Coalman

With all the discussion of problems with the I/C pump, I would like to take an informal poll of members to see how many of you have, and have not, experinced problems, the year of your car and, if you had a problem, what you did about it. I'm wondering if most E55's do not experience this problem or vice versa.

I have a 2003 E55 with 25K miles and have had no problems thus far. Also, I live in Pittsburgh, PA.

J 2OOI

Just had mine replaced on Friday 8/17.

2004 w/ 22k miles

butt dyno told me something was wrong, car just wasn't strong, then after hard runs the supercharger would not engage. After I allowed it to cool down the supercharger would come on but again the car didn't feel as strong as it should.

I took it to the stealer, told them the symptoms, and told them that through research I had an idea of what it could be, the I/C pump.

They verified the problem and replaced the pump. Car seems strong again, but I haven't tested it too much to be sure.

E55BKS

I have an 03 and just got the pump replaced on mine (under warranty). I had read a lot about the failure of these pumps but didn't realize mine was failing until I ran it hard one day in the heat. I did three hard pulls and on the forth one I left it in 1st gear until the rpm's hit the point at which S/C should engage (around 3200 rpms) it didn't. I did couple more hard pulls and could tell it was down on power. My car has 34k on it, I would have yours replaced before the warranty goes out just to be safe. Good luck!!

BTW - tell MB not to flash your ECU during the replacement of the pump.

mercixus

-03, failure @ 60000 km (same as my C32).
Loss of power ofcourse...

Replaced by dealer 50 % covered by MB:s goodwill program.

Power back to normal...

SteveFox

03 S55. Going to get the pump replaced very soon. New pump is sitting in my garage right now

Hopefully will get it repalced before Sept. 9th

AMGcrazy

Stock '03 22,000 miles, no problems.

Jakpro1

I had trouble with mine just before the Kleemann K2 with new pump was installed.

Went to show a guy in a Maxima the power of the beast and instead ended up slowly creeping by him bogging all the way.

Bet that made his day. Somewhere on the Maxima forums is a post, "Almost beat an E55 guys!!"

Marcus Frost

'03 E55 - Pump failure @ ~30k miles
'05 E55, currently @ 30k miles, no pump failure yet

blueknight

40k and having mine replaced today, not that it failed but car is about to expire under warranty so why not. I have had the SC shut down but it might be a bubble in the line. Hoping they replace the clutch pack as well, we will see.

ItalianStallion

'05 SL55 failed within 15-20k miles. MB replaced it.

xios3

Failed twice had it replaced by dealer

BMWEATR

mine went out this yr
2003 E55 38k mi
dealer warrentied(sp?) it.

StevesAMG

03' E55, Mine was bad at 61k miles, don't know how long it has been bad, replaced with Johnson CM30, burns the tires up now

MidniteBluBenz

how about adding a formal poll to this thread

ChicagoX

Replaced at ~28k under warranty.

Hazy1

'03 E55 replaced @ 15-20,000.

SoS SWATxV2

Just would like to know everybody.

What is the significant difference or gap in performance in either acceleration or the 1/4 mile between running with a bad failed I/C Pump and Supercharger and a perfect working conditioned one?

Is this maybe why some if not most 55s Kompressors lose to E60 M5s and M6s? Not that I'm bashing on AMGs but just wondering why I keep hearing many losses to AMGs by an M5/M6.

And from you all, how would an updated E63/CLS63 fare against either an M5 or M6 since now the engine is all naturally aspirated meaning no excuses can be made in either a race or roll.

StevesAMG

From my estimation, I feel that most 55 motor owners that have a bad IC pump don't even know about it. I bought my car and am 99% certain the pump was bad when I bought the car.....However it was still fast, so i didn't notice. However as I drove the car more and became accustomed to it, I realized(having a lot of experience with performance cars and what the seat-of-pants feeling should be like) that my car was not running like a 470hp car.

Since we have mild temperatures here by the beach in socal, my supercharger only shut off once even with a bad IC pump.
Long story short, I replaced it and now the car is much stronger, feels like an extra 40hp.
while this is a HUGE difference in a drag race, it is virtually unnoticeable to a casual driver or one who is not familiar with what the car SHOULD be like.
This is why we here so many people come on saying their S/C shut off......which is in reality the most severe symptom of a bad IC pump, the problem was most likely around for a while but the intake temps never got hot enough for the S/C to shut off and they didn't notice the lesser power loss of just driving around with a bad IC pump and higher intake temps and lower power but the S/C still blowing.

jdj27x

WOW....

I have been reading about these pump problems for a while now. I thought it would never happen to my car and it finally did.

It is so evident when it happens. I would say that there is zero chance that someone wouldnt realize the diffrence between a fully working e55 vs a e55 w/ a bad pump.


I couldnt believe how slow my car got, i honestly felt like i was in a 1998 honda accord.


I just had a bad experiance with my local dealer here in Santa Monica, i decided just to order the cm30 pump and i will install that and flush out the intercooler to get the car back to my specs

SoS SWATxV2

Thanks very much for the extra information.

But it still doesn't answer whether if it made all the difference in rolls and races against M5s and M6s. But still. I get the idea.
A decrease of 40 horses is more than enough for me to lose to a car with less horses than the naturally spec'd 55 s/c running at full power.

E63/CLS63 AMG against M5/M6? Time to check the I/C pump in my SL.

No. I don't smoke.

Coalman

Thanks everyone. I believe my car may be one of those that sometimes experiences reduced power, but the s/c is still working enough to make me think everything is ok. There are times tires squeal through first gear and there are times I can barely get a chirp. It's not like the SC is disengaged. I've had that problem and believe me you know when that happens because the car runs like a six.

I plan on taking into MB to replace under extended warranty (Mercury Pemium) and hope I don't have a problem.

jmf003

2003 SL55. Pump just failed and replaced at 27,000 miles. Had AutoEnginuity data logger attached and recorded temps of 265 F at the end of a 13.29 second 1/4 mile run.

SoS SWATxV2

Wow. I'd consider that pretty bad for an SL55.

You should be running in the 12 second range no?

Luckily, you've gotten your pump changed. So run it again and if you can, be sure to also clock in the trap speed.

Vadim @ FD

You are correct! I have seen a lot of 55s come in with bad pumps and owners not even knowing it. When you tell them their pump is bad they do not believe me. I have to datalog it.

Most peple just do not drive them hard enough for the DME to shut-off the kompressor.

DKM

2003 E55 w/ 30k miles and had it replaced. dealer did it.