I just bought a 2014 E63 S AMG - Previously I was a BMW enthusiast, but they earned the right to lose my business permanently through ****ty engineering. I bought a C300 in 2017 as my first Mercedes and, except for the secondary air pump, it has been perfectly reliable since. Consequently, I swapped my long-standing dream of an M5 for an E63 AMG.

At 54k miles, this car is obnoxious in the best of ways. I cannot believe how fast this monster is!

I am about to perform a brake change as well as a front/rear diff service, trans service, and sparkplugs just to ensure all common failures are taken care of.

...But, I have two items that come to mind which members of this forum might be able to help with:
- Does this engine ever need intake walnut blasting? Previous DI engines suffered from carbon build up but I can't find people doing this on the M157
- Is there a thread going over a recommended suspension overhaul to refresh all the bushings and bearings? ...Im a fan of the "M539 restorations" YT channel and would love to do the kind of thing he does to bring the suspension back to OEM life

Thanks in advance!

 

I too have the same question about carbon buildup for this engine. Haven’t seen anything on this forum(or anywhere) else regarding it. Btw, congrats on purchase. It’s a phenomenal vehicle.

 

I also haven't seen anything regarding carbon (I come from a BMW background too, also a Audi S6 V10 with the carbon problems..). Mine's at 70k miles and I just make sure to add the LiquiMoly fuel injector cleaner a few times between oil changes and don't really worry about it, I figure it would have come up as a common issue by now. We have 100k miles on our GL63 with the same motor, again no carbon issues there. I know that BG made an intake fogging product when I worked at a shop that was great for DI motors, not sure you can get hands on it as a consumer but maybe worth a look into if you want to take an extra preventative step there.

Suspension - common issues are failing cross struts and worn front strut spring seats and mounts causing creaking. I just did all of that on my 2014 and it feels really nice. You can just hit FCP Euro and grab all the front arms with ball joints etc, but I can tell you at 70k miles mine still look and perform great. I have it on my list to refresh the rest closer to 90-100k miles, that's when my old M5 needed them done.

Enjoy the beast!

 

Congrats and good luck with your new purchase! I purchased my '14 E63S Estate about 5 years ago, with about 35k dealer maintained miles on the clock. Just ticked past 100k and remain Very happy with the car. A few thoughts at this age:
Replace the plastic turbo coolant lines. They'll either weep or fracture around this age.I suppose it must vary by climate; my car was (until a yr ago) in the Northeast and I will say they crumbled upon removal. I tackled that job when the water pump started weeping, so whilst in there I also replaced the serp. belt, tensioner and all idler pulleys (and the thermostat which WILL break apart upon removal). There's another plastic bit at the front top of the engine, coolant related, that you should address while in the area as well.

Only other thoughts: 30k trans fluid changes (my local dealer suggested, said it was latest standard for most AMG cars). Also, fwiw I service my rear diff every 3rd oil change, and it's always filthy looking (every 10k). Mine's a mechanical LSD so makes a mess

Last, I perform an engine oil service every 3k. Since fuel system cleaners get injected directly into the cylinders, they cannot help to keep the valves clean. They are kept clean solely by maintaining clean oil, so I change mine frequently under the FCP Lifetime Parts Replacement program, costs me $20 in postage for an oil service. I plan to keep this car for a very long time so it's serviced comprehensively, I hate surprises

 

Mine has 65k and I just had to replace an intercooler lower hose assembly. Small pinhole crack in the hose where it bends. Needs new cam sensors and cam solenoids. Seeping oil. Already replaced the driver lower control arm with a mevotech arm and realigned the vehicle. Was having a slipping condition in first and second gear. I did a transmission service with genuine fluid and filter and that seems to be resolved. Upon removal it had a vaico brand filter so who ever did it may have used the wrong fluid. Other than some rattles in the a pillars and rear package tray I love the car. If anyone has any ideas or tips on the rattles I would love to hear them!

 

Thanks so much for this advice! It really means a lot when others help out with their experience like you just did.

So far I've done spark plugs (with indexing), trans oil, diff oil, engine oil, cam position sensors, solenoids, engine mounts (with billet/poly), air filters, intake tubes and have the chain tensioners + check valves ready to go (waiting for water pump service to more easily do this). Except for the engine mounts I did it all in my garage. The car is so much fun, it's worth it!

I've only put 5k miles on the car so far. I bought it from a Mercedes dealer who had just finished the scheduled service to the mileage, so it's going to be meticulously maintained from here on out. It's spent its life in northern California and now the Portland area Oregon. It will live in a garage as long as I have it and I suspect it did before I had it based on the overall condition of the car.

It was weeping oil into the harness, but I think I caught it in time with the changed CPS's and solenoids. Every now and then I clean the ECU main plug and the CPS/Solenoid plugs too to catch any residual oil. So far it's clean since the first time I sprayed out the connections.. When I changed the spark plugs, one of them had oil accumulating on the harness, so I cleaned that up too... at some point, with no new oil weeping into the harness, it should be able to just live with the traces in there. That's the hope anyway.

Did you find any metal replacements for the plastic trash they use for the coolant lines? I expect them to fail and, like the engine mounts, want to fix them permanently

The only thing that scares me with this platform is the piston slap condition that can happen. My car has the updated (non-stretching) timing chain, but Im not sure anyone can check to see if they will escape the bore-score problem of the M157/M278 (can they?)

This is what I am talking about -- If this happens, well, time for a rebuild.:

 

Best current advice:

1) Warm up oil before hard driving
2) No tune
3) Unplug

I'm hoping with these 3 I never have the issue.

 

1, 2 - yes, of course

3 - Unplug what?

How many miles of no issues have you had?

 

This forward recipe has the potential to prevent a lot of heat stress and a long list of oil related issues.

I think the concern for cylinder scoring takes precedence over the oily valves... busy-work specially on turbos.

54KMi is a good mileage to keep the engine humming healthy.
Limp tensioners are due for sure.
Be cautious about removing existing check valves from their bore using a puller...they'll split! I kept my originals.

Unplugging can be an awesome step although experimental. It is a clear departure away from Mercedes specifications for limited oil pressure.
It's like an MRNA vaccine when you've got no other choice. Your mileage may vary.
There's absolutely no honest I can't find any good reason to super heat these engines dry to save fumes at the pump. Everybody's circumstances are different thus unrestricted oiling remains self-inflicted experimental conditions.
Normal oil pressure does not repair any preexisting conditions, it may only prevent them.

It's a fairly good idea to rinse the oil pan clean-er to drop non-magnetic piston shavings. You know the way tranny is refilled from the drain plug... imagine refilling engine oil pan with 1 gallon of diesel gas, straining sparkles then refilling the same juice couple times... I am sure other people have found ways of cleaning oil pan with bent bottle brushes.
Rince diesel out with engine oil.
Whatever prevents aluminum contamination from plugging pump solenoid and crankshaft bearings.

 

I'm tempted to pull the trigger on #3 'unplug' these Xmas holidays, the feedback from others on that thread is extremely compelling.

#4 for me would be oil changes at around 5k mile intervals.

 

#4 is a very practical way to keep a healthy oil film under extreme conditions.
We've seen how 0W40 viscosity is only when new on the first day, on the second week the engine oil is derated to act like a W30 combined with limited pressure, it may create unfavorable conditions.

Every oil formula is better than the other company's formula with tons of confusing certification, obscure spec-sheet, compatibility chart awards... The marketing PR is purposely confusing to compare apple to orange - There are all sorts of additives mixed with the base stock to make a world of difference.

In winter run a 10w40 and summer a 15W50 that acts like a quality 10W40.

Having an homogeneous oil film jacketing pistons is a proven old formula not to temper with.

 

102k on it now. Bought it from original owner a few thousand miles ago. He drove it year round, and I think also did 10k oil changes. I haven't scoped anything but it seems to use no oil so I am hoping the bores are in good shape.

 

I just did the "unplug" - and it is behaving differently now. There used to be a rattle at low RPMs that were easier to hear in the cabin than the engine bay -- Before today I was nervous that I was hearing some early-piston-slap sounds. The unplug threads mention how doing that can also make the MCT less noisy and more smooth. So far, yes, that is what I experience. The engine is smoother, most of the rattles and ticks at idle are gone and it seems to shift more promptly. I hear nothing of even minor concern from the engine anymore!

So - if you're thinking about doing it, I'd say go for it. If nothing else it will tell you if your solenoid had failed shut (i.e. if unplugging it made no difference). Knowing that solenoid was still working before I unplugged it gives me some peace of mind - maybe the bores are still perfectly fine. And, now that pressure will be higher all the time, they will probably stay OK from now on.

On the other hand, for someone else - if it's already failed then you're screwed anyway and the plug was making no difference anyhow. Nothing to lose.

Seems like a no-brainer. Three days ago I had no idea that this was even a thing... now I may have saved my engine with 30 minutes of work and made a great car even better, for free! -- I love this forum!

 

This is only the first day of the next 1500.Miles rebirth better than new. Your engine was artificially kept sick detuned with poor timings.

Observe the transformation as the engine finishes to drink all the oil stored in the intake plenum then the cleaner Lambda will respond faster.

The crankcase blowby pressure is going to improve as cleaner piston rings get unstuck

Oiled Pistons are no longer metal to metal with a consistent oil film

Cooled pistons no longer vaporize quarts of oil out of PCV onto intake valves

The 4x VVT gears now have good working pressure at 900.​​​​​Rpm to stay unlocked

​​​​​​The leaky chain tensioner have enough flow to overcome loses and keep chains tight.

The rattle-snake HPFP have an easier time rolling over quad lobes. In 1kMi you'll be abble to hear they run much smoother.


Be indulgent with tranny as it's trying to match the engine new abilities with better shift points... First the ECU has to relearn the engine then within 1500Miles all be settled to be amazing.


++++
Someone wants to believe engines can run well with half oil pressure. Experimental engine testing proves normal pressure is beneficial.

 

I noticed that a common question on the unplug analysis threads was about changes/improvements to the time it takes for the oil to get to full operating temp. This has always annoyed me; a car that is this much fun to play with but it takes so long to get to temp.

I have a very regular commute where I can count on the engine to have hit it's temp at about 20 minutes into the trip - mostly highway. This morning the engine hit its temp in only 11 minutes (ambient 55F, rainy conditions). Also, this is conclusive proof that the valve had not yet failed. Before this it was just sounds and feels... but a 50% improvement in temp time can be only one thing.

I was also watching the mileage, which was normal for the conditions. It was on the low side (within 5%), but there was some standing water causing several stop-and-go scenarios that typically aren't present (but long after full-temp was hit). I'll be watching that to see if it settles to normal when traffic isn't being weird.

Giving some thought to the new engine code that gets logged for that valve being unplugged. I've seen some people try to rig up a load to trick the ECU... but I think I'm going to see if some wrecking yard has one of these solenoids laying around. I can just plug in the line to that and strap it down somewhere... seems like a clean way to deal get rid of that code. But, since the code doesn't seem to matter, maybe I'll just leave it...

 

Thanks for your Hwy test-drive feedback.
Now you can tell working oil temperature is reached in half the time on hwy.

Here is what that tells us:

-- Heat is better removed from our pistons when squirters are operated with normal pressure.

-- Cooled pistons will no longer flash vaporize oil onto intake valves - They are better protected from heat stress cracks.
​
-- Cylinders now have oil available to rebuild a consistent film right from 900.Rpm instead of 3500.Rpm - This will help prevent bore score as well as fatal contamination by piston shavings.

-- Engine oil will soon no longer get flashed black under 500.Miles. Viscosity will remain more consistent at operating temp... the way we like it!!


> ECU Valve DTC...:
As far as the DTC... it can totally be ignored because it does not increase CAN-Bus delay between modules. A TSB mention that it is unconsequential.


> Killer Valve:
Regarding your question about valve itself being jammed or not jammed:

-- No engine has survived a valve-jam where the plunger forces the pump to be stuck on low output.

-- A working engine has a working valve!

-- When valve is resting everything is safe the way we want it. That is why I advocate not giving this valve any further chance to jam on contaminants.

-- Don't bother reprogramming "active at idle only": IT'S A KILLER! It needs to stay 100% inactive.

-- Oil pressure is the same at idle RPM regardless. No reason for this kludgey pump switching to low output. It would have been great to have a "high/normal 80/30 pump", instead we got "normal/low 50/15 pump" operated low up to 3500.Rpm.

-- If you're on the fence, stay there. I discourage tempering with this valve.
​​​

 

You've made a very strong case in several posts here-and-there to definitely do this. I haven't seen a single comment from you or anyone about the potential, serious negative side-effects from doing this... why not push everyone off the fence?

I get that you don't want to be liable for any unforeseen consequences, but it's pretty rare that something like "permanently disable this factory system" has universal support from the major fans of a platform. This looks like an obvious design/implementation error on Mercedes' part. I've seen and experienced nothing but positives (in my almost 24 hours of testing lol)

Maybe I'm just missing some obvious reason other than the "Chesterton's Fence" problem (if it's like X, don't make it not-like-X unless you know everything about why it was X).. but I'm not seeing/imagining a good reason.

 

You are right on all accounts 👏

Engine mod is a personal choice that I do not endorse. I specially don't want anyone who does not fully understand what he is doing to be mislead into making a quick decision.

People who trust what they know don't need encouragements, they decide for themselves what they do with experimental opportunities.

It's much more enjoyable to drive when you understand what you have done, what's happening and what to expect.

These engines can be fantastic given a chance to perform better. The top most important for performance is PRECISE TIMINGS orchestrated by the ECU.
Anything that impacts regularity adds penalties. You can not win by playing against the ECU logic... These Bosch engine computers are the most sophisticated Hw/Sw in the world of engine controls. Lots of multicore microcontrollers networked to build maps that deliver precisely timed outputs. Now let's enjoy this best in-class architecture!!

Here you're given a chance to experience the most glorious transformation from 1000 to 4500.RPM : An easy to control acceleration either linear or exponential response.
It offers both smooth and violent power from an honest ECU-built performance map.
Give it at least 1KMi for that to get in place.

It's fun until someone messing around looses his engine. Not on my watch pls.

The fact is you're more likely to waste an engine with the valve than without it but when damages are already there and you stir the oil real good then the forbidden-glitter gets a chance to plug solenoid plunger and cranshaft lube holes... that is engine RIP time.

So for the sake of good forum harmony: do as you may please.


+++ ENH:
I can enumerate another laundry list of opportunities to make almost-good things great.
Lemonade is good for many. I don't particularly want to disturb established practices.
Many systems are engineered with similar theme.

What's is rare is to be able to simply repair issues of sophisticated networked systems. That's why I am thankful to great forum contributors...
yum-yum

 

In principle, I completely agree - people should do what they like with whatever information is available to them

So, maybe this -- if someone gets their oil analyzed, it's clean and they are as sure as is possible that they have no debris in their crank case, then the proper course of action is unambiguously to disable this valve. If the oil isn't completely clean then higher pressures at all times (instead of some of the time) may result in debris blocking critical channels.

 

Yes this is well summarized! You have a solid decision tree.


The no-no's are :

-- a busy collection of chunkies trapped in the filter. Easy to inspect!

-- unbalanced unsmooth idle.

-- abused engines.


This is very much like Viagra: it may help and it may hurt. A year ago, I've lost a long time friend who knew with confidence what he was doing.

It's up to everyone to decide what to chance with regards for unfavorable odds.

 

Are there any metal replacements for the plastic cooling lines that fail for the turbo, etc...? Part numbers/links appreciated

 

At the risk of being pedantic...

I think your first branch of the decision tree is invalid.
"IF someone gets their oil analyzed, it's clean and they are as sure as is possible that they have no debris in their crank case"

If:
- The solenoid's job is to sometimes be in high-pressure mode
- The worst case of unplugging the solenoid is to maintain high-pressure-mode
Then
- There is no additional risk no matter what the engine or oil status is because, if the engine has debris in the oil, the solenoid will enventually permit that debris to clog the channels

So, even philosophically, there is no reason to permit this solenoid to operate as intended... at least not because of oil contaminant reasons. Perhaps there is some obscure metallurgical reason related to how fast the metal heats up or something.

But, no - there is no excuse related to debris that makes it wrong to keep this valve offline

 

if anyone knows it's @Cifdig

 

You know you're right: normally unplugging should be more beneficial than driving on oil fumes.

You wrote a good decision tree which I thought was a very clearvoyant logic. The kind I come to like

When ppl score their cylinders with dry expanded pistons, they know really well it's in the cards
But if they are moded they'll assume it is obviously the part they don't know causing major damages... guaranteed!
That's why my advise is DON'T DO IT!


I am biased to be more conservative than wreckless.
- You know Murphy's law... "Mercedes are the best, 15kMi Oil change, low-oil mod ok no problem: BOOM goes Cyl#1"
- Seemingly half of Master Tasos video are related to this topic !!
​

That is why i discourage anyone from doing anything unconventional or experimental out of their comfort zone.
Much like in Lose Vegas... ONLY GAMBLE WHAT YOU CAN LOOSE, is a fair advice - Many still lose all on personal choices!
✌️

People who understand what's at stake have no issue sorting things out for their own application.

There is a reason MB does what it does and why they like it that way...