After my last thread I will not be posting a link to the specific car but would like any insight on what to look for on this year and model if possible, has 85,000 miles. Thanks.

 

Airmatic can have issues. Go with Arnott or swap to coil overs when problems arise with it. Brakes are expensive on them too. You know about the head bolt issue. A lot of the info you want has been posted on here. If it's clean, has records and passes a PPI without any issues go for it if the price is right.

I've had mine for almost a year and 8,000 miles now (bought @ 72k, now has 80k). The only problem I've had is the keyless **** for the driver's door handle quit working. It also needed engine mounts when I bought it, which I knew about after the PPI.

PM me a link to the car. I've already got one so I'm not going to try and buy it out from under you. I won't post it on here either.

 

both drivers side key less door handles on mine failed. transmission conductor plate failed at 82k. at anywhere between 90-117k my oil cooler hard lines o-rings started leaking. somewhere between 100-117k my oil cooler thermostat o-ring started leaking.

currently having my oil cooler themostat leak repaired and updated. while doing this i'm also updating headbolts and lifters. should be trouble free after this.

i've yet to have air strut failure. i've had to replace one airmatic computer due to a broken pin within the harness causing the original computer to fail.

 

Are all of these plagued with the head bolt issue??? If so I won't bother getting one, that's too major of an engine flaw to make it worth the purchase.

 

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ml#post6822437

 

3.3%....still pretty sad that a new owner/buyer can't confirm 100% with the engine number.....actually pretty sad.

 

honestly...i love my car. i didn't learn about the headbolt issue until after i purchased my car used, but...3 years later, i'm proactively replacing the headbolts.

mind you...you're getting into a European car, a performance one. fyi, I have in the last 2 years spent 12k in repairs on my parents E46 325I, and that is NOT a performance car. worst purchase ever and its still plagued with issues that i no longer want to cough up money for. that car is literally only worth 1-2k as it stands. i have a buddy who has a 2011 BMW 335i with 65k. he's spent over 8k in repairs this past year, and he still has multiple oil leaks. he's fed up with that car.

 

I believe there are other threads which say that the head bolts were finally fixed in 2011 so that means all W211 could have head bolt problems.

Then there's the other debate on how to replace the head bolts, do it the cheap way one at a time or take it all apart and do the head gasket.

It's a top of the line car, you should also see how much the front brakes go for, they're way more than a simple E350.

 

I'm aware of the cost of brakes and what this car is, I know it's not a Honda that's not what I was asking but with the few major things wrong with these cars I'll look elsewhere. I can understand having issues but 4 years of issues with a major piece of the engine for this level of car is awful. Thanks for all the help.

 

That's the drawback of a low volume car. The M272 had problems when that engine came out, took about two years before they fixed it in production but lots of people got stuck with bills ranging from 4-6k just for the E350. When/if the headbolts, go, it would be more than that. It's why some people prefer the E55, no head bolt issue but it's an older car and has SBC.

 

i think its safe to assume any car that makes more than 400hp has pricey brakes.

 

yeah but the price difference between the W211 E55 and W211 E63 is pretty drastic... and both have more than 400hp

 

not sure if you're aware, fcp has lifetime rotors for $466 each. also there was a vendor or group buy for replacement rotor rings and racingbrake.com has new replacement hardware available.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bra...mbo-2194210212

cheap if you ask me for two piece rotors.

 

So replace your E63 2-piece rotors with C63 1-piece rotors. 1/5 the price and no noticeable difference. Don't intend on getting my rotors glowing on the racetrack.

 

the truest of words have just been spoken

 

As much as I love her...if I were to do it over again I would go with something else...preferably Japanese! LOL I went from Japanese cars to Europeans and I'd have to say save yourself the headache and especially save your money! THESE CARS ARE MONEY PITS! Within the last 6 months I've spent about $7k on her...hell my airmatic just went out 2 weeks ago! Keep in mind my car only has 64k miles on it! Too many rattles and hissing and creaking...LOL every time I take her out I'm scared something else will fail and back to the shop she goes! But I'll ride it till the bitter end I guess, at some point I've realized there's just so many other things I'd rather do with my money than spending it on the E Thanks for listening to my rant, hopefully you'll consider my 2 cents!

 

aw damn...shame. your car is one of the pretty ones.

i love my E63, but sadly its in the shop getting a bunch done, and then will head off to the body shop. i was rear ended last year and need that fixed.

 

my 2007 e63 wagon has needed the following at about the approximate mileage:
tranny conductor plate@ 88k
motor mounts @ 110k
serpentine belt and a bunch of idler pulleys @ 135k
keyless go on all doors have gone starting @ around 90k
intake manifold gasket leak @ 75k

changed rotors @90k for a used set i found at a junk yard for $400 in great shape (40k miles)

i have not changed head bolts but i guess i should after reading that it's a major failure point. my local doesn't advise it though. 135k on this motor and nothing's gone wrong and i do not drive either super hard (i actually wait for the motor to come to temp before going above 3k rpm) or softly. i do not baby the car. i plan on driving it at least 200k miles as it's reliable, fast, comfy, fast, can haul anything, fast and well, it's just an incredibly cool car.

how many owners have changed their headbolts before they went bad? how many actually went bad? you only read about the bad stories, yes? hadly anyone says "yeah, i haven't had a problem." ok. i haven't had a problem. the car is solid.

motor mounts?? of course a car needs them. rotors. duh. if you're so concerned about the cost, get e55 ones, they're way, way cheaper. just way heavier. and as someone pointed out, you can get those nifty sub 500$ ones now! what else? tranny conductor plate? ok, weird. one weird thing. it hardly qualifies the car as a money pit. in my opinion, the car, a 500+hp car mind you! (try to get 200k out of any other exotic!), is a super reliable machine that every single day is there for me. i expect that i'll easily get 200k from it with barely a hiccup like i've got from cars like a golf diesels, golf GTis, mercedes 240ds or mercedes 300td (all of which have gone more than 250k without major work.)-- cars that my family as used and abused from learning drivers to ends of lives.

 

headbolts are a gamble. i'd recommend annual or bi-annual coolant replacement to extent the life of those headbolts. i plan to keep my car until it dies.

 

I didn't think coolant had anything to do with it. Isn't the standard recommendation something like every 10 or 15 years for the coolant? I thought the defect was that the bolts weren't strong enough, you basically end up blowing the head gasket and coolant and oil end up mixing. Now some people ended up with a tune so that probably doesn't help as the engine makes even more power.

 

the head bolts snap due to the metal deteriorating as they sit IN the cooling jacket. all snapped bolts or problem bolts show signs of massive metal deterioration.

old coolant becomes more acidic over time causing metal rot. take it as a grain of salt, but in the 3 years i've owned my vehicle i've gone through 2 coolant changes. since i'm currently servicing an oil leak at the oil cooler thermostat, i choose to service the lifters, and head bolts as well.

doing something that costs maybe 120 dollars a year as safe measure is better than total engine failure in my eyes.

 

I thought it was just a manufacturing defect. How do you know the deterioration is from the coolant and not from the defect?

Wouldn't it just be easier to change out the head bolts then? If you do $120 x 10 years, then you're at $1200 and I think some say that changing out the head bolts range from $1-2k depending on how it's done. So coolant change which may or may not do anything vs just putting in new bolts.

 

My local indy doesn't advise it either. And like you, I don't baby it, but I don't flog it either. That said, mine is not a daily driver. I just enjoy it every time I drive.

 

i'm taking this advice. i love my motor and did not know about this. i've NEVER changed my coolant. i think i'll change my coolant and my head bolts. does raceware make some better ones? seems that someone should make some coated ones, it's not like they get very hot. kind of an engineering blunder to not have them coated at least. maybe i'll sputter PTFE on them before putting them in. anyone try it??

 

maybe wagons just are better!