 miles on it and all he does is change the oil when he thinks of it, running on the cheapest gas available.

 

Our mistake.....we're all paying the price.

Just stay no to Larry's Kool-Aid!

 

We have been waiting for you larry

 

WOW larry, you pay $9 a quart for oil?