Problematic Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Wagon Does a $600 Burnout

YouTuber’s high-mileage E63 Wagon already had enough expensive issues. After he rips a donut in it, it has even more.

Tyler Hoover of the popular YouTube channel Hoovies Garage loves buying the cheapest example of a particular car that he can find. As you can imagine, whatever money he saves up front (and possibly more) will probably go into fixing the issues he’s bound to have with the vehicle. He recently found a 2007 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Wagon that fit his criteria. It was only $13,000…because it had 204,000 miles on it. You know where this is going…

If you guessed straight to a Mercedes dealer, you’re right. That would be bad enough if Hoover had bought the car near his place in Kansas, but he didn’t. He got it in New York and decided to try driving it all the way home. The E63 Wagon almost finished the trip without a major issue. Almost. “I was about two and a half hours from home when the electronics went insane, my gauges quit working, and it wouldn’t restart,” Hoover said. The gateway computer had gone out. After parts and labor, the fix cost him $1,100.

After picking his long-roof up from the dealer and ranting about how much Mercedes is “cheapening the [AMG] brand,” Hoover takes his car to his pal, the Car Wizard (aka David Long), so he can give it a full health check. Before Long can even take a look at it, Hoover does a burnout in front of his shop. Hoover’s appointment was already going to cost him, but that little stunt just makes things worse. It turns out doing burnouts in cars like Hoover’s is bad for their power steering pumps. In fact, he finds a thread about it right here on MB World!

Hoover’s antics fry the pump so he needs to get a new one of those…and get his Check Engine light to go off. All four of his pads and rotors need to be replaced. Long’s inspection also reveals a bad ball joint and an oil leak. Hoover’s E63 has an ESP issue that needs to be resolved, too.

The good news is the ESP problem can be remedied with an inexpensive new brake switch. The rest of the news is bad news. To get everything wrong with his E63 right again, it’s going to cost Hoover a total of $3,750. He gets strategic with his repairs and the associated costs. Hoover tells Long, “It’s an old Mercedes. It’s going to leak oil ’til the end of time and not be a problem so let’s not do the upper oil pan.”

Passing over that one issue saves Hoover roughly $1,000…which he’ll probably end up spending on another repair in the not-so-distant future.

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Derek Shiekhi

Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.

After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.

While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.

Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.

In addition to writing for a variety of Internet Brands sites, including JK Forum, H-D Forums, The Mustang Source, Mustang Forums, LS1Tech, HondaTech, Jaguar Forums, YotaTech, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts. Derek also started There Will Be Cars on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

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