If you have a "low coolant" warning come on the dash - READ THIS
 

After scouring the forums reading and reading. My advice is just bring it into the dealer. That is it, the simple best advice you'll see on here. Stop driving it, don't top it up, just call your dealer and get it in. Don't ignore that low coolant warning and do my checks to make sure you don't **** your engine. Here's my story.....

• Happened last tues, Feb 17th 2015. I got the low coolant warning....everything seemed fine, no power loss, no rough idle , no overheating, nothing. Praying to the holy Jebus that I'm not one of the bad batches of engine owners.

• Sunday Feb 22 2015. Low coolant warning, rough idle, no power loss. Opened the reservoir tank - EMPTY, cold air blowing into cabin when hot air is asked for.
• Mon Feb 23 2015. Go to dealer picked up bottle of anti freeze. Car takes 5L's to fill the res!!! WTF. Turned on and warmed engine. Cold air still blowing in when hot air asked. Roommate (BMW mechanic) says maybe an air bubble in cooling system. Has me go look for a coolant vacuum filler. Calls me saying cancel and wants to pull the dipstick.
• Pulls the dip stick....oil level is more then half way up the entire dipstick. Oil is murky brown...coolant res is 1" lower then when it was filled. Car says engine is "cold" after 30min of sitting there when it was warm and past the halfway mark on the temp gauge. Basically the engine is dumping the coolant into the oil...

Car is going to get towed into the dealer now - not going to drive it, don't want to hydrolock the engine. Still under warranty. Will take pics of the dipstick oil/coolant mixture later on. Sticky this!!!

Sounds like the headbolts. Sorry to hear. Keep us updated!

what MY is your C63?

dang..... note to self

Year? 2009

sure sounds like broken head bolts. good thing you still have warranty.

I hope you have some sort of warranty. Coolant going though the engine in that amount can not be good for the bearings, cylinders, etc. I think you're going to need a complete rebuild or new crate engine.

Even outside of warranty, force the issue with MB USA

I'm Canadian and I wrote it has extended warranty. I'll let you guys know how it comes out. The head shop foreman knows my car well and is going to be doing the job since he's the one who actually worked on my car for the security issue.

You caught the issue pretty quickly so it is possible that you did no real damage to the engine.

2009 is in the affected range I would assume it's your headbolts. $5K repair out of warranty so be sure to fight hard and escalate if they give you grief about your warranty covering it.

GL with the repair. Any updates?

Sry was busy with personal life and actually kinda forgot about the car since I don't drive it in winter.

It was towed to a dealer 5min from my house by the most useless tow guy ever. I have a long ramp driveway and I asked the tow truck driver to backup the tow truck so we could just basically push the car onto the truck. NOPE, he wants to use his tow winch and pull it up so he forces me to back the car up and gives me **** bc I didn't want to start the engine. I had to ride the brakes so I didn't hit my neighbors SUV and car that he parked on the st. So that was the start of the "bad news".

CS calls next days and leaves me a ****ing voicemail that you SHOULD NEVER leave a customer. "Something has failed and leaked the coolant into the oil" well no ****, I told you guys about that bc I found it out dumbass. "It's going to be a lot of work and very expensive. We are waiting from a quote from a engine rebuilder" Why the hell would you leave me that voicemail? That's neither professional or the right way to approach for a person who hears the vm after hours when the service shop closes and can\'t get an answer. He made it sound like it's not going to be covered under warranty....dick.

So I call the next day, well the CS has his day off but is coming in just to speak to me. He asks me a bunch of stupid questions like whens the last service and blah blah blah. The last time he has record of the car in for service was 62k km. It has 91k km now. I say What's there to do in 30k km? Oil changes and some checks! Why does this have any relevance to a headbolt breaking and leaking coolant into the engine? If you're trying to say that doing my own oil change will void the warranty....He said "oh no no no. We're just wondering bc we may need you to provide receipts and proof". I was thinking even if I hadn't changed my oil a headbolt breaking isn't bc I didn't change the oil. Guy sounds like an idiot.

In the end. The dealer is waiting for authorization from someone higher up to tear down the engine and find what broke. It will require a rebuild or new engine they're saying.

That's a less then awesome VM to get. Been there, done that, but with a way less expensive engine (a 97 Cobra 4V that imploded at 7K rpm).

Please do keep us in the loop with your progress.

If it's rebuilt, better be a complete rebuild. New seals and bearings throughout. I'd push for a crate engine.

It is dumb, but it is important to keep receipts for stuff like oil changes (even if you just buy the oil/filter and DIY). There are people out there dumb enough to not change the oil for 25K miles and the warranty company can use that to show the car was neglected which means they don't have to pay out.

Of course receipts for oil don't prove that the oil was actually changed - the point is to have some documentation so the warranty company can't find an easy way to deny your claim.

If headbolts only cost $5k to replace without a warranty...it's not THAT bad..i take it no ones blown their intake manifold yet eh? Try around $8400 for that...the part alone is like 6k (dealer prices obviously) but you lose the plaque :(

The plaque will be on your original manifold you just swap it over.

a car should NEVER normally require more than a wee bit of coolant to top it off. 5L is insane, and combined with the murky oil is a pretty obvious major issue. I, however, got the low coolant warning on my new vehicle, and it was just because the sensor in the reservoir is extremely sensitive. Topped it off with maybe 12oz of coolant/water, and I'm good to go. So for most folks with low coolant warning, just take a look in the reservoir and see if you aren't just a bit low. If it's empty, check the oil and be suspicious that something seriously funky is going on...

Hey JCFay, how did you black the trim around your windows. It looks nice.
(Sorry off topic)

Thanks, man. Your car looks fantastic (more pics anywhere?). I wrapped the trim myself in satin black vinyl. The post is here:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...im-grille.html

It has held up really well, but was a full day of work since I took my time and was really careful not to bend or damage any of the chrome/plastic trim which could be a little fragile. Not too tough a job, just do some additional searching on-line about vinyl wrapping trim pieces. Removing them was not too bad either, but I think some people have wrapped them without removal. Some folks also prefer to have them professionally wrapped, which from my understanding is pretty inexpensive. Either way, I like the look.

You know, I've always said if you can't afford the car you shouldn't buy it. $8400 is a drop in the bucket. It's all about making great financial choices in life. Too many posers around here that think they're all badass when they haven't achieved near the financial success that I have.

Wow, you definitely get douche post of the year award for that one... Posers? I guess it's great you're around to give us all something wonderful to aspire to. Royal douchebag status. Glad you were able to chime in with something so useful to this thread, as well. I've got an idea - don't ever post anything useful, and instead just post garbage like this. You'll have loads of friends in no time. At least you can use your cash to keep yourself warm.

Ok folks, someone come in here and rescue me.

Dude, you don't need rescue (unless you were kidding in your original post), and instead it was just some bizarro sarcasm. If so, then my bad. If not, then keep on hangin' on...

I believe the offending post was sarcasm. I had the same reaction initially.

Here is the relevant back story. At least post 81 on down.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...ml#post6328875