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I am in the process of buying a 2009 E63 Wagon with ~105k miles for ~$20k.
It's from a legit dealer and the price seems very good. All of the records are clean, etc.
The dealer is providing me with a written guarantee that it's not a flood car.
Is there anything else I should be worried about?
Get a PPI done at a local MB dealer or a trusted indy mechanic. Don't take the selling dealer's word for it that there's nothing wrong with the car. When I was shopping for one I had several dealers tell me the cars needed nothing and their service guys took care of everything. That was complete BS after I had my indy guy take a look at them.
Brakes are also pretty expensive on these cars. Along with the head bolts, they can also have issues with the lifters. Neither of which are a cheap fix.
Also as these cars age, its various gaskets, seals and o-rings are prone to leaks. Mine is a 07, and I've replaced Valve Cover Gaskets, Cam Position Sensor Gaskets, Oil Cooler Return Line O-Rings. Also understand that these cars cost and average of $108K when new, so maintenance costs will reflect that cost.
They aren't cheap to maintain, but once all of it's issues are sorted out, you can have a reasonable operating cost to maintain it. Understand that your wallet is going to take a major hit in the beginning. Good Luck.
Last edited by Yuille36; Jun 13, 2018 at 09:17 AM.
I wasn't planning on doing this for another year as I have a bunch of other debt from grad school, but this came up and appears to be a very good deal, based on what other E63s have sold for. I really can't afford a money pit at this point.
I am looking at this as too good a deal to pass up, as I would expect this car to go for $25k - $30k based on other sales I have seen with this kind of mileage.
Am I wrong about this? Is it not as good a deal as it appears to be?
Take a look at it, test drive it, then get a Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI) done by someone repeatable. Ask the seller to provide you with all maintenance records, then proceed from there with a offer, if you choose.
Only you can decide if you buy this car or not. But please be informed, and not make a rash decision.
Last edited by Yuille36; Jun 13, 2018 at 10:51 AM.
I asked for all of the maintenance records, waiting for those now. I'm also going to call a Mercedes dealer I have a good relationship with and see if they can tell me anything useful from records that MB dealers keep and share about all of the VINs that pass through the service centers.
The car is a pretty good distance from me, so I'm checking if anyone I know lives near the dealer to test drive it and get it inspected. At some point if I can't make that happen I will have to make a choice to risk it or not.
Biggest red flag for me is that it's a used car dealer. +1.....Maintenance records.With 100K on the clock l want to see what's been done and what hasn't, PPI (gotta get the car in the air and drop the shields) and a SDS scan. Then there is still no guarantee's. I bought my E55 from a private party, with many service records (mainly was looking for the fuel tank issue to have been dealt with and tranny fluid and oil changes) Even though the fuel pumps and sender was changed less than 20k. The fuel filter was clogged and burnt up the pump within a couple months. I negotiated him down since I saw it needed brakes and rotors (some one tried throwing new pads on old rotors ) and no front end work had been done.
Do your self a favor and watch the market for the year you were going to wait and see what's out there. You're going to have smaller number of cars to choose from since your an Estate kind of guy. You've been warned about head bolts so do your home work. Good Luck in your search. IMO The only car that is too good a deal to pass up is one that you personally know the owner and car from day one, has all the maintenance performed and has the records and known issues have been dealt with.
This is actually at a luxury brand new car dealer, not a used car dealer, and was taken as a trade-in. If this was just some used car lot I wouldn't have taken a second look.
buy it...expect to pay for headbolts, lifters, etc if they haven't been done.
ask your local dealer for a full service history as you will also need to know if the fuel tank has been replaced per recall. would have saved me from doing lifters and headbolts on my engine twice.
So, I talked to the Mercedes dealer and they were able to give me a lot of info as Mercedes dealers apparently don't report to CARFAX. Anyway, I basically have a complete record of all service done since the vehicle was new except for a 20k mile gap from 2012 to 2014.
All services on the car have been done on time and at the dealership for nearly the entire life of the car, so that's looking good.
I was told about the "various fuel system components" warranty, which apparently hasn't been done yet. I am curious as to how this relates to the lifters and headbolts issue.
I was told about the "various fuel system components" warranty, which apparently hasn't been done yet. I am curious as to how this relates to the lifters and headbolts issue.
The extended warranty for the fuel tank is not related to the head bolts or lifters at all. The head bolts and lifters would be an out of pocket thing if you had the dealer do them.
Updated head bolts are fairly inexpensive, it's just a lot of labor to install them. The lifters aren't cheap and once again it's a decent amount of labor. Unless you DIY, expect to spend thousands to have them done at a shop.
Last edited by Strigoi; Jun 13, 2018 at 07:59 PM.
Reason: A word
Thanks for the clarification Strigoi. Hachiroku's statement about having had to do lifters and head bolts twice made it seem like there was some relationship between the two.
I have enough experience and I have access to a shop, so I should be able to handle the head bolts and lifters myself.
Basically the original design of the head bolts has failed in many M156 equipped AMG Mercedes, along with gulling of the cam shafts and lifters. Someone filled a lawsuit against Mercedes and lost, but Mercedes hasn't admitted guilt, but came out with a new redesign head bolt design, along with better lifters and camshafts. So now people are replacing them before they have the possibility of failing, thereby causing coolant to leak into the combustion chamber and hydro-locking up the engine.
It sounds like the biggest concern is the headbolts, if one is choosing priorities.
I will say this broken head bolts isn't the norm, many owners have the M156 engine in their cars and never had any issues with head bolts. I am one of them, this makes my third AMG with the same engine with no problems.
I change my coolant every two years, and thank God haven't had any issues. Mercedes has stated that the head bolt issue has been isolated to a certain production date. But their are people out their that don't fall into these dates that have issues.
So most people are changing them out as a precaution.
I'm coming up on 102k miles on my e63 wagon and my engine is running great. *knock on wood* At that price, I'd say go ahead and get her. She's a rare breed and you already know they don't come up for sale often at all.
Good for you, just ensure that you have spending money to tackle whatever issues may rise. Once it's all sorted out, it's not expensive, just routine maintenance to keep her purring.
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Buying an AMG, am I buying the right car?
) and no front end work had been done.
