cyberjad

Considering purchasing a used CLK63 with close to 70K miles. I'm not sure if I will be able to find out if the head bolts have been swapped, but I am somewhat concerned after reading several threads.

If the car is running well and is inspected by a local MB dealer would you worry about having a potentially very expensive repair or consider the car at a good one at 70K with no major problems?

thrilos81

You can go to the dealer and ask them to check the VMI for you.

Nokiemon

Get a Carfax report as well to make sure there are no other hidden issues.

insame1

Car fax only works if the shop reported the work. PPI is a better way to go IMHO.

megacrazy

I wouldn't...not if it's a daily car. Also at those miles I would be worried about more than the head bolts. Camshafts...valve..buckets and a few other things. Take a look at Tasos Moschatos on youtube...he covers the M156 in depth, including a full rebuild.

If you decide to get it definitely get a PPI from a place that knows the M156. If the cams are gone they're 500 a pop...times 4...that's 2k right there if you do the work yourself.

Skorp

At 104k miles, I needed my camshaft adjusters replaced, which cost $4200 (discounted form $6100 after calling Mercedes HQ). Otherwise haven't had any other problems so far the near two years I have driven it knocking on wood. At 112k miles, which is recently all the front lights started to burn out so had to replace each light bulb one after another (low beam, parking light, and fog light) in a two week period xD

It is an awesome car though, just love it despite its costly upkeep. So, yeah be prepared to replace the camshaft adjusters if they haven't been already in the future if you plan to drive it that long.