Hi Team,

Here's the story.

I have 44k on my original owner C63. It's not my daily driver. No extended warranty.

I drove it last Thursday and the check coolant light came on.

Later that afternoon, I took it out for lunch and it was idling a little rough and the next thing I know the engine light clicks on.

I then drive immediately to the dealer.

Today they called (Sunday) and said it will cost $7k to take the cylinder heads off and check the bolts on the block to see if they are corroded. DOH!!! Not anything you ever want to hear.

Does anyone have any feedback on pricing for this kind of work?

Is my C63 gonna turn into a money pit?

I'd hate to get it fixed and have to sell it. Ugh.....

Would love your FeedBack.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.


Cheers
Hawth

Yup, going to be an expensive fix without that warranty. As for $7k just to take off the heads to check the bolts, um, yeah dealer pricing maybe? But that seems pretty high just to check for something.

You are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place with this one. You can consult with an indy shop to see what they have to say but it sounds like you have classic headbolt failure and all the extra driving around may have cost you.

Talk to your service rep if you have worked with them before and have a service history maybe they help you out some since this is a known fault. Some people have had good faith fixes out of warranty or a price break given, see what they can do

It should cost much less than that, even from the dealer. Under $5k is now the going "good" rate for the the complete repair as per the TSB. Where are you located?

How many hours is this quoting, and whats the per hour rate? Does this include parts?



OP, what did your quote entail?

i'd say fix it and dump it.

Print out the TSB and have it handy in case they don't know this is not uncommon

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...-bolt-tsb.html

What's the point of that though? It's the biggest problem it will have after its done you're gtg

I'm located in AZ. Dealer originally said $8.3k but he'd give me a discount. I bought the car from a dealer in CA.

Perhaps I'm not getting good pricing because of that.

I appreciate your replyl

Such a bummer.

Thanks for your reply.

I appreciate the advice but I think it's going to be either a fix/sell or a tow/sell. I'm leaning towards the latter of the two.

I babied that "beast."

They gave me a GLA250 Loaner and I think I like it. LOL!

Honestly though, unless the "stealer" can split the cost with me I'll probably be selling it:-(

Thanks for your reply.

Great questions.
I don't have a printed quote or anything.

My SA called me today and told me some approximate$$. He suggested $8.3k but he had room to offer me a 20% disc. - for a price of approximately $7k.

It looks like a tow/sell I'm afraid.


Thank you for your reply.

Great advice.
My SA said this was the 2nd time one of his clients had this issue (insert B.S. cough) but he had seen several others. I should have pressed him further but i was still struggling with his $7k approximation.

Thanks for your reply

When are you guys going to learn to tow your car when you see a rough idle and coolant loose??? How many times does it have to be posted??



Mercedes has been covering half the price ask them.

$8000 to pull the heads is nuts!

They must be quoting to pull the engine and rebuild it?

If a bolt head snapped off, engine damage, if it stretched and can be removed with no engine damage you could throw the head back on and new bolts.

If the bolt broke engine has to come out, there is no room to pull a head straight up and over a broke bolt.

Horrible advice, these engines are bulletproof beside this issue. Once repaired you will have a trouble free car to drive for years. Why dump all this money to fix only to sell it??

Do you have a reputable indy shop nearby? I had my car at a shop last week and asked to quote what it would cost to replace the head bolts as preventative maint. They quoted me $2500-$3000 for everything, which included polishing up the heads while they were off. Obviously this price does not include if there is damage since you drove after the CEL came on. Hopefully, you do not have too much damage...

I agree on not selling it after your repair. That is really the only major mechanical issue these cars have. You won't have to worry about it after this.

Either don't fix and sell as is, or, fix and keep. If you fix and then sell it is a double whammy and going to cost you.

Regardless you're going to spend some money here. Either with the loss in value with the sale, or the cost to fix.

If you love the car, I'd recommend fixing it and driving it. Especially if you still owe money on it.

Thanks for your reply. As soon as I saw the CEL come on, I immediately drove to the dealer. No damage was caused to the vehicle.

realize it's a hunk of metal that gets beat on and will cost $$ no matter how "nice" you are too it, it sucks but why even get it fixed if you're going to sell it? just sell it as is

You drove the car while coolant was pissing into the cylinder chambers. You did damage.

You saw the coolant light come on first. Then the CEL came on later. Jeez man, you should have known about these cars and just not even driven it when that coolant light came on... Sucks - there is def damage done, the only question is how much. Sorry.

Yeah pre fl if you see low coolant stop everything!
I got a cel two weeks ago and drove it to the shop but no low coolant light

I still think if the op pushes it the dealer might pickup some of the tab

Glad I purchased an extended warranty for that. Worst nightmare for any of us. Hopefully the dealer will play nice and give you a discount considering you do a lot of service there.

Dealer said no damage was done. They took a sample of the oil and said im OK.

Thank you for your reply.

My bad, I must have missed that specific detail in one of your previous posts. You got lucky