andrew c230k

I was wondering if anyone has had an issue with the coolant disappearing, that is not related to headbolts.

I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out whats going on and I am coming up blank.

I have uv dyed the coolant its not showing up in the exhaust or oil on the ground or any place I can see from under the car with the protective panels off.
I have replaced the coolant tank cap as it was advised that sometimes these go bad.
I have replaced the coolant hose with the plastic t because they also go bad mine was steps away from blowing apart, I though this is where the leak was.

This morning I pressure tested the system and it wont hold 10psi for any substantial length of time and as small amount of coolant maybe 1/16" - 1/8" has come out of the tank.

Plutoe

If it's not going out the exhaust----it's gottabe dripping out somewhere and falling to earth-----have you put paper under the car or taken the time to put the car on a lift and let it run and run to locate the leak!!

BLKROKT

No observable leak. Not holding pressure. Not in oil. I'd bet on a slight head gasket leak, and the coolant is getting vaporized in the cylinders before getting anywhere else. I don't think that would show in oil. But if your system is not holding pressure, it has to be going somewhere and disappearing.

andrew c230k

Yes I have been under the car with a uv light.

Jasonoff

Time to pull the head and swap some parts.

andrew c230k

Yep its what I feared, Mercedes Benz wont even chip in a nickle and they know it's a poorly engineered part, I am so upset about it I am going to sell the car and never buy another Mercedes product again. Anyone with one of these ticking time bombs should sell their's too so your not left holding a live grenade. My car only had 57,000km on it. Yes its a 2008 but some attempt could have been made to help out. Thing that ticks me off the most is back in 2012 I had to add some coolant, I figured it was just because its a 4 year old car and used some up so I just added it I should have probably had it pressure tested then maybe they would have found something and it would have been covered under warrenty at 35,000km.

I was a big time Mercedes AMG enthusiast now I have never owned any other brand of car, but this whole situation has ruined that for me.

ZephyrAMG

Let me get this straight...

You own a matured miled 2008 C63, have coolant leak, might have to pull the heads and change out the headbolts etc., and your upset that, now that your out of warranty, your butt hurt that Mercedes Benz won't come to your house, wipe your rear end for you and pick up the tab 100% for your engine coolant leak, and now your so angry that you won't ever buy a Benz product again?

You need to grow the HELL UP and stop whining like a 6 year old. It's a high performance machine, of moving parts, man made, and things happen. No man made machine is EVER guaranteed for life. There is no UNCONDITIONAL lifetime warranty on anything in life, unless maybe if you own a jar of pickles from Costco.

As much as it sucks that you are going through this, but your mental position and your thought process on accountability is way off. Your pattern of thinking makes you the type that probably would hold the government responsible for making sure it provides you breakfast on the way to work.

I had no headbolt problem but spent the money out of my own pocket to get them replaced and the engine properly serviced.

If you want reliable, go buy a Yaris. Not saying the C63 is an F1 car but with higher performance needs higher maintenance, preventative maintenance, constant maintenance, and perhaps higher failures over time and use.

Your whining cry baby, "it's all their fault all the time" attitude should exclude you from ever owning a Benz AMG or any higher performance car ever for that matter.

Stick to Kias and Toyotas.

BLKROKT

It's an 8yr old car dude. Doing the headbolts and gaskets isn't the end of the world man. Car will be as good as ever after the repair. Be thankful you didn't lock up the engine and get on with it.

Jasonoff

LOL relax. The guy is just expressing his frustration. It's not normal for a HB to stretch/break.

I agree MB should stand by their brand. If I had to redesign a part because of a discovered defect, I would at least heavily discount the new part if not give it away to replace defective one.

andrew c230k

The ratio of the cost of the repair to the cost of the car is much to high, I can understand the cost on a $200,000 car but one that cost $70,000 and having to put a rebuilt engine for half the price of the car, call me butthurt all you want. It's a known problem. I wouldn't consider a 2008 with 57,000 km NOT MILES to need an engine rebuild, I have 2 1969 455 7.4L big block engines here with the orginal headbolts and 5 times the mileage and age.

I could understand them not wanting to help if it had 100,000km on it or 150 or 200k but 57,000 KM its a new engine still.

You can call me what ever you want but once the coolant is in the oil the engine basically needs to be totally rebuilt as you now have coolant in the crankshaft bearings as well and any place the oil lubricates.

I didn't ask Mercedes to cover it, they could at the bare minimum cover the 200 dollars for the bolts THEY designed and specified that THEY installed, They broke when I drove the car under normal street use only 3400 km a year. I have three different 2008 mercedes benz products they all have faults nothing is made to last more then a few years.

ZephyrAMG please do tell me who should be accountable for this problem I am having. I guess with you logic I own it so its my problem

My logic is its cheaper to spend 5 to 10K on 60000 engines with fault bolts then loose out on 60000 $100,000 sales on new C63's

Do you work for a dealership?

ZephyrAMG

I do not work for a dealership. In fact, I am just like you. An owner that purchased the car and has driven it and maintained it. Like I mentioned. I had the car serviced for about $4-5K from head to toe, including headbolts, buckets, etc. to be vigilant and prevent issues in the future. What you are upset at and complaining about is over and beyond extreme and outside the realm of any consumer who purchases anything. Look, I feel bad for you, but you SHOULD NOT have purchased this car or any AMG, M, etc. car with your mentality and sensitivity to "who is gonna pay for my issues 8 years out" that you carry. You keep saying they are responsible for the design flaw therefore they should honor some money toward the repair and I still think that is a stretch. Cars are man and machine made, they are designed, tested and engineered. I am certain Benz did not purposefully design poor head bolts to fail. Things happen and if we want to play and own these kind of cars, we have to be ready for the unknown. The reason that high performance cars may have design issues is because they are constantly trying to push the envelope and improve ideas and provide stronger and faster instead of constantly building on the Corolla or Camry platform with only cosmetic changes to put out a new vehicle. That platform has been tried and tested for the past 40+ years. Nothing can be 10000% fool proof.

andrew c230k

Since your hooked on miles my car only has 35418 miles, the car was bought from mercedes as a lease return so it was maintained correctly all its life and not abused.

ZephyrAMG

I am relaxed. It's Saturday and I read the forum with my coffee in hand.

Heavily discount the parts? I can understand a slight discount but that's like saying heavily discount the parts needed to repair my 15year old projector TV because the bulb blew. With relation to todays TVs, those TVs suck. But it was great for the time. Just doesn't make sense.

ZephyrAMG

Andrew, I am sorry to keep referring to miles when you are discussing kilometers.

That is a fairly low miles/kilometer 2008 C63.

My point is that the manufacture gives a decently generous unconditional warranty for 4 years/ 50K miles and beyond that it's just impossible to cover everyone forever...just doesn't seem reasonable.

Most of us who get into these German cars know that there will be expenses and failures and by KNOWING AND BEING FINANCIALLY AND MENTALLY prepared to deal with issues should they arise.

We buy these cars because they excite us, not because we are worried of repair bills.

andrew c230k

5 thousand dollars x 60000 engines that have the bad bolts = 300 million dollars expense.

100 thousand dollars x 60000 pissed off customers who don't come back and buy there car = 6 billion dollars in lost sales

Wouldn't it be cheaper to pay 300 million to make 6 billion in sales.

You can kiss someones *** and make them feel important without spending a lot of money doing it. Without people buying there products they have no business, only problem here is for every 1 of me there are 5 people waiting in line to buy there Mercedes status symbol to impress there friends.

The man made argument is nonsense the head bolts are torqued all simultaneously with a computer control torque machine, there is no frieder in the factory with a torque wrench like I have in my garage. The only flaw here is the engineer who speced the bolts they realized they made a mistake so they corrected it, but they should do something anything even just 200 dollars to cover the bolts for anyone who would have

I get this passionate about it because its more then just an A to B car for me I spent hours working on it changing the oil, cleaning it spotless, tracking down parts I wanted to install etc and doing everything I can financially afford to keep it tip top. Its time for a change for me anyways.

andrew c230k

I never said anything about heavily discounted parts all I ask is if Mercedes Benz Canada would do anything they said they would not. Even a gesture of covering the cost of the bolts for 200 dollars when the repair is $4500 would have been nice.

deadlyvt

It's not really a repair or a part that simply wore out that's infuriating its replacing a known defective part that Mercedes/Amg designed incorrectly
One as integral as a head bolt is pretty pathetic that they don't replace them it I hate to break it to you other brands hide/bandaid similar screw ups it's just part of the game

CarHopper

While I won't be as abrasive, you need to evaluate what you're buying more thoroughly next time. I recommend to you that you always own a vehicle under warranty and let it go near warranty end.

I understand your frustration that they wont help at all, but they aren't bound to. You can go buy any high performance car and end up in the same situation. Heck, you can buy ANY car and end up in this situation. It'll just be easier to fix a 2 liter toyota than a 6+ liter AMG. You know this...

To come back and say you'll never own Mercedes again, well, we'll see you back when you run into these types of problems with all other brands. They ALL have issues one way or another. If there was a flawless car brand out there we would all own that car / brand.

If I were you, I'd fix your car. As you say yourself, it is low mileage and overall in great shape aside from this one thing. Once you fix it, it goes back to being that low mileage, high performance car, that until this point you've probably really enjoyed. It is out of warranty, so just go to a third party and don't pay dealer prices.

It happens, I'm sorry it happened, but things like this do and will continue to happen across all makes and models. If you can't handle the price to repair than perhaps purchasing a cheaper vehicle that is more within your means is a good idea. That's not a dig at you and I'm not sitting here all high and mighty like I have more money than you and a bigger dong so don't take it that way. (Ha, I don't even have a comma in my bank account at the end of each month). It's just real advice from someone who can appreciate the situation you are in and have put some real thought into it myself.

Jasonoff

You should re-read my post. I said I would heavily discount the redesigned part. Part, without an "s" at the end, as in not plural, as in singular.

I think I should be able to walk into my local MB dealership, dump the bag full old HBs on the counter and get a refund for the re-designed bolts I purchased out of pocket.

Roswell

I feel OP frustration, it is unacceptable for such an high end company like MB to not honor the headbolts problem. This is a known defect, this should have been a recall from day one.

Zephyr, not to take side but I don't think everyone feels like spending 5k$US as preventive measure to correct something MB failed to install correctly.

Yes we have the 4 years 100k km warranty, but some of the ppl I've known kept having the coolant message light popping up but was refused by MB to replace the headbolts under warranty. They were told it needs to snap first... Really? That's a joke...

beejAMG

not to take sides or anything but i feel OP's frustration as well. but to say that youll never own an MB again coz of this is a bit much. MBs are far more reliable than a lot of other car brands.

Zephyr, not takin a stab at you but not everybody thinks the way you do, or has 5k readily on hand to tackle this the minute it happens.

OP, next time, you might wanna do a bit more research when purchasing a car. its a known issue and since you bought the car used...should have would have could have.

ZephyrAMG

I hear you but I didn't mean that I had a cash stack ready to throw at any car....but I had this mind frame that I knew I was gonna keep the car and I just preventively did the head bolts and other things which included LSD install, suspension install, new plugs, seals, oil, etc. It was a "investment" into my car to help keep her running. I set aside the money for it. Mind you there are owners that will spend $3-4K on headers, exhausts and wheels but have a complete melt down with a headbolt issue...

Even when I purchased it I knew "AMG" meant expensive maintenance and high performance = more possible failures.

So many people buy these cars whether its M or AMG and completely freak out and jump ship if the car ever has anything wrong with it. German cars have ALWAYS had issues. I just don't understand that when something goes wrong that owners have a mass exodus on the brand. It's unfair to think that the C63 AMG must be as reliable as a Corolla, or that if something goes wrong out of the warranty phase, that the manufacturer must pick up the tab unconditionally.

Overall they do a decent job at TSBs and initial warranty work. I guess as Americans we just expect to be served and taken care of from cradle to grave...

beejAMG

^i hear ya...

Roswell

I agree Zeph & beej about OP overacting about not wanting to buy another Benz. I'm sure he cooled down already & found a local shop to do the repairs.

On the other hand, I would still buy an 8k$ set of HRE vs spending 5k$ replacing my potential defective headbolts. After spending 80k$+ on a car, I don't think I should be spending an extra 5k$ to replace smth the manufacturer screwed up.

I'm sure most ppl think the same way .. Why fix what's not broken lol

beejAMG

id do the same!