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I purchased my 2010 C63 this past February and I've already drove it a little over 10k miles. I haven't had this much fun driving in a long time so I'm going to commit to owning it for the long haul.
The head bolt problem has me really concerned so I contacted a couple of service shops in the area for quotes on replacing them. Precision Motorworks has worked on C63s' and inspired confidence during my conversations. While the motor is pulled apart, can anyone else recommend replacing any other OEM parts not already included on the service tag?
Last edited by DP63AMG; 07-14-2016 at 02:06 PM.
Reason: Personal Information on Document
Just a thought but you have some personal info in that PDF you may want to redact. Up to you but thought I'd mention in case it hadn't occurred to you. Of course you are also the only guy I've seen on here with his real name as his user name so....who knows?
Was quoted $3k from these guys just haven't gotten around to doing it yet. I spoke to Evan for a while. Very knowledgeable and definitely someone I'd be comfortable leaving my car with.
Can you drive your car? I would suggest getting Carchex warranty (I paid 4500k for 3 years and 36,000 that covers everything). Drive it for a month and 1k miles in total then have your warranty do any work you need it to be done on the car at any dealership you want (if its over $1k job, they'll check the car so make sure you put your stock parts back if you have any mods on).
I changed my engine mounts and some other stuff. The warranty paid for itself already and I still have 2 years and a few months left in it
At this point, nothing is wrong with the motor so I think I would have a hard time getting the extended warranty to pay for the preventative work that I am looking to complete.
That's exactly what I did. Engine mounts weren't out, they were going that direction. The warranty covers wear and tear as well. Its a good type of insurance to have. And lets be honest with each other, if you take your car to MB dealership, and tell them "I hear this in my car" or "Check this?" They will not hesitate to come up with something So mention just "head-bolt" and see where it goes lol.
Can you drive your car? I would suggest getting Carchex warranty (I paid 4500k for 3 years and 36,000 that covers everything). Drive it for a month and 1k miles in total then have your warranty do any work you need it to be done on the car at any dealership you want (if its over $1k job, they'll check the car so make sure you put your stock parts back if you have any mods on).
I changed my engine mounts and some other stuff. The warranty paid for itself already and I still have 2 years and a few months left in it
I've always been inclined to get an extended warranty. Some claim they're great investments, others claim they're scams when you need them to cough up the cash.
Can you tell us more about your experience with Carchex?
I've always been inclined to get an extended warranty. Some claim they're great investments, others claim they're scams when you need them to cough up the cash.
Can you tell us more about your experience with Carchex?
I had to deal with them twice, for my engine mounts and that was approx. $900 job, and then an $8000 job.
The first time, for the engine mounts, it was done over the phone with carchex and it was a breeze. The $8000 job (they replaced 4 cams and lifters even though they were "OK" but if replacing them is for only $100, why wait till they go really bad"). With this job, they sent a 3rd party inspector. He came after 2 days and once they received the report (no mods on the car I assume what they looked for and as for the failure, the SA dealt with that). At that time I only had X-pipe in place of the resonator so it was ok. Anything after the primary cats is not a problem (what the SA told me).
MB received the authorization from Carchex the next day after the inspector sent his report. Work was done and everyone was happy (except Carchex? lol).
I didn't have to pick up the phone or anything, MB Service Adviser is the one to deal with all that. Just hand him the warranty card and you're good to go.
I mentioned installing the headers and when I have mods on the car if I wanna do warranty service, the SA was cool with it and said if its over $1000 job, just take them off in case they send an inspector. All in all it has its trade offs but for a car like that I think its worth it personally.
PurpleHeartAMG
Every time
Last edited by xKryptonite; 07-14-2016 at 06:58 PM.
I had to deal with them twice, for my engine mounts and that was approx. $900 job, and then a $8000 job.
The first time, for the engine mounts, it was done over the phone with carchex and it was a breeze. The $8000 job (they replaced 4 cams and lifters even though they were "OK" but if replacing them is for only $100, why wait till they go really bad"). With this job, they sent an 3rd party inspector. He came after 2 days and once they received the report (no mods on the car I assume what they looked for and as for the failure, the SA dealt with that). At that time I only had X-pipe in place of the resonator so it was ok. Anything after the primary cats is not a problem (what the SA told me).
MB received the authorization from Carchex the next day after the inspector sent his report. Work was done and everyone was happy (except Carchex? lol).
I didn't have to pick up the phone or anything, MB Service Adviser is the one to deal with all that. Just hand him the warranty card and you're good to go.
I mentioned installing the headers and when I have mods on the car if I wanna do warranty service, the SA was cool with it and said if its over $1000 job, just take them off in case they send an inspector. All in all it has its trade offs but for a car like that I think its worth it personally.
I purchased my 2010 C63 this past February and I've already drove it a little over 10k miles. I haven't had this much fun driving in a long time so I'm going to commit to owning it for the long haul.
The head bolt problem has me really concerned so I contacted a couple of service shops in the area for quotes on replacing them. Precision Motorworks has worked on C63s' and inspired confidence during my conversations. While the motor is pulled apart, can anyone else recommend replacing any other OEM parts not already included on the service tag?
If your head bolts have not failed yet, I'd ask the shop how much less it would be to replace 1 bolt and a time. That way they don't have to remove the heads and replace the head gaskets. A few people on this forum have done it and it works fine.
I think all told I spent around $1300 on parts. Here's what I ordered. Could have saved a little by getting some parts from one place and some from another, but didn't have that level of patience.
Also needed coolant and some other bits and pieces.
Finally, make sure they have the specialized tools in the shop before they start the job ...
I did a little more research and if I didn't replace the head gasket, I could drop the cost from $4500 to around $2800. That includes the updated head bolts and SLS Black Series Buckets. I'm leaning towards this option, thoughts?
This is the one bolt at a time method, as suggested by glennhl? Cos $2800 sounds a lot more palatable. Thats in the realm of ordinary maintenance for car of this caliber.
A smart guy with an angry wife could make that sound like 2 grand as opposed to the nearly 5k hit the other way
I was quoted 15 Hours labor = $1500 CDN by Eurocharged Toronto. For the labor on the job. With parts were talking about 3500 CDN. Which is on par with the $2800 dollar quote from our friends in the USA.
Originally Posted by 604 C63
This is the one bolt at a time method, as suggested by glennhl? Cos $2800 sounds a lot more palatable. Thats in the realm of ordinary maintenance for car of this caliber.
A smart guy with an angry wife could make that sound like 2 grand as opposed to the nearly 5k hit the other way
I was quoted 15 Hours labor = $1500 CDN by Eurocharged Toronto. For the labor on the job. With parts were talking about 3500 CDN. Which is on par with the $2800 dollar quote from our friends in the USA.
Thats certainly bearable. Always good to be able to pick your timing on that too, versus lightning striking whenever it feels.
I did a little more research and if I didn't replace the head gasket, I could drop the cost from $4500 to around $2800. That includes the updated head bolts and SLS Black Series Buckets. I'm leaning towards this option, thoughts?
As long as the current bolts have not failed, this is the option I would choose.
Remember to tell the shop never to loosen more than 1 bolt at a time. Take one bolt out and replace it with the new head bolt and then fully tighten it and proceed to the next bolt. This way the head gasket always is clamped down.
oddly enough the Eurocharged price here in Toronto at 15 hours includes the head gasket replacement!!
Damn thinking about it, it makes sense for any American members close to the border to come up here to get the bolts done. With the exchange rate that's $1100-$1200 bucks US.
Originally Posted by glennhl
As long as the current bolts have not failed, this is the option I would choose.
Remember to tell the shop never to loosen more than 1 bolt at a time. Take one bolt out and replace it with the new head bolt and then fully tighten it and proceed to the next bolt. This way the head gasket always is clamped down.
I'd just swap the bolts one at a time and call it a day. You're wasting time and money yanking the heads if they're not compromised. You're also introducing more risk of damaging something else, running into issues etc.
I decided to just replace the head bolts and cam followers. The total price was $2716.48. I think it's a reasonable amount to ensure I don't have a HB failure.
Damon, looks like a good price. Did they do just one bolt at a time? That is remove one bolt, put in the new bolt, tighten fully, then move on to the next bolt.
Also, does anyone know that if you have an engine that came with the new bolts, did it also come with the new cam followers?
I decided to just replace the head bolts and cam followers. The total price was $2716.48. I think it's a reasonable amount to ensure I don't have a HB failure.
Not too bad.
Looks like they used M159 valve buckets too as opposed to the updated M156 buckets (P/N 156-050-02-25).
P/N for the right head gasket is 156-016-00-20 which I don't see so it looks like they just went the one bolt method.
07-14-2016, 10:30 AM
So mention just "head-bolt" and see where it goes lol.
