LFM_Vancouver

Hi everyone

Has this ever happened to anyone here? Driving along normally in comfort mode, and then you lose steering and brakes? Not completely but the steering becomes very difficult to turn (no power) and the brakes same thing.

EBD, ABS and ESC Inoperative
Run Flat indicator Inoperative appear on the dash with all the yellow symbols light up.

Anyway, car got loaded on to a flatbed and is at dealer now. Any experience with this?

m a x i m u s

dang, man, glad to hear you didn't get into an accident; that's pretty scary. I recall someone else here had a similar issue, maybe a year ago?

aussie e55

have your battery checked low voltage can sometimes trigger dash messages

LFM_Vancouver

Thanks, will definitely check that. Does a bad battery also disable your power steering and power brakes?

aussie e55

maybe if certain relays/sensors do not get correct voltage it may can someone with more knowhow than me chime in

shades

Just guessing here, but it could be a wheel speed sensor as well, regarding the abs, esc, and ebd. But i don't think it would create hard steering and brake pedal. Could be a caution for any limp mode. The only time that happened to me, it was the headbolt issue

LFM_Vancouver

Headbolt issue? I had low coolant light the previous couple of days? Engine ran fine though. Can you explain your headbolt issue scenario and what happened. Would appreciate this. My car comes off warranty in 5 days.

aussie e55

GET IT CHECKED NOW & notify warranty provider in writing you may have a problem DO THIS NOW TODAY.

LFM_Vancouver

Dealer just confirmed it's my HEAD BOLTS!!!!! MB is covering 100%

With 4 days remaining on my warranty!

For those interested, here are the details of my car

2010 C63 March 2010 delivery
48,000 kms currently on car
no ECU mod, stock engine
Head Bolt failure occurred while driving on a cool night at 30 km/h 9.5 degrees Celsius outside temp

m a x i m u s

time to buy a lottery ticket.

Sidv22

wow! you got lucky. Thinking about this headbolt issue makes me sweat and although I do have warranty, I cant understand why and how MB has left customers without warranty out in the cold

jmueller

Whew, looks like you earned some good karma along the way! Congrats sir!

rediesel

Wow. Sucks to have the issue, but you sure got lucky on the warranty coverage. Since I assume you will be picking up the car after the warranty expires I would want to take it for a test drive before closing out the service ticket to make sure it is 100%.

Also it is possible to buy an extended MB warranty as long as the car is still under original coverage so you may want to consider that while you have the option (although you did just have the big job done).

aussie e55

lucky *******

LFM_Vancouver

Yes you can buy extended warranty as long as you are the original owner and you have the pre warranty expiry check prior to your warranty period ending.
I'm selling my car in the next couple of months so I won't buy the warranty as it's not transferable or refundable.

drawde

don't mean to hijack but anyone know how much it costs to fix headbolt issue outside of warranty? my extended warranty expires in 20k.. is it worth it to try to renew (not sure if they'll even let me)? i first extended it through a third party and i know i'm nowhere near recouping that cost. thinking if it's worth it to reup.

Sidv22

+1. I intend to keep the car for a few years and want to know how I can get the issue fixed BEFORE the issue strikes, if and when.

shades

This is only an issue if the head bolt issue starts to show signs. A good example is low coolant, and no signs of a leak anywhere. I would personally get the job done outside of warranty if you plan to keep the car. The bolts i believe you can purchase from weistec and have them installed by a good indy shop. Depending on your relationship with whatever dealer or indy shop, this job can be done from $1500 all the way up to $3000. Keep in mind the bolts alone can set you back $900-1k. A good price will probably be around $2100. Also, if the headbolt failure happens you can be looking at a lot of cash. Mine was done under full warranty and the bill was $21k...no joke. And it happened when i only had 6 months warranty available. The car had 69,000km or 43,000 miles. This is right in the magical number or just going out of warranty.

bhamg

Great timing LFM, we should all be so lucky! We'll put this thread in the sticky, GL with the repair.

LFM_Vancouver

I will keep everyone updated with the progress. I'm supposed to get my car back on Friday but I'm think Monday or Tuesday more likely.

stay tuned...

Critter

Just wondering but would MB just replace the bolts in the offending head or are they obligated to do both. If they do both sides are they not in effect showing recognition to the chance of the other bolts failing and with that show that there is a valid issue with the head bolts and should provide unlimited warranty of the part. Same goes for the fuel pump leakage issues, what will it take for a recall of these known issues, some family being BBQ'd inside their car from the fuel leak or an accident from losing engine power on a busy highway, it seems to be just a matter of time. Look at GM recalling cars that shut off because of a ignition switch that fails when a large number of keys is hung from the ignition.

shades

They do both sides

Critter

Understand that they do both, but why!! Does that not show that in effect they are admitting the issue does exist and by just doing one side will not solve the problem.
The only savior for MB is that the headbolt issue is spread over all of North America and the actual number of these M156 engines in use.

m a x i m u s

I hear you, but I think it's more an efficiency thing, akin to changing the water pump belt when changing a timing belt (in cars with timing belts). but I'd me interested to hear other opinions.

Critter

But really as far as efficiency is concerned, normally with warranty work they only repair the issue, so in effect one head would be fixed because the other is okay and not showing any signs of failure.
I look at it as you go to the dealer with a giant hole in the front tire and they deem it warranty work then replace all four, this does not happen in the real world. Just a scenario LOL.
Now after warranty is a much different animal, the dealer is looking to sell more shop time and parts to sustain the business.
Because we are doing this job on a one by one basis then there is little hope for a solidarity movement to go to MB to fight this overhanging issue to operators of the M156 engine. We are scee-rood!