sfury63

So after several weeks of being plagued with the CEL P0171 (https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...us-airbox.html) which I finally was able to resolve, I ended up getting hit with the headbolt coolant issue.

It started one cold morning with the Check Coolant message. Before I drive off, I check under the hood and notice the coolant level was about 3 inches below the line. I drive to the nearest shop and have the coolant topped off.

By the end of the day, i get the message again on my commute home. I pull over and check under the hood and to my surprise, the reservoir is completely empty. Thank god for AAA roadside service as they were able to top off practically a full gallon of coolant.

I make it home and planned on calling my warranty (3rd party) to schedule a drop off at MB first thing in the morning.

Fast forward:
Once at MB, they first notice a strong odor of collant coming from the driver side bay. They topped off the coolant and ran idle for 10min at which point the reservoir was completely empty. After further diagnostics it was determined that there was compression loss in piston#8, pointing to a possible head gasket leak and/or headbolt issue.

As of last week, I got my car back and its running beautifully. It feels stronger then ever.

The invoice notes read as followed:
53041 Cylinder head bolt broken. Coolant/oil mix 18.10 Inspect cooling system for leaks, no external oil loss found. Inspect for combustion gasses in cooling system. Failed test. RR cylinder head covers for inspection, found left cylinder head bolt broken, leaking coolant. RR camshafts, all. Replaced all lifters. RR bolt cylinder heads and replace headbolts with improved version. reassemble with new thermostat and rear intake pipe. road test 60 miles and re change engine oil to remove traces of coolant in engine. clear fault memory, ok after repairs.

Thankfully I was smart enough to purchase the extended warranty as my car is an 09 c63 with 45k miles on it at the time of purchase, so everything was covered.

Several things to note. The coolant problem appeared at about 52k miles and one thing I did notice a day prior to this failure was a sluggish/hesitant response to the throttle.

I hope this doesnt happen to anyone else...thanks for the ear everyone....

BerBer63

Im hoping they changed the bolts on the passenger side too? What warranty do you have?

sfury63

Good question - the invoice shows a unit count of 20 part# 156-016-07-69 Cylinder Headbolt so it would appear they did.

Extended warranty was thru carmax's MaxCare Warranty.

CoolBDPhenom03

Sorry this happened, but I'm glad you caught it early. Thanks for the detailed documentation too. It'll help us keep our eyes peeled for the signs.

otakki

Yes, an extended warranty is a must for this type of cars. Your car must have just run out of its factory warranty not too long ago.

How long does CarMax's MaxCare Warranty last (miles & months)? How much did the MaxCare Warranty cost you?

So what's the final total bill amount from MB for this repair? How long was your car at MB?

bhamg

sfury63 - i'm putting your thread in the sticky - keep us posted and best of luck...

olszowa12

Good thing you had the extended warranty.
Does it say how much the repair cost?

Higgs Boson

every time someone posts about this our resale and trade in values drop. good thinking. :-(

ZephyrAMG

Headbolt issue or not I love my C63 and am keeping it until all time. Just think of how many problems Range Rover and Maserati have...if it happens, SO WHAT. Not a big deal. You get the bolts replaced and move on. The car is a BEAST...

Disclaimer: Make sure you have warranty or set aside funds.

LuisC55AMG

Just out of curiosity: What were the total charges for the repair?

bhamg

Try putting the blame where it belongs - with M-B. I'm no happier than you are about this situation but even at a minimum, being informed about the problem likely prevents a $4k job from turning into a $35k job.

sfury63

Purchased the extended for 2800 which includes 72month or 100k miles(from the date and mileage of my purchase). At that price and considering this car, it was a no brainer.

Looking at the MB service invoice, the total came out to 7,138.00 which I though would be much higher.

One thing is for sure, I'm glad it's over and done with. I always had a lingering worry about the headbolt issue and how my warranty would handle it but now that its over with, I enjoy my ride that much more.

Fung63

awesome man!

I bought ELW for my car and also hoping that if I do have the headbolt issue, it will happen within my warranty period

Higgs Boson

lol. blame? that's exactly what's wrong with today's society. someone needs to be blamed. that's not what I am saying at all. we, nor mb, can change the fact that their SUPPLIER screwed up the head bolts.....what, you think a car manuf forges their own bolts???? no.... all we have control over is our own thoughts and actions. that's all I am saying. you can't change the past, neither can mb. they are handling it exactly as any other manuf would. warranty or goodwill. btw, no goodwill coverage is 100%. then it wouldn't be goodwill, it would be warranty, which they said already expired. then they get sued for secret warranty.

it came out cheaper because it was warranty pricing, not customer pay pricing. warranty companies and manuf really lowball the dealer on warranty work. usually it takes longer to do the job than the labor hours they get paid.

CoolBDPhenom03

I think it wasn't higher because you caught it early enough. Fluids were leaking, but little or no engine damage had occurred yet. The first folks who made the discovery had catastrophic engine failures.

Karl901

Can someone tell me why replacing one head bolt at a time would work???
This would be cheapest way.

C-63AMG

Each time I see this, it scares me. I've an 08 C63 with 40,000 miles on it. It seems like I'm a sitting duck and it's only a matter of time before my car bankrupts me

C-63AMG

I don't believe the headbolts are the expensive parts. I believe the headbolts themselves are very cheap. It's getting at them that is very labour intensive so best do them all at once.

Higgs Boson

why it would or would not work?

it won't work because heads mating to blocks is a sensitive process. the bolts have to be torqued down in a specific order in incremental step or you will not get a proper seal.

ZephyrAMG

+1 Plus why even waste your time only for one just upgrade all at once....

Pickles

"One at a time"?....NO WAY.
Heads off, check head surface,new gaskets, new bolts.
Cheers, Pickles.

Sincity

I'd still blame MB because they are the one that put the product out and are responsible for it. The right thing for MB and for longterm goodwill with the brand is to extend the engine warranty on all units affected. For example, I just received notice from Acura that their supplier of AC compressors put out an inferior product and have failures occuring. Guess what? They extended the warranty on the compressors for severral more years and will reimburse people who have paid to have their compressors replaced post warranty. That is stepping up and putting confidence in the brand.

OP: Did they also install the upgraded "SLS" lifters?

CoolBDPhenom03

I agree.

Higgs Boson

one example doesn't mean anything.

it's purely a business decision on a manuf part. for you though, it's emotional. big difference.

Acura made a business decision to replace compressors. Acura makes business decisions all the time to not fix certain things.

mb makes the same decisions. so does Chevy and so does Bugatti.

don't take business so personal. yes, it affects us. it may affect me one day soon. I won't change my opinion on the matter though. it's a car, not my father or mother or sister or brother. it's just a car.

CoolBDPhenom03

Even if you take the emotional attachment out of it, it's still poor business. For a luxury brand with racing pedigree to not make any sort of formal concession for a known issue, it's like saying "who cares?" to you loyal customers. You might expect normal stuff to crap out or break, not an engine. Germans have always produced and been proud of their bulletproof engines. So why shy away from taking responsibility here?

We just want things to work as they should for how long they reasonably should. It's the principle of the matter. Sure, the chances of this happening is remote, so then why try to dodge a warranty concession? If its just a handful, then why not eat the full cost if it isn't a result of driver error/abuse regardless of warranty?

Is this sort of issue common among MB competitors? Should we expect this from MB from now on? If you answered "no" (and you should), then you're on the same side.