Hello all - Last year upon early retirement (after losing my wife and both parents in the previous 6 months to cancer and Covid), I bought an '09 SL63 from a reputable independent dealer in Atlanta. Excellent condition vehicle, full service records from previous 4 years owner - headbolts, brakes, tires, retractable roof strut, etc all repaired/replaced, and all other scheduled and needed maintenance done to the tune of $24,000 before owner traded it in for something more exotic. Having had various sports car coupes and convertibles over most of my life, it was time for me to do something positive and my gut told me to buy this vehicle. I've loved everything about it since April of last year, until 3 weeks ago, when I was passing a slow moving pickup truck coming going 45mph, and there was a sudden "boosh!" noise and a big cloud of smoke trailing behind me. My local Mercedes dealer has shown me pictures of the hole and crack in the block, and a cracked oil pan, and the technician says the engine is completely shot and I need to find a replacement. He thinks it was most likely due to a spun rod bearing, then locked up where the connecting rod attaches to the crankshaft. So now, the most complicated and expensive car service/repair issue I've ever faced, and I have to find a reliable replacement engine on my own. The Mercedes Parts manager says there's none in the US. Well, technically that may be true from his view, but the M156 was made for many different AMG models. Yes, ideally I'd like to find one from an SL63, and one that was made after the headbolt cut off serial # of 060658, or like mine, one that has had the bolts replaced. There are some on eBay, but when I enter the VIN # into Google and find pictures of the totaled car it came from, or find out it came from a flood/water damaged car, they are off the list. I keep thinking I'm missing a better path to finding an engine. I've talked to a reputable salvage yard and they've searched, I talked to the original dealer and he couldn't help, I've talked to other car guys that have pointed me towards CoParts or IAAI to find auctions on SL63s or other M156 engined vehicles, like the C63, CLS, etc. But those engines require modification and parts to fit into the SL63, so the preferred route is to find an engine from a rear end crashed SL63, with low miles, headbolts addressed, and so on... OR find a new path like maybe there's some guys out there that do club racing and have an M156 they'd like to sell, or some other path maybe one of you can suggest? If I find a replacement engine, it'll cost maybe $7500, plus parts and 30 hours labor (est) for a grand total of $15,000, and no guarantee that some other issue rears it's ugly head down the road. But if I don't find a replacement engine, then I'm out the $35,000 I paid for it, plus shipping costs, plus title, tax, new rear tires, and other things for a loss of $40,000, minus the salvage value of my car, which is only about $3,000 from the first estimate I was given from a salvage yard here in the Midwest.

AMG could build me a new engine, but the delivered and installed price for that is $57,000...LOL!

See attached pictures that the service tech took when they inspected the engine.









I called Mercedes Customer Service, and no help from them in sharing some of the engine installation costs.

So, any sage advice out there? Any spare engines someone wants to sell?

Thank you!
Chris