So about 3 weeks ago I picked up a preowned 2009 C63 with 38k miles. After it's first week I had a low coolant warning, topped it off with distilled water as my local MB parts dealer was closed on the weekend. 2 weeks later light came back on, this time topped it off with official MB coolant. Few hours later light came back on, frustrated I accidentally opened the reservoir cap while still hot (some coolant gushed out). Waited the next morning to top it off.

By this time I started to do some research and I stumbled on this issue. Out of curiosity no coolant light on but went to check the reservoir level. It was showing the white portion of the indicator, after topping off the day before. Checked the engine oil and it's not over filled. Oil didn't seem creamy either like it was contaminated with coolant. Also no white smoke. I'm still paranoid.

 

This sounds like the dreading deadbolt failure. You would want to have this checked out, hopefully you have a warranty on the car.

 

Made an appointment at the MB dealership on Monday to confirm the issue. I bought the car less than a month ago from a Volvo dealership, and driven less than 300 miles since. Do you think they are obligated to take some liability on the repairs or am I SOL? Cause this is total BS

 

Was it sold with a limited warranty or "as is"?

 

As is

 

Any updates?

 

I'll just leave this here.

 

Well, he got one item right. The Germans really do over-engineer their cars. Not just MB, all of them. I had an '03 Mini Cooper where all 4 sets of brake pads and rotors wore out within a month of each other. First car I've ever had that happen.

 

Glad I wasn't too late to get a extended warranty

 

Hows the car?

 

Cancelled the appointment with MB, and brought it to a trusted independent shop instead. Wanted to keep it under the radar so they won't bring up some "pre existing" BS. Anyways upon inspection compression was good on all cylinders, but there was burnt coolant residue found on the sparkplugs.

 

So after reading a good amount of this thread, is it safe to say don't touch a C63 inside the effected range that doesn't have an extended warranty where the head bolt issue hasn't already been addressed? I was in the market to pick up a used C63 for the lady and something I can play around with, but after talking to a local reputable shop in Dallas (911 Enterprises), they don't think theres a concrete way they can tell if the engine will have this issue. Most of the one's I'm finding are 2009-2011, btw.

 

You're fine. Put new head bolts in it, $2000.

 

I'm new to the forum, not new to Mercedes ownership as I have owned a few. I am just coming up to speed on the head bolt issue and I'm wondering about a few things. I've been reading 30+ pages of this thread but I'm not really seeing any solid numbers on how many vehicles have encountered this issue and the model year and mileage numbers for those affected vehicles. I don't even know annual production numbers for the C63.

I purchased the C63 off lease in CA from an independent dealer. I am in the process of contacting the MB dealer in Arizona to see if I can get a detailed maintenance history. I'm hoping maybe the bolts were changed since it was a lease vehicle for several years.

Questions: what is the community opinion on how many vehicles have been affected per total production (percentage, etc), is there a certain point (mileage, etc) after which you are probably safe, and it seems that the bolts can just be replaced prior to any problems occurring, is that true?

Thanks

 

A while back someone was saying that had some inside info on the prevalence of this issue (from AMG as I recall), but that they didn't think they wanted to share it. Other than that almost hearsay, we have no idea just how big of a deal it is.

Stock bolts, driving my '09 with 71K miles on it just like AMG intended. Smiling every single day ear to ear.

 

Does anyone know if these head bolts are considered an "internal fastener"? I have Fidelity's
"powertrain" coverage only, and they said if its an "external" fastener then it won't be covered. Thanks!

 

i would be in shock if they considered a fastener that is inside the engine, covered in internal engine fluids, to be external! but stranger things have happened.

 

Good lord his voice is annoying, is he coked up or what??

 

In desperate need of some advice, this has been stressing me out.

So my 09 C63 has been at MB for 2 weeks now. It's currently at a stand still. They confirmed that coolant is entering cylinder 1, and need to perform an engine tear down to inspect further more. The issue is if they do tear the engine down, and they find signs of overheating my extended warranty will no longer cover the service. I picked up the car little over a month ago from Volvo, and I tried voicing my concern to them. All they did was trying to screw me around with a trade in.

So my question is just authorize the tear down and be confident that it's just the common head bolts issue or take legal actions against Volvo for ripping me off?

 

Wow I really hope you're able to get this worked out. I just picked up an '11 a month ago and was trying to figure out the same questions. Just went with an '11 to avoid it.

I'm sure it would be a lot to do the tear down, but that's a pretty expensive engine to replace and may be worth the safe side to catch it before it's too late.

 

An 11 with an unaffected engine code right?

 

We're the lifters upgraded to SLS style at the same time the head bolts were? (Mid 2011)?

 

Yes.

 

I've read a couple of these threads and looked up my engine code number (156 985 60 070 613) and I see that I am far out of the head bolt issue range. I just had a low coolant warning pop up and I'm just curious if any post facelift cars have experienced any issues with the head studs. I added some distilled water and I will watch the level but what a scary afternoon reading these threads.

 

I have not heard of any FL (LCI) cars with head bolt issues. It is not unusual to have the coolant go down a little over time. It happened to our R Class diesel quite a few times and to my 2010 C63 a couple of times with no other issues.

I always recommend adding a 50/50 mix of distilled water and MB coolant in the same colour that is in your cooling system. This will maintain the properties of the OEM coolant in your engine which is 240,000 km or 15 years. If you add straight water (distilled or not) or other brands of coolant this coolant change interval is no longer valid and the coolant should be changed much sooner.