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I wish all parts run until the wheels fall off. On my case, both head gaskets on m103 and m104 were leaking oil into the coolant side. Engine main wire harness need replacement, due to poor insulation design. And many more problems failed after warranty expired.
You have three options when MB deny the good will. Pay for the repair, sell the car, or take this opportunity to learn and ask forum member how to make the repair. Complaint will not repair your car.
Is meticulous with his car, this is a perfect example of how this can affect anyone of us in the affected head bolt range.
The OP's car is maintained extremely well and I know Andrew personally. Out of all the cars for this to happen to, I wouldn't of expected it to be his.
I am seriously considering swapping the bolts / buckets on my car. I agree with those who say they shouldn't have to repair it. But when it happens what are you going to do?
Furthermore risk further engine damage if not caught in time. Its peace of mind.
Wow, great pics and thanks for updating. That cross section is amazing. I commend you on pursuing this and getting to the bottom of it to save the car. We all learned a great deal from this. It is indeed an engineering oversight but I believe in hindsight this wasn't expected.
Your car is back to being great again just by you not giving up. It may take some investment but we just gotta ask ourselves, is it worth it.
In this case, hands down it was.
Happy to hear your car is back and you have peace of mind now...
Andrew, I'm sorry this happened to you. There's no doubt that it sucks. Thank you for taking the time to make it an educational moment for the rest of us.
I had an 09 and an 09, and this was a concern of mine, particularly as the mileage mounted.
Although I knew this was a possibility, I felt the odds weren't that high, and as the miles mount you manage to simultaneously feel safer and yet more at risk, if that makes sense. My biggest concern was re timing. A 5k hit would be a massive drag, I could absorb it if necessary but have so many other places I should/would rather put it. But timing of that hit....the timing of that in my world could soften or multiply that blow quite heavily, as I have a job with inconsistent income and am self employed.
If MB offered a program for those of us who wished to be pro-active and said "If you want your deadbolts switched, bring in your car and we will contribute to that by swapping the bolts free of charge, and the first two hours of service are on us" I think they would be absolved of any blame here and it would be a good customer relations move. They would recoup that with other side service done as well. Probably wouldn't cost them a dime.
Then it really would be buyer beware, and the onus for fixing that would be on the owner. If you elected to not take advantage of that offer and your bolts failed, well, that's on you.
But that program doesnt exist. So for me, for my part, I thought I wanted to get away from the uncertainty and get back under the comfort of a warranty. Rather than spend a pro-active 5k to fix what aint broke (yet, perhaps) I elected to sell my car and put that 5k into a newer model with a 3 year warranty. My payments are actually a bit lower, I have a warranty, I sleep at night, and have a new (to me) car to boot.
I would say that something to remember here is that not all your money is up in smoke (or vapour lol). The resale value of your car has gone up to some degree, as I know that I would spend extra for a car with bolts done, whereas I wouldn't touch one that didn't, and you have also probably decreased your future maintenance costs as well. So some of that expense will have a benefit to you down the road as well, both monetary and in terms of peace of mind.
I wish you many thousands of stress free, bulletproof kilometres ahead.
Next time don't be so cheap and try to save a buck. Get the extended, it always pays out better over long run when owning an AMG
The repair cost 1/3 of what the warranty would, so I am still ahead. The point is there should be a lifetime warranty on these parts because they know they are defective. I can't buy the warranty as I bought the car directly from MB financial after its lease was up.
I will probably ultra sonic clean the bolts to see if any other have cracks in them. To me it seems like one side failed and the other head was probably fine.
The repair cost 1/3 of what the warranty would, so I am still ahead. The point is there should be a lifetime warranty on these parts because they know they are defective. I can't buy the warranty as I bought the car directly from MB financial after its lease was up.
Glad you got it sorted, you're good to go now until the wheels fall off the thing. Fwiw, I bought two used AMG's and was able to buy the MBELW. One was certified, so of course no issues adding on the ELW, the other was from a broker.
Next time don't be so cheap and try to save a buck. Get the extended, it always pays out better over long run when owning an AMG
Um, I looked at extended warranties in a business school case. I'm no actuary but IIRC looking at frequency and severity of an unexpected design defect the warranty benefit payout might be 5X average, meaning a predicted average payout over the life of the warranty in that category of $500 would end up being $2,500. So while the severity might be "high" the frequency (3-5%?) is still "low." It's only a minor blip to the insurer as the average profit margin across the automotive extended warranty business the last time I saw a statistic was about 33%.
Um, I looked at extended warranties in a business school case. I'm no actuary but IIRC looking at frequency and severity of an unexpected design defect the warranty benefit payout might be 5X average, meaning a predicted average payout over the life of the warranty in that category of $500 would end up being $2,500. So while the severity might be "high" the frequency (3-5%?) is still "low." It's only a minor blip to the insurer as the average profit margin across the automotive extended warranty business the last time I saw a statistic was about 33%.
I generally agree re warranties, but I've used both of my MBELW up. I probably clocked in at least 1.5x in warranty repairs versus warranty price paid.
I generally agree re warranties, but I've used both of my MBELW up. I probably clocked in at least 1.5x in warranty repairs versus warranty price paid.
This.
Of course extended warranties make no mathematical sense, cos if they did all the companies that sold them would be out of business. The best thing of all would be to self insure. Every time you think about buying an extended warranty take that cash and put it into some sort of account and put it to work. If needed, withdraw. But who does that?
My rule of thumb is that if it has no moving parts i.e. a television, then I definitely 10000% do not even think about it. But if its something that has a billion moving mechanical parts and can have catastrophic expenses attached to it - then I have to at least look at it. A 3 year extended warranty on my car was just over $3000 canadian. 2 yr bumper to bumper, 1 year powertrain. Guaranteed I get my moneys worth. I did the last time.
2012 C63 with P30, LSD, and EES Supercharger, 1959 Plymouth with Viper V10 and Tremec 6sp
Having design problems that show up after several years is not unique to Mercedes. I had a Lexus LX450 (Built by Toyota and an SUV like the LandCruiser) I purchased new and maintained better than by the book. One day I got an engine miss and white exhaust. It took me about 10 minutes to diagnose a blown head gasket and an internet search revealed this was a common problem for this Toyota engine during the last two years of production with a new 4 valve aluminum head. So even Toyota, who builds the most reliable and trouble free cars on the planet blew it with their head gasket design. Almost all of these failed after warrantee, so I cussed for a while and got out my wrenches and put in the new improved head gasket that I paid for, not Lexus. I drove the car for another 50K trouble free miles and guess what, I just purchased a new Lexus GX470.
I know that my C63 will never be as reliable as my Lexus but I also know it will never be as boring as my new Lexus! That is why I purchased the C63! One has to keep these mechanical vehicles in perspective and purchase them for what we all know they are.
I had leak like that and it drove me crazy. The windshield washer tank has a heater tube that goes into it. It heats up the washing fluid. the thermostat on the end of the tube got a leak and after the engine got warm, the coolant pressure would force the coolant into the washer tank through the leaky thermostat. When the engine cooled down, some of the coolant would siphon back in to the coolant tank. The only way I figure it out was I put dye in the coolant and noticed a green glow in the washer tank.
06-13-2016, 07:44 PM
