My dealer called me as soon as my new C63 came in. Still wrapped in plastic inside and out - just off the truck. Started the engine and there was a strange ticking sound. Seemed to get faster when stepping on the gas and slowed down when letting go. He said this was normal and it would be gone once the pdi (prep) was done. Can anyone confirm this. Sounded like a sticky valve or belt noise to me. Please just let it be what he said. I'm picking it up Wednesday and I really want to come back with it, not leave it at the dealer.

Normal sound from the M156. Lifters can be noisy and it comes and goes. Lessens with time. Sufficient warm up during break in is critical. Same with the drivetrain. Take it easy for the first few Klm (to let the drive train come up to Temp) before the spirited driving begins.....

Its normal when cold. It goes away after about 5-10 min of driving. Longer if you let it idle in the garage.

Make sure you heat cycle it.....

What exactly is heat-cycling?

Here you go...it's pretty common for Merc

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ing-sound.html

same thing happened to me saturday - i thought the ticking was a time bomb waiting to blow (i dealt with the exploding rod bearing issue on my m3)

the car was warm tho but it went away in about a minute - i had though maybe I put some bad gas in it

I just dropped off my car at the dealer. They said they will get back to me tomorrow with the results of the inspection, however, I was given preliminary assumptions that I would love to share! As posted by many and reflected in numerous YouTube videos, the loud ticking/clicking sound is NOT NORMAL, especially if the frequency of the sound increases in relation to the accelerator, i.e. the more you press the gas pedal, the faster is the noise. If the noise is somewhat loud and annoying but the frequency DOES NOT increase by applying the accelerator, than in most cases it is the purge valve issue and is very easily fixed by a $70 part replacement. If the noise is high pitch, very noticeable and the frequency DOES increase when pushing the accelerator, then most likely it is the LIFTERS! Now, the lifters themselves might be the issue, or it could be as bad as an OIL PUMP that must be replaced. Hopefully, your cars are still under warranty, since that repair is very costly. My car makes noise only when it warms up, as opposed to some of you that have that problem only at the start-up, when the car is cold or has been sitting in a garage for a while. The assumption that during start-up the lifters are not yet filled with oil and that’s why they make noise does not work. In my case, the issue is that not enough pressure is created to adequately distribute oil from the oil pump into the lifters, which can cause permanent engine damage!!! Please take you cars to the dealer and have them look at the lifters if you are experiencing similar symptoms. I will keep you guys updated, as I hear more from the dealer tomorrow. Best of luck!

Here is how mine sounds via You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nlTDoIP2Oo

Boris why dig up all these old threads cause your car 'may' have an issue.

It hasn't even been looked at yet.

WTF!