This afternoon I took the '43 out for a drive through some twisty/mountain roads outside of town. Had a spirited run up the road, only to be cut short by slower traffic (no spot to pass...double yellow and tight corners). Got to the top of the summit, and pulled off to the side to wait for traffic to clear before going back down......when all of a sudden I start smelling a funny smell.....and then see bluish/white smoke literally pouring out of my exhaust. Now the drive up until then had bean "spirited" as I said before, but by NO MEANS excessive.....just some good 6-7/10's driving and doing some downshifting w/ the gated shift to maximize the engine's potential. No crazy extended 5k rpm pulls or anything.....you know, stuff that this car should be able to do all day long. So you can imagine my suprise to see this crap pouring out of my car. Obviously I shut it down, and got out to look......indeed it was coming from the exhaust (I had initially thought it could be the tires, although that was just optimistic thinking in hindsight). The smoke went away when the engine was shut off, so I turned it back on.....still the same thick bluish/white smoke. Looked a lot like burning oil, and smelled like it too. I went over to the engine bay, opened up the hood, and didn't see/smell anything out of the ordinary there. No warning lights on the dash, no weird sounds, completely normal idle....everything. The only weird thing was the smoke. So I let it cool off for a few minutes, did a quick oil level check (no warning light or anything either) and it looked to be nearly topped off still. After about 10-15 minutes of having the car off, I got back in and decided to take it home. Initially on start-up, there was a slight plume of the same smoke, and then it was gone, just as mysteriously as it had appeared. The whole drive home (20-25 mins) was completely normal....no smoke, normal power from engine, no lights, no funny noises. Got home, and then let it idle for a few minutes and saw no further signs of smoke. Checked the oil on level ground after the engine had cooled, and everything looked normal. So now I'm wondering....WTF??????!!!!!
The only thing that I can think of is that maybe there was some accumulation of oil in the exhuast system/mufflers.....and since this was probably the hardest I have driven it yet (I've been going real easy on it since I bought it) it was probably also the hottest that the engine/exhaust has gotten. So maybe it started burning off this hypothetical accumulation of oil Either way, this isn't good.....especially for a recently processed CPO car (bought it 4k miles ago).....car only has 59k miles on it too. Good thing it is still under warranty!!!
Anyone have any guesses as to what the hell is wrong????? Thanks!

 

Rather bizarre...no ideas here, however..it has been duly noted

 

It would be back at the $tealership that CPO'd it , requesting an explanation.

 

That would be sound advice!

 

yes...advice which I will take for sure

also, thinking a couple steps ahead to the worst case scenario....in the event that they find something seriously wrong w/ the engine (i.e, it would need to be rebuilt/replaced) what are my options? Car is still under warranty for another year and it was purchased under the CPO program (like I said before). Personally, I don't feel like I would want anything less than a brand new engine if this were the case (i.e 0 miles, fresh out of the box), or at least rebuilt at AMG (don't know if they even do this). I have had enough experience w/ "independent" shops to be unsure of the quality of any rebuild that I would get from them.....and also it would have to significantly lower the resale value. Is this unreasonable? Also, if it is reasonable, and they don't agree to my request, is there any legal way that I can get a refund for the car and they take it back? I know this sounds kind of funny, but I agreed to a (higher than market) price on the basis of my assumption that the car would be extraordinarily sound mechanically speaking. If that proves to be a false assumption, it doesn't seem like they held up their end of the deal and therefore should be liable for the car. Is there any legal basis for this in case this does prove to be the situation w/ my car???? Thanks guys....and maybe I'm jumping to conclusions a little too soon, but I just wanted to be prepared w/ a reasonable and legally sound course of action when I go talk to them about it.

 

Anytime there is a financial transaction involved you can always find some fang wielding ,blood sucking , venom sprewing , lower than a pregnant ant lawyer who will defend your side ....for a fee.Now that we have that established , lets move on.I don't think you'll get a crate motor.I think what will happen is the warranty company will pay to have MB rebuild the motor and give you some type of extended warranty on the motor only.Again , I would throw it back at them "You inspected it , you CPO'd it , it's your problem...own your own garbage".

 

cool....that would probably be good enough for me, as long as MB/AMG did it

 

i looked up the price of a crate motor from benz at work 2day (slow day)
you guys will never guess what i found
C43 crate motor from benz is $39,000
yes i said $39,000
and none in the USA.
good luck with that!!!!!!!!
f.y.i (dont blow your c43 motor up!)

 

yep....thats what my sales rep told me when I bought the car. Which is why I have taken such good care of the engine and tried not to push it too hard. Which is why I am so suprised now

 

At that price......time for 5.5 transplant....with a blower.

 

yeah...at that price I hear the word "Klleeeeeeemaaaaaannnnnnnn" being softly whispered into my ear

 

I heared that price once as well but I push mine as hell! If the engine blows up, go for a used 5.5l engine and Kleemannize it

 

If you have money set it aside and get a motor on the bay, preferably a 55 and go through it bit by bit....then once yours goes "poof" drop it in...it's a 113 motor so you should have no problems as many here will attest to. Firstly, I would have the $tealership go through it and attempt a remedy via that avenue.

 

yeah, not a bad idea either.....it would be a nice piece of mind to have a (basically new) '55 motor laying around should I need it. The car is @ the dealer right now getting looked over.....sounds like they don't really know what happened though

 

Keep us updated....I am real curious to see what the problem is with the motor.If the warranty comes into play you might want to try and see if they'll transplant a 5.5 for you instead of eating that 39k nut.I t might be woth a try.

 

i havent heard of an 43 motors blowing up but yeah im with you guys on the 55 transplant! i dont want to 2 be the first to blow my baby up. but good luck and keep us all posted at what they find.

 

Any updates?

 

well, so far they haven't really narrowed it down to anything. A plug in the trans assembly was replaced which apparently had been leaking slightly onto the exhaust manifold (or wherever the exhaust system crosses paths w/ it). Obviously this wasn't the cause of the smoke, although the tech seemed to think it could have been the cause of the smell (uh huh)....

They suggested that I put the car on an oil consumption test program, although when I went to the service center in my hometown (the other dealer was where I bought the car...around 1 hr away), they told me that they didn't think that was the issue. The woman there said she thought that bluish-white smoke indicated (excess) fuel, rather than burning oil. I personally don't think anybody has any idea WTF they are talking about, and they probably don't want to discover anything while the car is still under warranty. So, for now I am just keeping a close watch over the car, and noting anything unusual.....and tracking my oil consumption, which so far has been nil. Very weird occurence though, and I haven't been able to replicate it since....although I guess I haven't really tried. Maybe I will have to take it out for a drive this weekend and see if I can't get it smoking again.....

 

If I the were you I would keep all receipts regarding this incident.If it wasn't noted on the receipt I would have them write-in the reason for the service visit.If you are right in the fact that they don't want to deal with this issue while it is under warranty,the receipts will back-up any future claims that the problem wasn't properly addressed the first time.Keep us updated.

 

.............update ?

 

..............Repeat.........again.........update ?

 

I wonder if a ring or a valve stuck? A valve would have likely caused it to run funny though. Maybe even a faulty pcv valve, oil over fill, or vacume problem causing oil to be sucked into the intake and burned off.. extended warranty company would probably replace engine with used engine if it did blow, or If the engine had to be rebuilt, I expect they would have the dealership do it, not AMG. But it sounds like an oil/intake issue, or a ring. Rings can be cleaned without taking the pistons out, and anything with the intake/vacume systems can be repaired as well.