New to the forum! Not sure if posting to the right place, but oh well. Hoping to reach out to those who know more than me on this topic. Just picked up an 07 E63 and noticed an engine oil leak, purchased anyways because of the amazing deal I got.
Leak was determined to be a "Front Engine Cover Seal" I asked the dealer how much the quote would be and after the assessment they told me they would have to basically remove the whole front end of the car (power steering rig and other stuff). This job was quoted at ~$900 (about 3 hours of labor), which seemed kind of low for that kind of job but i just accepted it.

I leave the car with them and a few days later they call me and let me know that they had made a mistake and that the repair required the removal of the engine and the new quote was ~$5300 (about 33 hours of labor), my jaw dropped as my shiny new car just became a money pit. To my surprise the dealer accepted fault for incorrectly stating the required labor for the reseal and said instead of charging the additional ~$4k in labor they would just charge an addtl $1k and eat the cost of lost labor.

My question to you seasoned knowledgeable people is: How much is an engine-out job usually cost at an MB dealer for these cars? Are they giving me the ol' bait and switch? Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks!
AP

 

Looks like the dealer wants to address the head bolt issue among other things. If you can confirm this with them, I think that's a good deal for preventive maintenance on the M156.

Did you buy the car without VMI? Was PPI done before purchase? If not, then any costs incurred afterwards should not be a surprise at all and that was all priced in as part of your purchase cost.

 

mightar, it was a private party sale and unfortunately I didn't do either of those. On the bright side even after this repair I will probably still be in the green in terms of market value. I will find out today if they are indeed including the head bolt issue in the quote.

I guess due to my lack of knowledge I don't know this, but is removing the engine necessary to replace those seals and address the head bolt issue? Sorry if its a stupid question i just have never had a repair as involved as this one done in the past.

 

I don't think the engine needs to be pulled from the bay - watch this vid:


You can also look here

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...swap-m156.html

Check with the dealer with what is exactly being addressed. All I am saying is that if the head bolt issue isn't one of the work items, you might as well get that addressed. The technical service bulletin that covers this is

https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...0-p-051567.pdf

Go here for the full ditty:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...-problems.html

 

Yes find out what's actually being addressed. I don't see head bolts or head gaskets in your list of parts. You should also be replacing the lifters.

 

I'll be looking into what parts they are planning to replace. The tech will also be giving me the instructions he will be using for the job, maybe that will shed some light on what exactly they are doing. Thanks for the prompt responses guys.

 

I also just purchased a 07 e63 and when digging up info on the vehicle my car had the lifters done and valve cover gaskets... so my question to the service guy at the Mercedes dealer was.. was the bolts replaced? " and what he told me is that if there's no recall on them then they woudnt just replace them just to replace them even if they were working in thst specific area of the engine.. so in my case even with internal engine work they did not change them unbelievable smh

 

Unfortunately that's how this stuff works out sometimes. But I feel like it really depends on the dealer/tech. Sometimes they will try to push preventative maintenance if they know its a prevalent issue. I think that will be the next work that will be done for me. After I recover from the last trip the the dealer..

-AP

 

Head job-no- engine removal not necessary.

Front cover job-if i was doing a front cover re-seal on a 70k$ motor i would for sure pull the motor. WIS instruction most likely say to pull the motor. Also with the 272/273 motors, it is possible to remove the front cover with engine still in stalled, however it is the biggest pita in the world. For safe measure I would be all for removing entire engine. And the quote they gave you was for valve covers, the 900$ quote. The 33hr labor quote seems exactly right to me, I just looked it up in ASRA. Don't think they added the extra oil change and extensive road test after repairs either, lucky you.

I am certainly interested in seeing this M156 front cover leaking.... Please take and post a photo....

If i was you I would get some arp head bolts. MB can't warranty them however you know they will last alot longer then the factory head bolts. Good luck!

 

I'm just going to try to do less googling and more enjoying.. because the more I Google the more I get nervous about big time bomb repairs especially after my last hoora with this brand... I had picked up a 2000 s430 back in 2005 and it was a disaster... so I left the brand and went to bmw...