C63 AMG (W204) 2008 - 2015

AMG3.2's DIY Headbolt Adventure

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Rate Thread
 
Old 09-26-2016, 05:40 PM
  #101  
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
 
AMG3.2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Posts: 3,313
Received 170 Likes on 145 Posts
C63 AMG, P30
Originally Posted by Jasonoff
Clear the codes, see if they come back. I have them not come back after clearing before.
Weirdest thing happening when I try to clear it.

The code reader goes: Connecting to ABR module and cycles through that, ABS, and SRS.

As it cycles, the code pops up on my dash, and disappears a few seconds later. Then I go to clear codes and it pops back on. Even while my dash is illuminated with the codes, the reader says "no codes" after I read again.

The code goes away everytime I turn off the car and returns at 12MPH.
Old 09-26-2016, 05:48 PM
  #102  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Jasonoff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Kitchener, ON
Posts: 5,219
Received 1,572 Likes on 925 Posts
2010 C63 AMG
Originally Posted by AMG3.2
Weirdest thing happening when I try to clear it.

The code reader goes: Connecting to ABR module and cycles through that, ABS, and SRS.

As it cycles, the code pops up on my dash, and disappears a few seconds later. Then I go to clear codes and it pops back on. Even while my dash is illuminated with the codes, the reader says "no codes" after I read again.

The code goes away everytime I turn off the car and returns at 12MPH.
I have the same intermittent issue with my EPS module. Do you have a tune? If so, do you have a hand held?

Loading OEM tune and completing a couple drive cycles fixed it once for me. Could have just been a coincidence though.
Old 09-26-2016, 05:53 PM
  #103  
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
 
AMG3.2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Posts: 3,313
Received 170 Likes on 145 Posts
C63 AMG, P30
Originally Posted by Jasonoff
I have the same intermittent issue with my EPS module. Do you have a tune? If so, do you have a hand held?

Loading OEM tune and completing a couple drive cycles fixed it once for me. Could have just been a coincidence though.
Wow - really? So my code reader hasn't taken a shi*t? lol

No tune or handheld here unfortunately.
Old 09-26-2016, 06:29 PM
  #104  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Jasonoff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Kitchener, ON
Posts: 5,219
Received 1,572 Likes on 925 Posts
2010 C63 AMG
Originally Posted by AMG3.2
Wow - really? So my code reader hasn't taken a shi*t? lol

No tune or handheld here unfortunately.
These modules are in a hostile environment. I think the heat shield is too small and there's not enough vibration dampening. Another **** poor AMG design fail.
Old 09-27-2016, 12:05 AM
  #105  
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
 
AMG3.2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Posts: 3,313
Received 170 Likes on 145 Posts
C63 AMG, P30
Originally Posted by Jasonoff
These modules are in a hostile environment. I think the heat shield is too small and there's not enough vibration dampening. Another **** poor AMG design fail.
Jesus. So here goes, what, another grand? Is the fix just to buy a new module?
Old 09-27-2016, 07:15 AM
  #106  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Vladds's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: NY
Posts: 1,168
Received 126 Likes on 96 Posts
2010 C63 2019 GLA45
I don't know yet for sure, but here's an alternate:


Find someone that has the Star diagnostic tool.
Use the parts software to determine the part number of the module you have. Use the part number to determine which other Mercedes have the same module.


Buy the module used, cheap, for instance from ebay from a vendor that offers a return in case of malfunction.


The owner somehow gets the star to do offline re-coding of the module that you found and Voila!.
Or, bring the used module to the dealer, somehow get the dealer to re-code it, pay approximately $150 (example on this board) and Voila!


I am guessing that overall, you could end up saving 30% maybe more of the price of a new one. Of course there's the chance that this replacement module will also crap out in a hurry.


But ebay seller are going to charge cheap prices for electronic modules, because these require a qualified buyer, something that they just don't get.
Old 09-27-2016, 07:17 AM
  #107  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Jasonoff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Kitchener, ON
Posts: 5,219
Received 1,572 Likes on 925 Posts
2010 C63 AMG
Originally Posted by AMG3.2
Jesus. So here goes, what, another grand? Is the fix just to buy a new module?
Pretty much what the dealer does. $495.65 is the cheapest I have seen it in the US and then you need it coded to your VIN.

EDIT: PN: 003 540 04 45

Mine magically started working again and has been fine for a couple weeks. But I don't doubt it will start faulting again. I was going to cut the top off the cover to expose the PCB. I know some places do repair them so it may be something obvious that can be fixed.

Last edited by Jasonoff; 09-27-2016 at 07:24 AM.
Old 09-27-2016, 12:46 PM
  #108  
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
 
AMG3.2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Posts: 3,313
Received 170 Likes on 145 Posts
C63 AMG, P30
Originally Posted by Vladds
I don't know yet for sure, but here's an alternate:


Find someone that has the Star diagnostic tool.
Use the parts software to determine the part number of the module you have. Use the part number to determine which other Mercedes have the same module.


Buy the module used, cheap, for instance from ebay from a vendor that offers a return in case of malfunction.


The owner somehow gets the star to do offline re-coding of the module that you found and Voila!.
Or, bring the used module to the dealer, somehow get the dealer to re-code it, pay approximately $150 (example on this board) and Voila!


I am guessing that overall, you could end up saving 30% maybe more of the price of a new one. Of course there's the chance that this replacement module will also crap out in a hurry.


But ebay seller are going to charge cheap prices for electronic modules, because these require a qualified buyer, something that they just don't get.
Originally Posted by Jasonoff
Pretty much what the dealer does. $495.65 is the cheapest I have seen it in the US and then you need it coded to your VIN.

EDIT: PN: 003 540 04 45

Mine magically started working again and has been fine for a couple weeks. But I don't doubt it will start faulting again. I was going to cut the top off the cover to expose the PCB. I know some places do repair them so it may be something obvious that can be fixed.
Well damn. So this part needs to be reprogrammed via STAR?

I just can't believe this is a coincidence. Either removing the battery terminal tripped something and it'll go away with driving, or it vibrated to much or something when I used my electric ratchet to tighten down the valve cover bolts.

I'm going to give it some time before pulling the trigger on the new part.

Last edited by AMG3.2; 09-27-2016 at 12:48 PM.
Old 09-27-2016, 01:28 PM
  #109  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Vladds's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: NY
Posts: 1,168
Received 126 Likes on 96 Posts
2010 C63 2019 GLA45
Here is some more info:
All the W204 series have a secondary battery, except the C63.
I randomly bumped into a thread of w203 people where removing the battery and backup battery cause some type of module to go bad.

The procedure for the transmission oil replacement is posted in the forum with attaching an external source to the battery, so that the battery amperage supply doesn't drop too low.
I wondered why, as having the engine charge it afterwards should be no big deal. This was also for a 2011E350, which may or may not have the backup battery too.
Btw the Wis for the C63 does not mention the external source for the battery in the transmission oil change procedure.
Old 09-27-2016, 01:29 PM
  #110  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Jasonoff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Kitchener, ON
Posts: 5,219
Received 1,572 Likes on 925 Posts
2010 C63 AMG
I drove mine for a solid month while it was faulting to trouble shoot. It fixed itself after a few drive cycles on OEM tune.

Flashed back to the tune, was fine for 2 wks then started faulting. Made a dealer appt to do the star diagnostic and it magically started working again.

EDIT: RE Vladds post, maybe try giving your battery a charge overnight.

Last edited by Jasonoff; 09-27-2016 at 01:31 PM.
Old 09-27-2016, 02:13 PM
  #111  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
bhamg's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,899
Received 92 Likes on 81 Posts
C63 AMG
Originally Posted by Vladds
Here is some more info:
All the W204 series have a secondary battery, except the C63.
I randomly bumped into a thread of w203 people where removing the battery and backup battery cause some type of module to go bad.

The procedure for the transmission oil replacement is posted in the forum with attaching an external source to the battery, so that the battery amperage supply doesn't drop too low.
I wondered why, as having the engine charge it afterwards should be no big deal. This was also for a 2011E350, which may or may not have the backup battery too.
Btw the Wis for the C63 does not mention the external source for the battery in the transmission oil change procedure.
Interesting. Anytime I ever disconnect a battery for safety reasons on the cars or just as a precautionary measure while working on it I connect a Battery Tender and have been doing that for years. Knock on wood...
Old 09-27-2016, 03:35 PM
  #112  
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
 
AMG3.2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Posts: 3,313
Received 170 Likes on 145 Posts
C63 AMG, P30
Originally Posted by bhamg
Interesting. Anytime I ever disconnect a battery for safety reasons on the cars or just as a precautionary measure while working on it I connect a Battery Tender and have been doing that for years. Knock on wood...
Originally Posted by Jasonoff
I drove mine for a solid month while it was faulting to trouble shoot. It fixed itself after a few drive cycles on OEM tune.

Flashed back to the tune, was fine for 2 wks then started faulting. Made a dealer appt to do the star diagnostic and it magically started working again.

EDIT: RE Vladds post, maybe try giving your battery a charge overnight.
I'm gonna run by a shop this evening and run STAR on it to see what's acting up. One of the local Benz shops said he'd run it free of charge so let's see whatsup.

Back to a head bolt part of the thread since that's been neglected...

I'll update the DIY side of things with tools and whatnot needed later, but have a question regarding validating whether my job is actually holding.

How will I know if I haven't compromised the headgasket? Any signs I should be looking for? I'm constantly checking for coolant in the dipstick as that would look super milky. So far I've driven the car about 10 miles and pretty hard up to about 5k (playing it safe), and all looks to be well, but anything else I should be looking for?

So far, no sweet coolant burning smell. But, since I opened the cooling system, inherently there will be air in the lines. So far I've squeezed the radiator lines to try to move any air to the reservoir. That being said, after how many miles or time should I see coolant usage in the reservoir level off?

Also, the sucking noise I was complaining about on startup was actually the valve cover gasket on the passenger side. When installing this one, it's very hard to install the cover while not tapping the cam covers and therefore moving the gasket out of place. Turns out, the oil leak was actually due to a gasket misplacement. Fixed it and all seems well now. No more leaking or sucking noise upon engine shut down.
Old 09-27-2016, 03:49 PM
  #113  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Vladds's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: NY
Posts: 1,168
Received 126 Likes on 96 Posts
2010 C63 2019 GLA45
You get the chemical head gasket test kit from Pep Boys. It's a container that has a chemical in it that is blue and is to be bolted on top of the filler neck of the coolant.
You run the car without coolant cover and with this thing on top and if the liquid turns yellow there's a problem.

It checks for exhaust gases in the antifreeze and can detect way before the pressure pushes the coolant out of the overflow.

I have the kit at home and used it on a BMW e36 that had "magic" coolant disappearance problems. This thing stubbornly indicated there was no head gasket problem and in the end turns out it was leaking inside the firewall where the heater valve is.
Old 09-27-2016, 04:45 PM
  #114  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Jasonoff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Kitchener, ON
Posts: 5,219
Received 1,572 Likes on 925 Posts
2010 C63 AMG
Or just do a pressure test on the cooling system. I wouldn't want some foreign chemical floating around in my cooling system.
Old 09-27-2016, 06:23 PM
  #115  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Vladds's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: NY
Posts: 1,168
Received 126 Likes on 96 Posts
2010 C63 2019 GLA45


Take a look at how this works, the video is not mine.


The vapors from the car bubble through the liquid. The liquid never goes into the car, you can see that the level stays unchanged. Just like the guy in this video, I did also not use the additional hookup for vacuum, because then there could be contamination, but just like him, the test worked even without it.


Pressure testing brings up the life span of the radiator. The radiator is not only affected by mileage, but also years of operation. It could have no effect, or maybe some.
Unless you can get from the WIS the operating pressure of the cooling system and use that value or slightly below.

Last edited by Vladds; 09-27-2016 at 06:30 PM.
The following users liked this post:
Jasonoff (09-27-2016)
Old 09-27-2016, 06:50 PM
  #116  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Jasonoff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Kitchener, ON
Posts: 5,219
Received 1,572 Likes on 925 Posts
2010 C63 AMG
Nice! That's way less intrusive to the system.
Old 09-27-2016, 08:56 PM
  #117  
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
 
AMG3.2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Posts: 3,313
Received 170 Likes on 145 Posts
C63 AMG, P30
Originally Posted by Vladds
How to use a Lisle Combustion Leak Detector kit 75500 on a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.7L v8 - YouTube


Take a look at how this works, the video is not mine.


The vapors from the car bubble through the liquid. The liquid never goes into the car, you can see that the level stays unchanged. Just like the guy in this video, I did also not use the additional hookup for vacuum, because then there could be contamination, but just like him, the test worked even without it.


Pressure testing brings up the life span of the radiator. The radiator is not only affected by mileage, but also years of operation. It could have no effect, or maybe some.
Unless you can get from the WIS the operating pressure of the cooling system and use that value or slightly below.
Got the pressure tester and fluid. Will test when engine cools down. Fingers crossed.

Also, got my ESP module code read and cleared via STAR and it went away... Looks like my Autel wasn't clearing it properly.

All values for module N30/4 were displaying properly via STAR as well so the tech couldn't understand why it would have thrown a code. Looks like some sort of electrical gremlin came my way after unplugging the battery. On that note, time to buy a STAR machine...
Old 09-27-2016, 09:34 PM
  #118  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Merc63's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 4,562
Received 42 Likes on 36 Posts
C63 AMG
It's fine lol. If you removed one at a time, it's going to be fine. Calculate how much clamping force 9 bolts have, where's the gasket going to go?? Simple physics.
Old 09-27-2016, 10:13 PM
  #119  
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
 
AMG3.2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Posts: 3,313
Received 170 Likes on 145 Posts
C63 AMG, P30
Originally Posted by Merc63
It's fine lol. If you removed one at a time, it's going to be fine. Calculate how much clamping force 9 bolts have, where's the gasket going to go?? Simple physics.
Winner!

AMG3.2's DIY Headbolt Adventure-qhzm0p1.jpg

Fluid would change color to yellow/green if exhaust vapor was entering cooling system. This is the fluid after about 4 minutes of testing. Directions state to test for 2 mins.

So... I think I actually pulled this off.

Merc, thanks for your help along the way. You and Jasonoff really helped me out through this.

Last edited by AMG3.2; 07-20-2017 at 11:27 AM.
Old 09-27-2016, 10:44 PM
  #120  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
BLKROKT's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 8,044
Received 2,810 Likes on 1,664 Posts
2012 P31 C63 Coupe Trackrat, 2019 GLE63S Coupe Beast
Nice dude. Lifter tick gone and that hissing noise too?
Old 09-27-2016, 10:49 PM
  #121  
MBWorld Fanatic!
Thread Starter
 
AMG3.2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Silicon Valley, CA
Posts: 3,313
Received 170 Likes on 145 Posts
C63 AMG, P30
Originally Posted by BLKROKT
Nice dude. Lifter tick gone and that hissing noise too?
Yeah. The tick with brand new tappets is apparently normal as they have to pressure with oil for the first 5 mins or so. Coulda use a warning that this was to be expected...

Hissing noise was a stupid mishap with the valve cover gasket. read above a little more, Went into detail on what happened. All is fixed.
Old 09-27-2016, 11:50 PM
  #122  
Super Member
 
andrew c230k's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 570
Likes: 0
Received 8 Likes on 7 Posts
W204 C63 R171
Here is my post, about the head bolts. My heads where removed completely and machined and new gaskets installed.

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...nt-leak-2.html

I am just getting ready to do my 1000km engine flush and oil change.


































Last edited by andrew c230k; 09-27-2016 at 11:54 PM.
The following users liked this post:
chrisridebike8 (09-27-2016)
Old 09-27-2016, 11:58 PM
  #123  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
604 C63's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 2,818
Received 393 Likes on 272 Posts
2012 E550 Cabrio
Damn. Took a few days away and a whole lot has happened.

Great work 3.2, and excellent job forum members!
Old 09-28-2016, 07:13 AM
  #124  
MBWorld Fanatic!
 
Vladds's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: NY
Posts: 1,168
Received 126 Likes on 96 Posts
2010 C63 2019 GLA45
Do the heads separate easy?
on stud blocks that have limited work room in the bay, to separate the heads it can be hours and hours of work, the studs "cement" the heads into position.


Also, Andrew, I thought Mercedes antifreeze was blue. Did your car have green antifreeze in the first place?
Old 09-28-2016, 09:38 AM
  #125  
Member
 
s.e.a.n.'s Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: Miami, Fl
Posts: 164
Received 8 Likes on 6 Posts
2009 C63
Originally Posted by AMG3.2
Yeah. The tick with brand new tappets is apparently normal as they have to pressure with oil for the first 5 mins or so. Coulda use a warning that this was to be expected...

Hissing noise was a stupid mishap with the valve cover gasket. read above a little more, Went into detail on what happened. All is fixed.
I just had my head bolts and head gaskets replaced however they install new tappets and its still ticking after 15 miles of driving.


You have already rated this thread Rating: Thread Rating: 1 votes, 5.00 average.

Quick Reply: AMG3.2's DIY Headbolt Adventure



All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:13 PM.