Hi guys, someone new to this site... I am looking to buy a 2007 E63 AMG with 110k miles on it. It is about 14800 out the door... I took a look at it and it rides great and pulls great on the highway. I do have a few questions...

I do like to DIY stuff but there are a few items I would like to get addressed here.

1) When I checked the coolant reserve tank the fluid was topped off but it was clear. I thought mercedes coolant was blue?
2) there are a few oil leaks (Nothing dropping on to the plastic shield under the car though) The carfax shows the intake manifold and valve cover gaskets were replaced however on the front side of the engine to the left looking at it. there is some evidence of oil leaking there. The part that is in front of the valve cover. is this common?
3) is there anyway to really find out without popping of the valve covers to se if the car ever received the revised head bolts? the car fax doesn't specifically mention head bolt replacement but not sure if it would... the seller is going to contact the company that did the valve gaskets and see what the true scope of work was. Another thing though... is this truly an issue or did it just get blown up like many things on forums (at least on Audizine)...
4) I am getting this car as a weekend summer car and not really planning on really driving it. Its more of I am bored and always wanted an older AMG... Should I just skip this and look for a 2011, 2012 model? I just like the look of the 07'... I am a DIY person but not with this type of motor. If it comes down to it, what is the average cost of the head bolt replacement?

Everything works on the car... the interior is mint, drives like new, and the exterior is an 8/10 with a few rock chips as expected.

Tell me to run or tell me to go for it. (I know that the car is cheap however maintenance isn't on what was a 95k car back in 2007. Is there aftermarket warranty I could get. I usually only get CPO cars however never dealt with a third party warranty company and have heard bad reviews...

Thank you,

Richard

 

If you have a few thousand bucks in a budget, and are ready to acknowledge what youre getting into with a M156 powered car...go for it. If not RUN.

 

As someone that has owned both a C63 and E63 equipped with theM156, your going to have to put money into this, to get it where it needs to be. The M156 does have issues with the top end, but not the bottom like BMW's.
I replaced my head bolts for insurance, but honestly my head bolts look great at 88K. I think that the whole issue is blown out of proportion. But if you plan to keep this car for a long time, change them.
The only way to check for new revised head bolts would be to remove the valve covers. There isn't any other way to visually check them. The coolant color is blue, unless they used some other colored coolant.
As these cars age their o-rings and seals tend to leak and need to be replaced. The area needs to be fully cleaned to determine where the leak is occuring.

 

Plan to spend $5k-$10k for new camshafts, adjusters,head bolts, oil leaks. Add another $2500-$3500 for air suspension. Seems that's more than the car is worth....which is around $10k not 14k. MB used light gold coolant up until around 2010. (?)

 

Thanks all, yes I do have a bigger budget and a rainy day fund however I know this going into it. I know KBB shows the cars worth private party around 10k however is it marked up a little because its not a car you can get that easily anymore? (or without having to fly 10 states to buy) I guess the worse I can say is hey, this car needs a few high ticket items so 10k to 11k makes more sense. Worst they can say no and leave my number... But from what I read, after replacing head bolts and shafts these motors are pretty stout... and again, this would be more of a sit in the garage and stare at it/ drive it in the summer around town. But regardless of this model becoming more rare of a car that is for sale I should still mention private party is around 10-11k, correct? I am not too worried about the air suspension, that is something I can handle. Externals of the motor I can handle, and dropping the motor I can handle but never got involved with internal work. I know there are people that do the replace one head bolt at a time but I rather just pay and get it done the right way. What is the average cost at an indy shop, 3,500-4000?

 

Check the latest couple of videos from LegitStreetcars as they show you what all the weak points are and how to solve them

 

Jeeez everyone seems to love that M156 engine here does it ? E55 is the way to go ? I have 09 E63 wagon and I have done head bolts and lifters about two years ago together with few other bits If I knew what I know now I wouldn’t touch them. Camshafts looked perfectly fine. Adjusters were in good condition and made no noise. They still don’t to this day. If you like the way it looks and drives get it and fix what is needed on the go. Alex from legit street cars is great guy and phenomenal source of knowledge, however remember how YouTube world works. With all that sponsored content they do things because they can. It doesn’t need to make financial sense. Vews alone will than pay for all that and than some. Thing is that most of the car owners hate to do maintenance. Maintain it right and you’ll be fine. Just don’t be unreasonable with your expectations it’s a $100K German car not a Camry. If you like your cars stock get E63 if you like to tune them E55 is way to go. Whatever you choose to do negotiate a better deal since you’ll need some money to keep up with deferred maintenance. Compare what you can get in the ballpark for that budget than decide. Id travel for the right car. Good luck.

 

haha, thanks for the words of encouragement. Honestly, I love the car... I can go out and buy a newer AMG however this is the one I want. They age so nicely and I will have the money reserved for the maintenance. I too, would always tell people the same thing about a car maintenance cost isn't relative to the price you paid for it... it still will reflect that original MSRP. Were "dinks" double income no kids. I always been a saver and the fiancé is making that travel nursing money too. I think I will take the plunge and get it. When we cold started the car, the motor literally made no noise. I am Chicagoland area too. About 30 minutes from Alex (Alex, is one of the reasons I fell in love with the older NA AMG cars. I come from the Audi world and know a few indy shops however am not familiar with Mercedes shops that are reputable. Can anyone share any? I know Alex likes Fluid Motor Union...

 

Personally, I would never buy a first-year production for any car - let alone an AMG. I like when gremlins and issues (especially major ones) have been addressed/ are well known.

Just my .02

 

The M156 engine has a lot of character. The W211 is a great looking car. Can be a hard combo to resist. That said I agree with others here that the M156 will have many issues: even if low mileage and well cared for. Headbolts and lifters will run ~$3k.

The list of proactive things you can do for this car is endless…only you can decide where to draw the line. As mentioned above would be easy to spend more than the value of the car in repairs. Granted that’s still less than option packages on most high end new cars…

N

 

Have my m156 car for over 5 years now. I love those while you in there’s. Why don’t we just replace engine at 50K miles. At the end of the day at 150K itp be toast. So of you open the hood while you in there… just look at most of the posts in w211 AMG section. Most of them are for E55. My pulley went out or I have a tune and now my engine is not the way it was it my supercharger belt. OMG those brakes are soooo expensive 12 spark plugs!!!! Ridiculous!!! Don’t matter which route you’ll go this car will cost you. I am just tired of seeing same posts bashing M156 over and over. Almost like on BaT. Everyone red those forums and repeats same thing over and over again without ever owning the car. One of the first 5 posts will be like if head bolts were done. Go ahead and replace those head bolts for me so I don’t have to.Do all of the possible while you in there’s so the next buyer can have a prefect car. Man up and fix your own vehicles.
End of rant.

 

Love my M156, exhaust note to die for.

 

I actually love the M156, be dammed what others think of it. Every engine ever made has there issues, and the M156 is no different. But once those issues are addressed, the M156 is awesome.
You have to remember, that the E55 and E63 are old vehicles, and so are there engines. You must put money into them regardless if your a M113K or M156 lover.

My E63 is 16 years old, and I spent over $7K rebuilding my entire suspension, as it was worn out. I'm certainly not complaining, that fact of the matter is your going to spend money regardless of which platform you prefer.
I like the E55 and the M113K, but I also love the M156. And Mercedes-AMG don't build cars like these anymore.

The key is to get your car to a state, where you just perform routine maintenance, with no big ticket items. But occasionally something may pop up, just may prepared for it to happen as these cars get older and older each year.

 

@Yuille36 this basically sums it up, well said

 

**** bro I paid $16500 for my 07 E63 with 130,000 miles. Super super clean garage queen I couldn’t pass it up. Paint 9/10 Interior 10/10. Only had to replace front air strut so far. Easy fix took about an hour and $600 for the part. No leaks though. I’d recommend a reputable Indy shop over MB dealer. Probably save a lot getting repairs done.

 

Reminds me of how DeMuro (and other YouTubers) tanked the reputation (and market) for E60 M5s by going on and on about "catastrophic" rod bearing issues with the V10 S85 engine.

I had a E60 535i (N54 twin turbo I-6) for a while and I was on the forums and I literally never came across a person who actually had their engine fail on them. I'm sure it happened to some people, but it wasn't nearly as prevalent as the chatter would have you believe.

Back to the M156, FCP Euro recently did a video entitled, "Mercedes E63 AMG Engine: Everything You Need To Know - The Mercedes M156 Engine Guide" and they didn't even think the head bolt issue was worth mentioning.


Chris Sullivan did have the cam adjuster issue, but he reported that his headbolts were fine (but he changed them anyway):


Disclosure: I just bought a 2008 S63 with the M156 (70K miles).

 

I have owned three different M156 equipped AMGs, and to be totally honest I haven't seen or experienced any issues with head bolts. I did however change mine out of abundance of caution, as I feed into the whole nostalgia of head bolt failure.
I did ask my shop (Benz Elite Automotive) of how many M156 they had in the shop for broken and failed head bolts, and the answer was none. Most of their customers fed into the issue just like me. When we removed my head bolts at 89K, they looked great my mechanic even questioned why I'm replacing them.
If I had x-ray vision, I would have left them alone. But, there is always the what if. I think that hype is overrated, but one cannot predict when a failure will occur. So my answer is this, if your that concerned about it, then change them. Or wait until you start seeing minor issues, that is leading you to a potential failure.
You will start to see more consumption of engine coolant way before complete failure, and that is your clue to have the issue addressed right away. There are a lot of M156 equipped AMGs, that still to this day have the old head bolts without any issues, and way into the 150,000 miles mark.

This was my mindset going in, I can pay a little now, or I can pay a lot later. It's easier to fix a potential problem, then to fix a disaster later. We all must decide this for ourselves.

These are my head bolts, out of my 07 E63. Not to bad, but there is that one that looks suspect. It's the darkest one in the middle.
After talking to my good friend that is a AMG Shop Foreman , says that from Mercedes documentation they've seen failures occurring around 90K. Keep in mind that is typical failure.
But there isn't any guarantee that failures can't happen before or after that mileage. I tried to mitigate the issue by changing my engine coolant every two years instead of every four years, until I actually had the head bolts changed. .

 

wait....did I read that someone mentioned that E60 M5s are total garbage? the rod bearing S85/65 issues is not intentional sensationalism by the internet, its a joke that guys talk themselves into accepting that rod bearing are a normal wear item. Nothing last forever, but road bearings every 60K is criminal.

 

The engine oil used had a lot to do with the rod bearing issues on the S54, S65 and S85 engines.

Running 10W-60 year-round in any climate that experiences a real Winter is ridiculous.

 

also, not a solution to the undersized rod bearings that was "purposeful" to ensure engine failure and to boast revenue through the service department but also to get customers into leases for their latest and greatest. 10w-60, will still see engine failure in said BMW M division engines. BMW's are a scam.

 

Can we progress past conjecture and talk about what we can confirm?

How many or what rate of engine failures are out there?

 

are you referencing the M156 engine or the rod bearing M Power engines? you may not have enough friends who have M156's if you've not heard of failures if that is what you are referencing. every time i meet a new group of owners, i hear of a new story of an actual failure hence it is highly recommended to update head bolts.

 

Both.

It's like the wheel spacer debate. For every person who says that they want to add 10mm spacers, there are a handful of responses about "RIP your wheel bearings, lol"...but no one can point to this actually happening at some significant rate, all while ignoring the countless drama-free implementations.

 

You're looking at it the wrong way. The real risk is that the failure is not predictable and often catastrophic to the engine.

Search around on here in the sub-forums that have M156 cars.

-You'll find high-mileage examples on original head bolts from the defective period and others where super low-mileage cars experienced failures.
-You'll also find plenty of photos of head bolts changed as a preventive measure that were showing clear evidence of corrosion (well on their way to failure).

Lastly, don't ignore that MB-AMG changed the design of the head bolts a few years into the production run to a much stronger E-Torx head.

 

@CQHall , i can tell you're a glass half full kind of guy...

just because YOU haven't experienced it doesn't mean it isn't true or doesn't exist.