efivefiveamg

alright guys, now i am HOT!

just rec'd a call from my SA and he said (surprise, surprise) they couldnt find anything wrong with the car causing a lack of power.

whats more, he tells me I owe $150 for the diagnostic testing in connection with trying to find the problem, WTF?

is this legit, can they charge me for this?

i have only owned acura's before this e55 and never got charged a dime when i took my car in under warranty, what is this all about?

urgent replies needed b/c i want to go pick up the car soon and want to know how to deal with it and not pay the $150. thanks.

Hazy1

The problem with most dealers is that a failing IC pump usually throws no fault codes, at least none that most techs can translate into the correct problem.

Ask to speak to the technician that is working on your car and tell him that this is the most common problem with these cars and to just replace the pump. If he balks, take him for a drive and show him the difference, or just save yourself the headache and put the Johnson on yourself. Mine was replaced under warranty with the "new & improved" pump and it's starting to fail again after about 1 1/2 - 2 years.

Hazy1

Put a $150 boot in his ***. If your car is under warranty, then there is no way in hell I would pay that.

I Like Soup

Tell the SA to go screw, you brought it in for an issue and the car is still under warranty. I'd scream bloody murder and demand to see the service manager.

And, just get the Johnson pump and get it installed...these "phantom" problems are difficult at best to have taken care of at the dealer, as you are unfortunately finding out.

I Like Soup

Oh yeah, use lots of swear words, that usually scares people.

efivefiveamg

will the new pump void warranty?

btw...i also had MB check my brakes b/c of the squeel and my SA also said that my pads have 80% front and rear so theres no problem and sometimes "amg cars experience brake squeel". gtfo, this is unreal!

Andy0331

Tell the SA that the car runs fine & puts down power when it's cold, after the car has been running for awhile at temperature (esp. mid-day) it starts to fall on its face. Tell them to check the car when it's hot & assuming that the pump is bad, it will throw a code.

I just went through this the other day with mine. SA was clueless & didn't want to believe me, I had them check it when it was hot & like magic, there it was.

joshd

Wow, just wow. That's adding insult to injury. I took my car to two dealers who were both totally incompetent and unable (or unwilling) to diagnose the problem. But they both didn't charge me anything, and gave me loaner cars, etc. That is just ridiculous, please don't pay them a cent.

joshd

The 2x flow thing I'm getting from Vadim ... I recall reading a number of posts from him and Victor stating that the flow is 30 LPH versus 15 LPH for the stocker. I'm having a hard time with the search engine though trying to find that right now (vadim has changed his name a few times ). The bigger deal though is probably just the increase in reliability like you said.

efivefiveamg

thanks guys.

just got off the phone with my SA and i am doing everything i can not to explode!

i bought my car 3-4 mths ago, cpo, with extended warranty for 2 years (paid extra)

now this clown tells me the Cpo warranty is not same as factory in that i have pay the testing labor if the techs dont find a problem, wtf!!!!

he said he replicated the conditions leading to my power failures and nothing. who knows if they did or not?

im going down there now to talk with whoever will listen and find out about this warranty crap.

to be continued....

joshd

I can't say anything for sure on the warranty, but I'd have a hard time seeing how the pump could void it. Maybe somehow if they showed that the extra flow caused some kind of failure in the cooling system ... but I just don't see that as possible. It's just a circulation pump almost exactly like the stocker (same size fittings even in the CM30) that pumps water through the IC and HE. That said however, the dealers IMHO are almost all scumbags and will try to do anything to eschew their obligations, so I guess you always have to be on your toes ...

WRT brake pads ... it is true that higher performance pads have a tendency to squeal a bit more than the softer (more prone to fade) pads. It shouldn't be that bad though ...

efivefiveamg

sorry guys, i had to pay.

just got back from stealer and after arguing with my "friend" who sold me the car and handled all warranty discussions with me, i was left with a 50% off bill for the diagnostic tests.

it was never about the money with me, but rather the principle. i had two problems (loss of power and brake squeal) when i took the car in. when i got it back i still had both problems and a bill!

i have been seriously considering trading in the beast for a CPO cayenne turbo, and this experience has brought me that much closer. i just dont want to deal with MB anymore, after all the horror stories i read on this forum, and now experiencing such terrible service myself, i have better things to do with my time and plenty of other things to stress me out, i dont need it.

IMG-AMG

FYI - Just got back from the dealer who replaced my IC Pump under warranty.
As numerous people have posted here, the problem is indeed fixed. Power loss gone and raw power is back.
I took a print out of the posts here to assist the conversation.
Pretty much a no contest situation with a guy who knew E55s.
Must admit, having interviewed several MB SAs there is no doubt most don't know E55 AMG stuff.
Find the ones that do and promise a killer rating in the feeback for their help and you should be good to go.

joshd

I understand your sentiment because I've felt it myself. However, you have to keep some perspective. Pretty much ALL dealer service departments suck. They exist first and foremost to make money ... not to make you feel warm and fuzzy.

So, my advice is not not let them ruin the experience for you. Regardless of how lame they are, you still own an amazing piece of automotive engineering that is a blast to drive. Both the I/C pump and the s/c belt are easy and relatively cheap to fix and the beast will be back again. Find a good indy shop to do your maintenance and only go to the stealer for major warranty work. Sadly, another disincentive to sell is that you'll probably take a bath on it ...

So, fix the minor issues and get back to enjoying the car ... you chose the car for a reason ... trust yourself that it wasn't a bad decision!

Edit: if you want to have some real fun, buy yourself an OBD-II scanner and go out and record your intake charge temps while doing some heavy acceleration runs. If the temps keep going up, it's most likely the pump failing. Replace the pump, record the numbers again, then go back to that lame-a$$ stealer and make them give you your money back plus extra for YOUR diagnostic time!!!

efivefiveamg

thanks josh

i greatly appreciate your very helpful posts...

sang55

If you're located in orange county ,CA and this is your 1st AMG. There are a plenty of MBworld members which are located in S.Ca such as Vic55 or someone else . Send PM to them and they might help you to fix your problem .

I Like Soup

All right, here you go...https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...t=johnson+pump See JRocket's post...#7.

Not exactly lph or anything, but it seems to me if the CM30 had that much more of an advantage in flow rate, it would have been readily apparent with JRocket's test!

Anyway, figured I'd provide that since my search function is working...

joshd

Funny ... that post actually confirms what I said as well in the quote from Chiromikey about the 2x flow statement from Vadim. Anyway, maybe it's just rated with 2x peak flow or something and real world usage doesn't necessarily result in 2x performance on Jrocket's particular test.

The CM90 is supposedly 90 lph, which is 6x the flow of stocker. Makes sense that CM30 is 30 lph per the naming convention I guess ...

TopGun32

why take a trade in hit for something that is so easy to fix?

it won't void your warranty.. unless that parts is proven to cause failure to other parts.. which is never going to happen.

since the E55's are so easy to obtain these days.. low 40's to high 30's.. I take more of these posting will be common.

It a great car for the price.. but one needs to understand the small issues associated with such a car. No car is perfect. Not even the mighty M5.

I have brought my car to my dealer for warranty repairs with my ASP pulley and intercooler and no issues.

For the So Cal people.. contact Brandon from Code3 Performance and he will be able to due the swap for you for a reasonable fee.

The same goes to VRP, very good tuner.

By this point, there is enough information on this board to ensure people have the cure to heat soak and power loss.

btw: I have the CM30 pump on my E and stock on my C32.. the CM30 is smaller, but works harder. I cant say how much, but its enough to make some difference. You can feel the difference in pressure on the hoses.

Both the C32 and E55 have almost the same IC Heat Exchager and the inlet outlet pipes are the same.

joshd

Finally found the post from Vadim regarding 2x flow ... and I take his word for it. Although there was another thread he had actually showing pictures of his install which I can no longer find for the life of me:

https://mbworld.org/forums/showpost....8&postcount=49

I Like Soup

LOL! Fair enough. Somehow, it just doesn't correlate to emptying a bucket of water twice as quick! Meh, it is just gravy to me with the extra flow. I've gotta start looking in to this replacing the supercharger belt thing...

And I just received my Code3 big *** heat exchanger today...now for that Johnson pump to get shipped to me!!!