Rovel

Hi All,

I am a new owner of 2007 E63 with 47K miles on it. I bought it out of state after getting vehicle master inquiry from a Mercedes dealer about that car, and it looks like it has always been serviced at MB dealerships. I also asked the seller to take it in for a pre-purchase inspection and they also said everything was OK with the car. So decided to buy it without looking at it (since the car was 1000 miles away from me.)

Now to the point... the car has arrived. I started it and heard a ticking sound. And the engine was vibrating at idle. I checked the oil level and there was way too much oil. I drained about a liter of oil and the vibration is gone. However the ticking sound was present when the car was cold. Just to be clear, there was no knocking sound as some others have reported. Only a ticking is present, which sounded like a stopwatch: tick tick tick. And it ticks more often as RPMs increase. Otherwise the engine works smooth and is not shaking or anything. I am afraid that is a sign of the dreaded lifter issue I've been reading here. I am attaching a Youtube video. Please let me know what you think. I hope it is not lifters. If it is, what should I do? Should I be worried right now or drive until it turns into knocking sound? Will change the oil this weekend. If the lifters are showing a sign, is there anything I can do to prevent it from getting worse?

Here is the video:

cfmistry

Mine sounds the same and I have put about 5k miles on mine in the past few months without any issues. I think that's a pretty normal sound for this motor.

Rovel

Thanks for chiming in. I hope you are right. But others said in different threads that it was a sign of "sticky lifter" or something like that. The ticking goes away as engine warms up. I think if it was constant, then we could think it is how the motor is. Don't you think?

Strigoi

Mine sounds about the same as well. I did have some lifter noise which sounded much different than the video.

G_Money

Sounds like lifters imo. Im not an expert tho.

The sound goes away when the car is warm because then the lifters are actually able to. hold enough pressure.

MACEDON

Drain the oil and put in the prescribed amount, don't trust that sensor.

These engines are very noisy honestly... if it's a stuck lifter a mechanic should be able to diagnose when you do the valve covers no?

Rovel

Do you mean you had a lifter issue, then you fixed it, and now yours sound like mine?

Rovel

A quick update here. I started the car this morning and there was no ticking sound. I hope the ticking was present either because a) the car has been sitting long time in the dealership waiting for its next owner b) they used some low viscosity engine oil (since the car is from the south) which got thicker yesterday when it was cold in MA (today is warmer.)
I will change the oil this weekend with Mobil 1 0W-40 Advanced and report back.

Another question: when I am inside the car and it idles, it sounds kinda like a harley davidson bike idling. Well not that loud, but I am trying to describe the noise pattern. Hope that makes sense. Is that normal? I have had 3 MBs, but this is my first AMG, so not sure if this is how this engines sound.

MACEDON

Get Liqui Moly 5w-40 or honestly... Shell Rotella... t4? The one that's 5w40. I started running that in mine over the LM stuff and so far so good! Lots of fans of that oil all across the internet.

Some people run MOTUL, some Amsoil, but most avoid Mobil 1.

For the idle I'd recommend you buy a bottle of gumout one n done and run it through a full tank. What i found useful is letting the car idle for about an hour with the cleaner in the tank for 3-4 days. Just let it idle (barely uses any gas). In the mean time drive it normally.

It's the best fuel system cleaner I've encountered. My E55 used to shake at idle when I got it, I thought it was normal because the previous owner put in SLR cams so I thought oh it's like a muscle car or something whatever. No man, the fuel system and injectors were probably plugged up.

At any rate either get the gumout stuff or go on ebay and buy a three pack of Redline Fuel System cleaner. Or BG Fuel system cleaner. Or just run techron black bottle but I found it not so effective. My idle and throttle response went from cammed camaro to smooth criminal. I promise.

If that doesn't do it then it'll be something else, but these cleaners are safe to run. From this point on only use top tier gas (with these same detergents in the fuel really at a low concentration). Chevron, Shell, BP, Citgo, Mobil, just to name a few.

Enjoy the car and drive it hard!

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Pull the valve covers off and inspect the cam lobes and valve buckets for unusual wear.

Rovel

oneslow55

Wise words^^^^^


I would also use a thicker oil .I would never trust the sensor for reading but yourself a dip stick pronto.

Rovel

Solo wing

This bulletin might have some info ↓ ↓ . Try opening the PDF using Microsoft edge or any PDF reader other than Google chrome, as the sound files won't open in chrome.
Edit: Attached audio files.

MACEDON

Honestly there is no real way to tell... do the 63's suffer from the tank recall? See if that was done because I think you get a free fuel sender+filter out of it (I think).

It's pretty much normal procedure for a lot of shops to add a cleaner after they do a filter change precisely because of what you're talking about.

Part of the problem is that the filter is embeded with the pumps and it's not easily serviceable though there are guys here that have changed it out.

It certainly WON'T hurt anything because I've run ungodly amounts of the stuff in the last year, so as the additive guinea pig on the forum I can say you'd be okay running 2 bottles of Redline fuel system back to back... like you said your car's pretty new so I think that probably goes for old turds that were mistreated.

Because it is hard to measure the results a lot of additive talk is extremely anecdotal, I can tell you this though.. my car was idling rough, it was shaking at idle, and it would shift down quite a bit. After the treatments it was like night and day

The more reading you do you'll see that a lot of the guys on the forum recommend (and MB does too) to run a big black bottle of Techron the tank before an oil change. Again, the same detergents are in the gas in small amounts, but if the car has been running non detergent additive gas then you can imagine you got some catching up to do.

Try a bottle of the redline, bg, or the gumout stuff see how you like it. I think they all work more or less the same. I started running these cleaners in all our cars and throttle response has improved in each one.

Strigoi

I had a noisy lifter and it cleared up after running some Sea Foam through the engine (which is a whole other topic). Before and after that my engine sounded pretty much like yours in the video. The lifter noise was very loud and could easily be heard in the car with the doors closed and windows up.

Yuille36

I've owned three AMG's with the M156 engine, and this is a common issue. My noise diminished after the engine oil was warmed.

MACEDON

I read about this on the forum, although the guy used LM engine flush and then two bottles of CERATEC

I obtained all the stuff because I was POSITIVE I had a stuck lifter, but I never went through with it.

I would recommend LM CERATEC, MOS2, and BG MOA as oil additives.

Especially BG MOA, definitely quietted things a bit when I added it to my oil. All additives listed are good stuff and should help with compression.

In fact, Lokey Mercedes here in Tampa Bay openly advertises BG treatments (engine flush, BG 44k, MOA) in their service lobby. So there's that as well.

But yeah if you search around there was a guy with a ticking E63 that did a flush (he drove with the engine flush in place which is NOT RECOMMENDED, you only add it to a warm idling car for 20 minutes) and he cured his tick.

What Shardul said it probably the best way to do it though, opening the valve covers isn't that hard.

Rovel

Thanks for the info. The ticking is gone for now. I will have the oil changed today and see how it goes. I hear a sound similar to "one bad adjuster" sound you attached when sitting inside the car. But cannot hear it when listerining from the front of the car.

Rovel

Thanks for the info. I will only change the oil this time as I don't know when was the last oil change. I bought mobil 1 0-40 this time. Next time, after 5K miles, I am going to buy Motul and try gumout one-n-done just before the oil change, as I think you praised Gumout better than others you listed.
Will be great if you have links to which one you prefer (in case there are different products from them) and where you bought. Also which Motul exactly should I buy next time?

Thanks in advance.

oneslow55

This why I never messed with this engine..It's got to many lifter issues,reminds me of the e39 m5 engines..I would stay far away from the 0w40 !!

MACEDON

For AMG's in general just stick to synthetic 5w40 and MANN filters (do not use any other brand please, it must be fleece), which brand oil you choose is up in the air. I have read of people using 10w-40 on those cars as well, but stick with 5w (unless you live somewhere very cold, for the winter time you're ok with 0w)

Redline (good stuff):


Techron (approved by MB but also the weakest):


BG 44k (good stuff but a bit expensive, comparable to redline):



Gumout one n done (I would just buy this, dump it into an empty tank at the gas station and fill the tank):



Run the gumout once a year and then buy yourself a load of those redlines and run one every 3k miles. Your injectors will thank you for it.



CERATEC to quiet down your engine (add to oil next oil change):

Check ebay for better prices, amazon is getting more expensive.

Personally I change mine between 3-4k

For oil I recommend this:
But if you want oil that ACTUALLY to spec buy Liqui Moly to erase ANY doubt:

Rovel

Thanks for the tips and links. Appreciate it. I live in MA and it gets cold sometimes in winter time. That is why using 0w-40. Will switch to 5w-40 Motul when it gets warmer.

Rovel

MACEDON

There you go, an oil change cured everything