stormhammer

Looking at a high mileage E63 AMG - as in 101k on the clock - what are things to look out for?

Something I already noticed in the photos is that the intake boot is ripped. IIRC this isnt uncommon.


A laundry list would be awesome ( short of getting it taken in for a PPI )

speedydriver

As someone who has driven 70K miles on my own 2014 E63S, the things that go most often is suspension related. Control arms etc, engine and transmission mounts. Control arms etc go every 10K miles for me and engine trans every 20K miles or so. Brakes are every 25K miles and that's not driving that hard. Also, check coolant lines for any obvious leaks and vacuum pump.

lampeater

Got my '14 E63S back in August with 69k miles aside from basic wear and tear items, I had to replace the coolant expansion tank due to it developing small pinholes and microcracks on the side closest to the turbo and would spray small amounts of coolant onto the turbo whenever it is parked or stopped.

Also looks like that car and mine have the same builder!

speedydriver

Same here, I had to replace my coolant expansion tank twice in the 70K miles ownership. They didn’t cover it under veritas and I had to shell like $600 for it, kinda ridiculous considering the part is pretty cheap lol but it’s the name of the game

lampeater

Hmm, I bought the coolant expansion tank for $77 from FCP Euro and had an indy do the labor for $100 + coolant. $600 sounds really excessive!

speedydriver

Sounds about right. Dealer always marks up the part by 2-3x what it really costs (3x if its fcp) and charges standard hours. I mean I just had them do oxygen sensors and they quoted 3 hours for replacing something that should only take 15 minutes! Extended warranty paid out $1K for one sensor change.

If you do at indy or DIY, you can save a ton of money. I'm doing my brakes myself this weekend to save $1.5K in labor

lampeater

O2 sensors should not take 3 hours to do when they're readily accessible, but I'm guessing it is just book hours for the tech.
They quoted me $715 for spark plugs and $520 for transmission service when I took my car in to do a quick post-purchase inspection.
Bought the parts for both on FCP for less than half the cost of doing the plugs and spent a good afternoon chilling with a friend and swapping both out.
These cars are not that hard as people think to DYI IMO, what I'm dreading is when it comes time to replace my turbo coolant lines

AngryScotsman

Lambo charges something like $230/hr for labor. Mercedes better not be charging the same for labor.

At $1500, that's saying Mercedes has a job rate of at LEAST 6.5hrs to do brakes. There is no way swapping rotors and pads, and a brake flush with a flush tool, is taking 6.5hrs.

You could take a 4hr nap and still have the brakes done in less time.

AMGfifty5

i recently purchased a high mileage e63s (104k miles). I think there’s an article in the “sticky” that goes over what to look for.

I took my car to the dealership for a checkup and they quoted me approximately 4700 just

for front and rear pads & rotors

speedydriver

yep same here, I was quoted $5K before taxes a year ago. You can pick up a set of OEM for $3.5K now so even before taxes that’s like $1.5K in labor, that’s where I’m getting numbers from. They’re definitely charging some standard type of book labor hours for everything they ever do.

Mojo20032004

you can buy a set of brembo oem rotors from fcp euro front and zimmerman back rotors for about 1300-1400.Just need to buy front pads, piece of cake to replace them too. There is a how to on this forum as well. Took me about 2.5hrs front/back to do taking my sweet time

lampeater

Got that same setup saved in my cart for whenever I am ready to do my brakes.