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Race Start Issue with w213 2018 E63s AMG – Anyone Experienced This?

Old Apr 30, 2025 | 07:12 PM
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Race Start Issue with w213 2018 E63s AMG – Anyone Experienced This?

Hey MBWorld community,

I’ve been having an issue with the Race Start function on my E63s AMG and wanted to see if anyone else has run into the same problem.



Everything used to work fine, but lately, when I try to activate Race Start, it either doesn’t engage at all or gives me a message saying it’s not available. I’ve checked the basic requirements (car in Sport+ or Race mode, seatbelt on, steering straight, brake and gas applied correctly, etc.), but still no luck.

Has anyone else experienced this or figured out a fix? Could it be software-related, tire wear, or maybe something else? I’d appreciate any insight or advice from fellow owners who’ve dealt with this before.

Thanks in advance!

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Old Apr 30, 2025 | 07:18 PM
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In that picture, your transmission temp is just barely above 120F. 120F is when it goes from blue to white, but not sure if that's already warm enough for Race Start to be available. Your engine is also not fully warmed up at 174F.
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Old Apr 30, 2025 | 07:46 PM
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How many race starts have you done over the course of owning the car? I remember reading somewhere that software will only let you do like 100 of them or something to reduce the chance of damage? So it might be a software thing that needs to be reset? Does it let you do it when all the temps are nominal, like after driving for half an hour?
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Old Apr 30, 2025 | 07:54 PM
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There's no limit on the number of Race Starts in AMGs to the best of my knowledge. It's been brought up in the past, because some competitors have limits on how many times you can launch. Some people have had issues with not pressing the brake pedal hard enough. You do have to press down quite hard on the brake pedal.
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Old Apr 30, 2025 | 08:45 PM
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Originally Posted by G63GT63SE
How many race starts have you done over the course of owning the car? I remember reading somewhere that software will only let you do like 100 of them or something to reduce the chance of damage? So it might be a software thing that needs to be reset? Does it let you do it when all the temps are nominal, like after driving for half an hour?
I probably done close to 100 race starts for sure. But I asked the dealership and they said that there’s not a way to reset the software for launches. And there’s not a limit. And to answer your question no it does not work when I reach normal temperatures, even after hours of driving it.
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Old Apr 30, 2025 | 08:46 PM
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Originally Posted by superswiss
There's no limit on the number of Race Starts in AMGs to the best of my knowledge. It's been brought up in the past, because some competitors have limits on how many times you can launch. Some people have had issues with not pressing the brake pedal hard enough. You do have to press down quite hard on the brake pedal.
Thank you for clarifying that. Pressing down a break hard as possible is not working either.
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Old Apr 30, 2025 | 10:08 PM
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Are you running a tune?
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Old Apr 30, 2025 | 10:14 PM
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Old Apr 30, 2025 | 10:38 PM
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Originally Posted by Taperbase kid
I probably done close to 100 race starts for sure. But I asked the dealership and they said that there’s not a way to reset the software for launches. And there’s not a limit. And to answer your question no it does not work when I reach normal temperatures, even after hours of driving it.
Originally Posted by Taperbase kid
Thank you for clarifying that. Pressing down a break hard as possible is not working either.
Time for a scan to see if it logs anything. Sounds like there's a condition that's not met for whatever reason.
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Old Apr 30, 2025 | 11:26 PM
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Originally Posted by G63GT63SE
Are you running a tune?
Yes, I am running a Stage 2 tune from ECC. Everything was running fine until about a month ago. I’ve had this tune since November 2024 with no problems. I spoke with the tuner, and he said he has no idea what’s causing it.
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Old Apr 30, 2025 | 11:42 PM
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Originally Posted by Taperbase kid
Yes, I am running a Stage 2 tune from ECC. Everything was running fine until about a month ago. I’ve had this tune since November 2024 with no problems. I spoke with the tuner, and he said he has no idea what’s causing it.
See if the turner can reflash it for you.
There’s a million things that can go wrong with software. Example, an ionizing particle / cosmic ray flipped a bit to a negative value that allowed a guy to win a Mario speedrun.
Cosmic Ray - Mario Speedrun Literally millions upon millions of things can go wrong with software. A reflash might just solve your issue.
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Old May 1, 2025 | 12:17 AM
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Originally Posted by G63GT63SE
See if the turner can reflash it for you.
There’s a million things that can go wrong with software. Example, an ionizing particle / cosmic ray flipped a bit to a negative value that allowed a guy to win a Mario speedrun.
Cosmic Ray - Mario Speedrun Literally millions upon millions of things can go wrong with software. A reflash might just solve your issue.
That’s a great point. I will try it out !
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Old May 1, 2025 | 09:05 AM
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ECC also has the ability to log - yes you can randomly try to pave over problems or maybe get a log to ECC to see what's what.
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Old Mar 22, 2026 | 08:12 PM
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Hi everyone, just wanted to check if found a solution for this issue? I have a 2018 fully stock and i just faced the same issue, it used to work just fine but two days ago it stopped idk why
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Old Mar 22, 2026 | 11:34 PM
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Originally Posted by White.E63s
Hi everyone, just wanted to check if found a solution for this issue? I have a 2018 fully stock and i just faced the same issue, it used to work just fine but two days ago it stopped idk why
After 2.5 months of trying everything and having every mechanic in my city look at it without being able to figure it out, one day I pressed the button to raise the suspension, put it in race mode, and then it worked ..... after literally trying every single day for two months straight. It has now been 9 months, and everything still works fine. Good luck, I hope you figure it out.
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Old Mar 23, 2026 | 01:02 PM
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Make sure that you always have the sunroof closed and the windows completely shut.
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Old Apr 24, 2026 | 11:22 PM
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Hi everyone, just a quick update on my situation. It looks like the issue is related to the dash cam. I installed a dash cam a couple of months ago, and although everything in the car starts normally, the race start feature stops working after some time.



I tried disconnecting the dash cam, and after about 5 minutes of driving, race start works again. Even if I reconnect the dash cam, it continues to work, but after a few days, the problem comes back and I have to disconnect it again for a few minutes.



I monitored the battery voltage with and without the dash cam, and there wasn’t much difference. Still, since the battery is the only factor that comes to mind, I’m assuming it’s battery-related. The dash cam does have a battery protection mode, but I’m not sure if it’s wired incorrectly, or maybe the car battery isn’t as strong as it used to be (even though everything else works perfectly and there are no battery warnings).



For now, I’m okay with just disconnecting the dash cam for a few minutes every couple of weeks.
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Old Apr 25, 2026 | 08:14 AM
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Originally Posted by White.E63s
Hi everyone, just a quick update on my situation. It looks like the issue is related to the dash cam. I installed a dash cam a couple of months ago, and although everything in the car starts normally, the race start feature stops working after some time.



I tried disconnecting the dash cam, and after about 5 minutes of driving, race start works again. Even if I reconnect the dash cam, it continues to work, but after a few days, the problem comes back and I have to disconnect it again for a few minutes.



I monitored the battery voltage with and without the dash cam, and there wasn’t much difference. Still, since the battery is the only factor that comes to mind, I’m assuming it’s battery-related. The dash cam does have a battery protection mode, but I’m not sure if it’s wired incorrectly, or maybe the car battery isn’t as strong as it used to be (even though everything else works perfectly and there are no battery warnings).



For now, I’m okay with just disconnecting the dash cam for a few minutes every couple of weeks.
Sounds like there is unknown interference. If you need the dashcam (good to have) could consider getting a dashcam battery. If it still does it then that is interference, if it no longer does it then it is affecting the battery however minute. That said, dashcams has been reported to affect keyless go before but race start is technically just a "software feature" so not sure if it really is interference.
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