2020 C63S Sedan ownership turning into hassle -Trans valve body
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From: California
C63 S AMG
2020 C63S Sedan ownership turning into hassle -Trans valve body
Well, less than 1 year of CPO or Certified Pre-Owned ownership and warranty expired 20 days ago, I now have my car at the dealer and they want $4700 in repairs for the transmission valve body.
I took it in for a CEL, indicating a powertrain Park sensor. Car drove fine with the exception of no rev-matching blips on Sport+ mode. That's when they discovered the transmission valve body per what they are saying, although the SA said it is purely an electrical component malfunction and nothing mechanical.
While on the lift they discovered the rear shocks leaking badly (I then read in other threads that this is common) and advised replacing them, along with several other items that took the cost to $10K+
Car has only 45K miles. I'm disappointed with these issues. Still talking to the dealer but wanted to share my experience and get your thoughts as well.
Can the valve body repair be done elsewhere for less than $4600?
Dealer note:
Transmission Valve Body: DIAG AND REPLACEMENT OF TRANSMISSION VALVE BODY
Valve body: hydraulic control center that receives pressurized fluid from the main pump operated by the fluid coupling/torque converter. The pressure coming from this pump is regulated and used to run a network of spring-loaded valves, check ***** and servo pistons. The valves use the pump pressure and the pressure from a centrifugal governor on the output side (as well as hydraulic signals from the range selector valves and the throttle valve or modulator) to control which ratio is selected on the gearset; as the vehicle and engine change speed, the difference between the pressures changes, causing different sets of valves to open and close
I took it in for a CEL, indicating a powertrain Park sensor. Car drove fine with the exception of no rev-matching blips on Sport+ mode. That's when they discovered the transmission valve body per what they are saying, although the SA said it is purely an electrical component malfunction and nothing mechanical.
While on the lift they discovered the rear shocks leaking badly (I then read in other threads that this is common) and advised replacing them, along with several other items that took the cost to $10K+
Car has only 45K miles. I'm disappointed with these issues. Still talking to the dealer but wanted to share my experience and get your thoughts as well.
Can the valve body repair be done elsewhere for less than $4600?
Dealer note:
Transmission Valve Body: DIAG AND REPLACEMENT OF TRANSMISSION VALVE BODY
Valve body: hydraulic control center that receives pressurized fluid from the main pump operated by the fluid coupling/torque converter. The pressure coming from this pump is regulated and used to run a network of spring-loaded valves, check ***** and servo pistons. The valves use the pump pressure and the pressure from a centrifugal governor on the output side (as well as hydraulic signals from the range selector valves and the throttle valve or modulator) to control which ratio is selected on the gearset; as the vehicle and engine change speed, the difference between the pressures changes, causing different sets of valves to open and close
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2019 C63CS
What is the actual issue with the transmission? What exactly is malfunctioning and is there an error code? The dealer note is completely useless. Just states they wanna replace the valve body with a generic explanation of what the valve body is, and the explanation is not even accurate as the C63 doesn't have a torque converter. Problem is most dealerships operate on a replace instead of repair strategy. The malfunctioning part can likely be replaced in the valve body if it's an electrical part, but they just wanna replace the whole thing. A transmission shop will likely be able to repair it, instead of just replacing the whole thing. The valve body is easy to get to as it is at the bottom of the transmission. I'm not entirely sure what the going rate for this repair is these days, but seems very high. I was quoted this much for a transmission repair on my previous car that required the transmission to be dropped and taken apart, which shouldn't be necessary in this case. A quick Google search shows a valve body replacement to be more in the $2000 range.
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C63 S AMG
Thanks for the reply. Nothing noticeable except the check engine light and no blips on downshifts. Also on Park, free-revving the engine is like limp mode where it doesn't want to go past 2k RPM warmed up.
I don't have the error code unfortunately,
I don't have the error code unfortunately,
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2019 C63CS
Unfortunately, you are just describing symptoms and not the actual failure, so there isn't much to go on. Always a good idea to read out the diagnostic codes yourself first before taking the car in, so you have a better idea of what you are dealing with. Have them explain to you exactly what the failure is and give you error codes and question them on the need to replace the whole valve body rather than just the electrical part that is malfunctioning.
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2019 C63CS
Also, I'm kinda confused about the warranty status of this car. The factory warranty is 4 years or 50k miles, whichever comes first, and CPO extends that by another year with unlimited miles. How come the warranty has expired? I can see how the factory warranty has expired if the in-service date was over 4 years ago, but you said it's been less than a year of CPO ownership.
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C63 S AMG
That's another issue I'm having. Dealer said the car is not CPO, even though I have it in my contract (Taking a copy to them now). Worth noting this is not the same Mercedes dealer where I purchased the car from.
Also, they said the warranty mileage is under but time has expired as its been over 4 years by about 20 days.
I did not know CPO adds another year + unlimited mileage. Thanks so much for this info. I will bring this up and report back.
Also, they said the warranty mileage is under but time has expired as its been over 4 years by about 20 days.
I did not know CPO adds another year + unlimited mileage. Thanks so much for this info. I will bring this up and report back.
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2019 C63CS
That sounds like the original in-service date of the car was beginning of March 2020, so that's reasonable and the factory warranty has expired now based on time. That part I can agree with, but it should be within the 12-months CPO warranty now. CPO like the factory warranty is not tied to a specific dealership, so something is definitely not adding up if according to your contract the car is CPO, but they claim it is not.
Last edited by superswiss; Mar 26, 2024 at 08:34 PM.
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That sounds like the original in-service date of the car was beginning of March 2020, so that's reasonable and the factory warranty has expired now based on time. That part I can agree with, but it should be within the 12-months CPO warranty now. CPO like the factory warranty is not tied to a specific dealership, so something is definitely not adding up if according to your contract the car is CPO, but they claim it is not.
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Update:
After taking the copy of my CPO report (Which includes the VIN#, Vehicle Stock#, Dealer Code and Certification date, the SA made a copy and asked me to contact the dealer where I purchased the car, advising that they may not have entered it into the system or if they did that it may not have gone through. He showed me his computer screen with my car's data and said the CPO information should show here but it didn't.
Called the purchased from dealer and they were able to quickly find my information and confirmed that they did put the CPO information in at time of purchase but for some reason it did not update in the system. They promptly called Mercedes USA and within 5 minutes the report was in the system, attached to my VIN# and a contract number provided to me.
Called my SA at the dealer where my car is and gave him the info. Told him "Fix my car!" in a funny friendly way.
I will continue to update but im looking at replacing the valve body and shocks under warranty. The air intake ducts completely fell apart but this is wear and tear im being told. Quoted $800 but I can do it myself for $200 or less.
Hoping all goes well now and a huge thanks to Superswiss so far for all his help!
I am well versed and agree with the "You have to pay to play" ways but in this case i was not for it.
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From my search, there are several threads regarding that.
Update:
After taking the copy of my CPO report (Which includes the VIN#, Vehicle Stock#, Dealer Code and Certification date, the SA made a copy and asked me to contact the dealer where I purchased the car, advising that they may not have entered it into the system or if they did that it may not have gone through. He showed me his computer screen with my car's data and said the CPO information should show here but it didn't.
Called the purchased from dealer and they were able to quickly find my information and confirmed that they did put the CPO information in at time of purchase but for some reason it did not update in the system. They promptly called Mercedes USA and within 5 minutes the report was in the system, attached to my VIN# and a contract number provided to me.
Called my SA at the dealer where my car is and gave him the info. Told him "Fix my car!" in a funny friendly way.
I will continue to update but im looking at replacing the valve body and shocks under warranty. The air intake ducts completely fell apart but this is wear and tear im being told. Quoted $800 but I can do it myself for $200 or less.
Hoping all goes well now and a huge thanks to Superswiss so far for all his help!
I am well versed and agree with the "You have to pay to play" ways but in this case i was not for it.
Update:
After taking the copy of my CPO report (Which includes the VIN#, Vehicle Stock#, Dealer Code and Certification date, the SA made a copy and asked me to contact the dealer where I purchased the car, advising that they may not have entered it into the system or if they did that it may not have gone through. He showed me his computer screen with my car's data and said the CPO information should show here but it didn't.
Called the purchased from dealer and they were able to quickly find my information and confirmed that they did put the CPO information in at time of purchase but for some reason it did not update in the system. They promptly called Mercedes USA and within 5 minutes the report was in the system, attached to my VIN# and a contract number provided to me.
Called my SA at the dealer where my car is and gave him the info. Told him "Fix my car!" in a funny friendly way.
I will continue to update but im looking at replacing the valve body and shocks under warranty. The air intake ducts completely fell apart but this is wear and tear im being told. Quoted $800 but I can do it myself for $200 or less.
Hoping all goes well now and a huge thanks to Superswiss so far for all his help!
I am well versed and agree with the "You have to pay to play" ways but in this case i was not for it.
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2019 C63CS
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I had both my rear shocks replaced under warranty. They were not leaking, but they made a high pitch sonar-like noise mostly audible at parking lot speeds when there was movement in the suspension. This issue is documented on another thread as there are several others that had the same issue. This issue can occur on the front shocks as well. I'm still not clear if this actually means they are malfunctioning when this happens, but I'm pretty sure I notice an improvement in how the suspension handles bumps with the new shocks.
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I have not noticed any handling issues with the car but I will get them replaced as well.
My S2000 is on 13 year-old APEX'i coilovers and they are yet to leak. Still work flawlessly.
My S2000 is on 13 year-old APEX'i coilovers and they are yet to leak. Still work flawlessly.
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C63 S AMG
Dealer got back to me. CPO warranty is in the system and the $4600 for the transmission valve body will be covered, but not the leaking rear shocks.
Superswiss, PM me your Zellle. I want to send you some cash. You saved me. Please accept. Thank you,
Superswiss, PM me your Zellle. I want to send you some cash. You saved me. Please accept. Thank you,
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Excellent news. Not sure what the exceptions are in the CPO warranty, but given that the shocks seem to be known to leak I'd probably push for at least a goodwill 50/50 cost split. They've done that for me for an issue that occurred right outside of the factory warranty. I appreciate your offer, but I can't accept any cash. We help each other here w/o looking for monetary gain. Pay it forward by helping others around here.
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With the KW's and pretty much any aftermarket coilovers you lose the adaptive suspension and the ability to change on the fly between Comfort, Sport and Sport+. Instead you have to manually tweak it for each use case. The manual tweaking is great for the track, but I wouldn't wanna give up the adaptive suspension and the ability to change it on the fly.
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With the KW's and pretty much any aftermarket coilovers you lose the adaptive suspension and the ability to change on the fly between Comfort, Sport and Sport+. Instead you have to manually tweak it for each use case. The manual tweaking is great for the track, but I wouldn't wanna give up the adaptive suspension and the ability to change it on the fly.
Oh forget that! I need my adjustable dampener on the fly
