Pekkapyssy

Hello ladies & gents,

I am new here, been lurking the C36/C43 pages for a few days now. Situation is this: last weekend I met a guy (friend of friend) while sailing and found out he has a C36 AMG that he parked several years ago after it started to blow smoke out the exhaust. He says it's dark smoke, not white (steam) smoke like a typical head gasket issue. From the sound of it, it still sounds like a head gasket issue here and my research agrees. I need to know what to look for, what to inspect, and anything that will tell me if I should remain interested, or run away. It's a one owner car, not driven very much (think he said 50k'ish), but I suspect that it didn't make it to the dealer frequently enough. I was told that it developed a coolant leak that wasn't noticed until that fateful day. I have learned about the H.G. issue, wiring in engine bay issue, and a few other bits to look into. Since buying a car that needs work, that isn't a Chevy, can end up being an expensive proposition, I need to know everything possible when I inspect it. I am a wrencher, have done a head gasket job on a BMW E30 before, trans/clutch swap on a VW Passat, plus plenty of other repairs on the BMW, British cars, and domestic cars. Anyone out there to help a Merc newbie with this?

Twichel04

If you are mechanically inclined, you really won't find anything on the car that will be too difficult to tackle. Check the engine harness, transmission harness, and throttle body harness. If the mileage is that low, and it didn't frequent the dealer, it may still have the original, which would have deteriorated by now. Post up some pictures when you go look at it. Any idea on what the seller wants out of it?

Pekkapyssy

He said something like,"look up the low price for one on NADA or KBB, and take a little off because of the engine issue". The owner is a real smart, tech savvy guy but doesn't turn wrenches. I'm thinking if the engine harness is flakey, engine oil seeps from the head gasket in the back on pass side, and it's blowing white or grey smoke, then the price has to come down a fair bit. I'm just concerned that it's more than I can see. I think his wife is fed up with a car that doesn't move in their garage, so she wants it out...soon. I'll take pics of engine bay, report back Sunday afternoon/evening.

BenzMaster19

What year is the C36 AMG?
If it actually does have that low mileage and the body has no rust I would pick it up if everything else checks out good! Redoing the harness and head gasket isn't that bad if everything else checks out good! Let's see some pics of that beauty...

Pekkapyssy

I think he said it's a '97. He mentioned a few small surface paint bubbles/rust, as well as a couple light dings from being in the garage so long, foot traffic, etc.. I guess I should approach this car expecting it to need head work, wire harnesses, and possibly tires (they could be flat spotted, dry), all fluids, and tune up. I've owned a black car before, I really hope it's not black. Even though I like to clean, polish, and wax my cars, black paint is always trouble. Will show pics as soon as I can.

BenzMaster19

Well if it's a '97 then you can certainly scratch off the wiring harness from your to do list as it was corrected in early to mid '96.

Pekkapyssy

Well, I saw it yesterday. A '97 with a 9/96 build date. I was a little bit off on the mileage, it's 135k, not 50 something. Car blows dark white smoke, not black oil smoke, out of the tailpipe. Oil level was a bit high, smelled like it could be fuel washed. It had a dead battery, jumped it, car ran. After I shut it off it wouldn't show any voltage at the battery, so it needs a new one. The paint looks good overall, yet there are a few rust spots. Interior looks fine, only some wear on the steering wheel and shift knob. Nice to hear it won't need an engine harness.

This car was driven after sitting for extended periods. It was the daily driver from '97 to '08, then the owner got a new car. On it's last fatal(ish) outing, car was doing 50mph, caame to a stoplight and overheated. As the story goes, car was let to cool down, then driven a couple city blocks back to the owners garage, parked and left to collect dust. Owner had a new daily driver, so this C36 just sat in the corner. From what I can tell so far the car needs a battery, some rust spot repairs, and a head gasket kit. Tires are all the same Michelin pilot sport A/S, half way worn out.

One of these pics tries to show the source of an oil leak that started to puddle under the car, and we noticed it after we shut the engine off. It looks like it comes from under the alternator, or to the block side of it. Any ideas? Sorry, having trouble posting these pics from my phone. Is it possible to do so here? Do I need a sit down computer just to post a pic?

jkstray

I have a 97 C36 where the mechanic "thought" I needed a new wiring harness when it was actually a bad crank sensor. So I had a brand new one put in for no reason and have the original updated wiring harness for sale if anyone needed a wiring harness for half the cost of a new one.

Let me know!

BenzMaster19

Well it sounds to me as if it suffered an overheating and blew the headgasket, and now it's leaking oil from there, which would happen on pretty much any car anyways.

It sounds like that's about all it
Needs for major work anyways and if so that job isn't terribly hard, and its also a good thing in one way because while your doing the job you can replace almost anything on the engine while your there, and get it done right just the one time.

You might need to be at a computer to send over the pics but it would be awesome to see that beauty and hopefully it
Can get rescued as these baby's are getting rare these days!! Once they've been looked after they are an amazing vehicle.

BenzMaster19

Well that's because '97's didn't have the biodegradable wiring harness I would start up a new thread on here as I'm sure a few people would be interested!

Pekkapyssy

Thank you BenzMaster19, words of encouragement are always welcome and helpful. Funny thing here, my parents and two brothers all have a BMWs, so I'll be setting myself up for being the "Odd Duck" in the family here. Ever since my older brother got out of tech school, began working at a BMW dealer in GA, he convinced the rest of us to drive those "Blau mit weiss" cars exclusively. I hope they'll still talk to me...but I would be following my grandfather's rule, only drive a Mercedes-Benz. . If you're reading this far into my post, maybe you could answer a newbie question. If I pull the head, take it to a machine shop, then find out it's warped beyond limits of skimming, what do I do next? I am used to BMW heads being specific to the "M" motors. I pray that a regular C280 casting can be substituted, but then again somewhere I read that AMG did some CNC porting to the M104 engine's head. Makes me daydream (daymare?) of trying to find a replacement...needle in the haystack/hen's teeth/chicken lips/etc all come to mind. What does one do?

BenzMaster19

Well chances are it'll be fine, worse case a new AMG M104 head will need to be ordered as a regular C280 head is no where near as flowing as the AMG counterpart. AMG did a lot of porting to that head and did it spot on.