Jon2007E63P30

Ladies and Gents,
Given I have 216.6k miles on my E63 and know every sound it makes well. Pretty clear my driver side bank has a valve bucket that is not happy.. How loud is it?? Loud enough to cause the CEL light to turn because the knock sensor was set off. Repair is about $4.5K in parts. Looking into labor, it just did not make sense. Add another $5K-$7K. Probably worth more than the car. So, I am going to DIY.

Main thing I am missing for information is order to tighten the cam caps. Which I will find. I will pull the valve cover off this weekend and we can all look at what may be the highest mileage M156 on the board.
Oil changes with 0W-40 about every 6K-7.5K miles. Going with the updated parts for the M156. If anyone has the MB PN for the M159 valve buckets I would appreciate it. The Wiestec M159 buckets are $1K and the updated parts for the M156 are $0.6K. Yes, I know, but as the cost grows the ROI drops quickly. Still need to decide on using their cap and adjuster bolts.

No, I am not changing the head bolts. Too much to go wrong and again throw the costs out of site.

Stay tuned and wish me luck.

Strigoi

I think the part number for the SLS lifters is 156 050 02 25 and I believe retail is about $25 each. According to my mechanic that's the part number for the updated M156 lifters and the same part number was showing when he looked up the SLS ones. If you want to go with the SLS Black Series lifters the p/n is 159 050 00 00. They retail at $47 each.

Head bolts actually aren't that expensive. It's just the labor. My mechanic got me a full set of the Elring updated head bolts for a little over $100.

edit: I confirmed with my mechanic that the updated M156 and SLS lifters had the same part number when he looked them up.

Jon2007E63P30

503C43 ////AMG

When I bought my E63 they replaced the head bolts, it's one of the reasons I bought it. I was there when they did it, it only took a couple hours and they didn't need to remove the heads. The bolts were around $100 or so.

hachiroku

lifters are less than 1k....you should only be spending 4-5k total if you are also replacing both camshafts otherwise they're really screwing you on price.

Redwood415

Can't cams and followers/buckets be replaced w/o removing the head? What am i missing here?

Strigoi

Head bolts. They're an M156 issue and to really do it properly the heads should be pulled. It's not really necessary though.

Jon2007E63P30

Can you tell me the order "they" replaced them and the torque setting "they" used. It is not the cost of the bolts, its the cost of screwing it up.

Rovel

At 216K miles on the clock, are you on your original head blots? If yes, glad to hear they live that long. I am so worried that mine hasn't been done. Can't find an indy in MA who can confidently say that they can replace them for me.

Strigoi

What kind of ****ty indy's do you have there that can't pull a pair of heads? It's not that difficult, just time consuming. If they don't have the cam tools you can pick them up for around $100 on Amazon.

Rovel

StarvingArtist

Order really isn't an issue. With heads you need to start in the middle and work your way out evenly. If you start on the ends, you bow it slightly and you are trying to push the "bubble" out of the middle. Not as critical when replacing bolts one at a time because the head is already torqued flat. With cams the trick is to keep them even because they are brittle. the more steps you pull them down with the better. Picture yourself trying to keep it straight on the way down. same with loosening them.
The only problem I see with the head bolts is breaking one that's weak. Then you will have to pull that head. If that happens you REALLY did need to replace the bolts.

tw2

I would rather do the job myself than give it to a "should do " mechanic. Just replace them one by one. There is a fantastic thread in the CLS63 forum where a member documented the task. Once you understand how the timing works on this engine and how to use the tools then it is just following a recipe. Get WIS.

Otherwise find a better shop with some experience. Or cough up to MB but they will demand taking the heads off and possibly taking the whole engine out and multiply your cost by 8.