Imfamous

Hello! I've found a very nice 09 with about 10,000 km on it. I'm strongly considering purchasing. The car drives fine and seems to have been well cared for. It's going to have a full inspection in the next few days at an MB dealer on my dime prior to purchase. Seller is looking for $25k US.

What would you recommend I look for given its been driven so little over the past 8 years? It seems like a steal to me at this price. The owner is quite wealthy and has many nicer toys parked out front so it's not like he's trying to make a quick buck.

I'm going to receive a full service history and am trusting that the dealership it's being taken to will be through, however I'd like to cover all my bases prior to purchase.

From what I can tell all it needs are tires. Seems like it's still riding on the original set.

Headbolts are also a concern but am hoping I'll be able to swap them out one at a time myself.

Thank you in advance.

CarHopper

Check "Buying Advice and Comparisons" under the FAQ

AMG3.2

Buy it. That's a steal.

Also, regarding the headbolts. I have an '09 and swapped mine out one at a time. My thread is here for reference.

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

Or if you want more of a step by step guide, feel free to check out my site www.diytechnica.com for the step by step procedure.

Imfamous

I read through your experience, honestly it has kind of deterred me from wanting to do it myself... From what I've been seeing everybody whose done the head bolts has taken out rusty ones... So it's pretty safe to assume they're all probably coroding at around the same rate.

Honestly this is my dream car and the idea of buying it only to tear open the engine seems nuts. 25k for a car I'll almost immediately have to take apart...

Does anybody know roughly how much a dealer would charge to swap them? I'm assuming thousands.

Thanks

AMG3.2

Yeah, they will for sure be somewhat rusty and corroded on the PFL cars. That is most definitely safe to say.

This is a classic "pay to play" example. For $25k, it's a lot of car... Something's gotta give.

The only alternative is to fork up the additional money and purchase a FL. But that'll set you back upwards of $32k most likely.

Dealer will charge you over $5k, indy will charge about $3.5k.

bhamg

That would be a faulty assumption. There is little or no predictability in the matter of headbolt failure, period.

Imfamous

I'm really torn here... More advice anybody?

CarHopper

Don't buy it. If you're really torn over that kind of a deal on such a low mile car and all you'd have to do is bolts (maybe) then don't buy it. Because you'll then find out how much oil the car takes and how often you need to get rear tires and run.

AMG3.2

100% agreed. It's a pretty pricey to car to maintain when something does go wrong. If $25k + the headbolt fix is too much to stomach, any AMG is probably not a car you want to own.

bhamg

IMO you'd be getting that car at a bargain price even when you factor in - for the sake of argument let's just say worst case 15% chance - the headbolts might let go during the lifetime of your ownership. I'd buy it I were in your shoes and the inspection checked out favorably.

BLKROKT

It's gonna blow up

Imfamous

After a fair bit of reading I'm actually feeling pretty good about the head bolt replacement.

I keep coming back to the fact that the car has seen such little use...

Tires oil and gas don't bother me​ at all, they're a pre requisite for this kind of car. I consider them part of the fun tax.

Have you all changed your bolts? ​​ I'm going ahead with the inspection and will see where that goes. ($300 for a 2 hour walk over)... I wish I knew how through they plan on being...

CarHopper

You need to be really handy and confident to tackle the bolts on your own. Members have done them here, some to the point where they can do it in their sleep... It's just headbolts. But, if you have any doubt, don't do it yourself. If something goes wrong and I'm out a $20k motor I'd like to be able to point the finger in another direction than my own...