So, I pulled into Starbucks the other day and I noticed a strange smoke coming out from under my car. Not that there's a normal smoke that comes from under the car, but... Anyway, I knelt down to look under it, and noticed there was a good amount of oil on the underside of the car.

First thought: I wish I had my coffee. Second thought: Oh **** this is BAD.

So, I'm only a couple blocks from the shoot I was heading to, so I get over there and take a look under the car again, and there's a bunch of red/brown stinky oil on the ground (Yeah! Cooked trans fluid!). Turns out a seal somewhere near the torque converter took a dump. Probably a hydraulic pump. We'll know next week when I take it down to the dealer. But first I get to have the stock exhaust re-installed and have the ECU flashed back to stock as well... Fun.

So, is there a moral to this story? I'd like to think that there isn't and this is just some completely random manufacturing defect unrelated in any way to multiple track days, literally hundreds of smoky brake-stand burnouts, daily full throttle blasts to 160mph or more, and generally using this car like the TV commercials tell me I can. Right?

The thing is, I'm actually quite surprised this car has taken as much abuse as it has, and I'm completely unsurprised that it waited until I left my job at evosport to do this to me... The "victim." (just kidding)

Anyway, there might be something to that 565 lb.ft. torque rating on the transmission that Mercedes quotes. Or maybe not...

Have a safe and happy new year, everyone!

Josh

 

aww shucks that suck!

Hope it will be fine

Good luck josh.

Happy New Year as well.

 

You popped her cherry, congrats. Happy New Year

 

Ohh man what a way to start the new year, sry to hear about what happened,
I had a issue with my tranny a while back when the car had like 4ooo miles but mine was clutch 1 and 2 were defective. And at the time my car was bone stock. Sux that u have to remove everything try talking to someone there and ask if anyone from mbusa has to look at the car if they do come to look at it it has to be back to stock but if they don't u dealer should not give u problems. Good luck and happy new year.

 

do you think the MB will be able to figure out that you installed aftermarket parts on the car and thus they will not warranty the tranny?

 

I'd like to know what the failure is. Good luck, Josh. BTW-How long will it take to remove the exhaust and reintstall all the stock items? About 4 hours? If yours is failing, then JrCart's should've failed a while ago.

 

CRAPP Josh!! That really stinks!! SORRY!

Not that I'm surprised either but its still a bummer!!! Let us know what they tell you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

 

Sorry to hear that Josh. I hope everything can be fixed and I hope you learned your lesson(s) if any.

Happy New Year To You Too!

 

Thanks to the Magnussen-Moss act, they have to prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the upgrades caused the failure, and with only minor bolt-on parts that'll be pretty hard to do. Fortunately, I didn't go forced induction or nitrous or anything like that...

His did IIRC. Brad mentioned something along those lines, but I'm not sure of the details. Mine might just have have some "low-limit pass" parts and not be as strong as others. Or maybe I just shouldn't treat it like it's made of unbreakable unobtanium with hypertuff locknuts.

From what we know so far it's looking like something in the torque converter or one of the associated hydraulic pumps, and not in the gearbox proper, thank god.

I'm having a local shop take care of the install and refit. Last time I did a swap it took me about 3 hours (I got pretty good at it when we were developing the kit, I think it would take most people closer to 6.), but the shop has to mate the stock forward sections to the new rear sections, as the evo exhaust uses the stock mufflers, but welded to 3" tubing with v-band clamps connecting them near the rear axle. It'll actually make swapping it out a little easier in the future, but I'm hoping this is the only time I'll have to have it done for a looooong time...

I think I'm dealing with it pretty well. (Other than the weeping like a little girl that lost her kitty.) I've almost gotten used to not having my car to drive with all the mods and upgrades I've done over the last year. I'm just hoping everything goes smoothly at the dealership. To protect the innocent, I don't want to get into details about my hookups until after it's all taken care of.

Josh

 

Oh okay. That's good then. Keep us posted.

 

good luck w/ everything Josh!

 

Good luck, I hope it goes well. This reminds me of my friend who had the first turbocharged Miata. I won't name the installer but back then he was pretty well known in those circles. The car basically never ran right and ended up with major problems like melted pistons and whatnot. My friend unbolted everything, returned it to stock and limped in to the dealer. The service manager examined the engine and said something like "I think you had a turbocharger on this car but I can't prove it, so I'm going to repair your car under warranty."

 

Isn't your car the one featured in July 2009,European Car?

 

wooooow, very sorry to hear Josh. Please keep us all updated!!!

 

My trans failed on my 08 E63 at 900 miles. It was a defect in manufacturing of the stall converter, well thats what they claimed. It was warrantied but they didnt do it without a small fight It was stock so they couldn't really fight me much on it. I'm sure you'll be fine. Good luck and happy new year.

 

Josh, I'm very sorry to hear that.... hopefully, you'll be up and running again (even stronger than before) in no time

For what it's worth, I don't think your "spirited" driving was the cause of the failure. I know of a certain CLS63 (and even an E63 ) that has gone to the drag strip a thousand times (each time having a minimum of at least 20 passes); been to multiple road course events in the past two years; and have done "many" Mexico runs without any tranny problems or even incidents at all

 

Josh:

Sorry to hear this! I just think the 7 speed tranny is randomly prone to failure period. I had a 2007 ML350 that dropped out in the middle of the desert when I was living in Arizona in the summer, It was 115 degrees and I walked a mile to a McDonalds to wait for the tow truck. No racing or mods with that car. The tranny has reliability issues and many on this forum have experienced this.

Anyway, get her well my friend and hope to see you again at Famoso or one of the other tracks soon.

BTW, I am seriously considering the Evosport headers what do they cost and what is the cost of the installation too.

Happy New year and hope to see you again!

Phil

 

See bold above...If you think that MBUSA does not monitor these boards then you are kidding yourself. The fact that you openly posted here that you have modified your car and abused the hell out of it amazes me...not very bright for someone seeking repairs that should clearly not be covered under warranty.

The moral is, you are an idiot...and jerkoffs like you who lie and try to claim warranty work for something you shouldn't makes it even harder for those who have ligitimate claims.

Ya think ?!?!?!

 

Please explain how basic bolt-ons (and driving like Mercedes' advertising suggests I should) will void my warranty. I'm just covering my bases swapping the few potentially questionable (from a claims standpoint) parts back to stock. What you're saying is that adding an exhaust to a black series motor and taking it to the track will void the warranty. Does that seem right to you? Well, I guess it does or you wouldn't have shared your (rather obnoxiously expressed) OPINION. I worked as a fabricator at evosport for a while and I can tell you none of the products on my car are designed for absolute, maximum power. They're all designed to give the best performance increase possible while still maintaining a solid hardware safety margin. That's one of the things I love about their product.

Wow. I'm a moron, a jerkoff and a liar, huh? Please explain that, too. Maybe while looking in a mirror.

It's judgemental *****s like you that really give MB owners a bad name, not people like me that have fun and enjoy their cars. My service advisor (who knows my situation in detail, thank you very much) said this isn't as uncommon a failure as you would think. Even on unmodified cars. He said it would just go smoother if I swapped the stuff back to stock. Despite what the general consensus is, from very early on I've never thought this was that great a transmission, and my SA said that some of them are just not as solid as others and that I probably just got one of those. Some people have great luck with them. Sadly, I'm not one of those people.

Way to start off the new year being a complete douche and a hater.

Edit: I read some of your other posts. I should have said "Way to start off the new year continuing to be a complete douche and a hater."

Josh

 

Good choice! PM sent

Josh

 

As someone who has designed, sold and installed high performance components I extend gratitude toward you for your work on these cars.

That said your signature states 600hp and you state that you regularly race the car offroad (racetracks). I would suggest that both of these "conditions" place your vehicle out of warranty.

Should we really expect a manufacturer to extend the warranty they made for their stock street driven vehicles to owners that decided to modify the car and take it to the racetrack regularly?

Let me pose this to you as a business person. If you sold and installed a set of headers and the owner had a habit of driving through shallow water with the headers glowing hot from aggressive driving... would you cheerfully replace the cracked headers under warranty?

 

No - with you 100%

 

Well said, Jimmy.

 

Full evo3 package including: Stage 2 intake, SS headers & exhaust, pulley, ecu tune, 2 pc. rear rotors,
braided stainless brake lines, coilovers and steel & carbon bodykit/aerokit. ~600bhp, 195mph indicated

They are NOT all “bolt on” parts. The ECU for example…how many horror stories have we seen in the last year about ECU tuning (what about pullies????) ?? The ECU is the heart of the motor, and you changed yours, along with a few other parts for a net net gain approaching 600bhp. Do you think when AMG made the C63, they really designed it to be able to handle that much power, be driven like idiot/abused and still be reliable ?? Don’t bother answering before you examine your quotes below:

Please show me where AMG has ever advertised in print or television commercials that they advocate doing any of the aforementioned…..
But better yet....do you believe everything your read and see on TV ????

LOL!!!! Look, I know that the guys at Evosport make a great product, but are you telling me they know more than the multiple PHD’s designing and engineering cars at AMG ?? Riiiiight…..Something tells me that during your employment as a fabricator for Evosport, you spent a lot of time developing products for the CLK Black Series. And then, you got the bright idea that doing the same thing to a C63 and treating it like a Black Series was designed to be treated/abused, would be a good idea….I guess the one thing we can both agree on is that we are both amazed your car has taken as much abuse as it has…Oh yeah, since you brought up the Black Series....there's a reason why it has additional oil, steering and TRANSMISSION coolers....so you don't end up with cooked trans fluid busting seals.


Really ?? I wasn’t aware that abusing the ***** out of your car and then filing a false warranty claim makes you a standup MB enthusiast…If it does and you feel this was indeed a failure not caused by your modifications; then why flash your ECU back to stock ??
So your service advisor is aware of all your mods and is going to get it covered under warranty ?? Wow, way to throw him under the bus on a public forum….(you really think I can’t find out who he is?) But this seems odd to me….On a forum where service advisors are constantly being bashed for their lack of knowledge and for being clueless about AMG’s; you seem to have found the only one around who knows what he’s talking about…..and now you trust him. Sounds pretty convenient if you ask me.
And as far as the 7speed transmissions go…I have heard the same about them randomly taking a dump. Hell, I was in and E63 when the transmission went….under completely normal driving conditions. And guess what, it went into limp mode as I’m sure is the case with most failures – Not puking “cooked trans fluid” onto the street. The fact that both you and your service advisor find that “normal” is pretty funny.

And a Happy New Year to you as well, Josh. Perhaps I will continue to be “douche and a hater”, and link this thread into a few emails and fire them off to a few of my friends at MBUSA. It's guys like you who try to play the "victim" and take advantage of the system that gives us ALL a bad name...
Now go run and call Brad and Simon and ask them to take this thread down - LOL.


.

 

Hmmm, so after watching the smokey burnout/"that's why we gave it 451hp" commercials you decide to buy a speciality vehicle from MB's race/tuner divison and become an owner and do some modifications. Then the transmission, which you did not modify in any way, takes a crap.

As the owner, you have absolutely, positively no definitive way of knowing if your driving, your modifications or your hair color had to do with the component failure or if this was a design, manufacture, QA, assembly etc flaw that would have happened regardless on an unmodded car with grandmother driving.

So as a responsible owner, you are supposed to error on the side of "it's my fault" and take the $x,000 hit? That doesn't seem reasonable.

Just ask'n...