E63 AMGS Engine Seizure

[Alboy]

Help, My E63 AMGS is 3.5 years old (out of warranty - did not extend it), bought brand new from Mercedes and the other day whilst driving along made an awful noise and cut out. Was recovered to dealer, who today said engine is totally seized up, and they want to charge me £9k to strip the engine to find the fault, at which point they can apply to Mercedes for a contribution (which there is no guarantee of them paying, or any idea of how much), or I could just install a new engine at a cost of £40k-£50k. Obviously this is a totally unacceptable situation, and am not sure what to do. The car was completely standard (never been modified), had done 32k miles, full dealer service history, been well looked after, and not driven too hard (apart from the occasional). Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do?

 

[Alps]

Sorry to ear about your issue, Id stick at it with Mercedes, even out of warranty a car engine shouldn't fail within 3.5 years , I assume you have had it serviced at mercedes? this will help, I would want mercedes to replace the engine FOC.

 

[Alboy]

Sorry to ear about your issue, Id stick at it with Mercedes, even out of warranty a car engine shouldn't fail within 3.5 years , I assume you have had it serviced at mercedes? this will help, I would want mercedes to replace the engine FOC.

Tell me about it. Have been referred to Mercedes customer services, so am awaiting to see how they treat me. So far the dealer has not been helpful at all. Was wondering if anybody else has experienced this, and wanted to know how it was handled and resolved.

 

[Alps]

Tell me about it. Have been referred to Mercedes customer services, so am awaiting to see how they treat me. So far the dealer has not been helpful at all. Was wondering if anybody else has experienced this, and wanted to know how it was handled and resolved.

Dealer wont want to foot the bill either, if Mercedes HO cover it then they will be happy to do the work. Keep us updated, and good luck!

 

[BTB 500]

Yup MB UK will be the best option, as the car is 1 owner / low mileage / FMBSH / only just out of warranty you should stand a pretty good chance of getting it paid for IMHO. Keep it polite when dealing with them as you are looking for goodwill at this stage!

 

[Teego]

There was some discussion about a similar situation last year. C43 with a hole in the side of the block. Looked like hydraulic lock bent a conrod. Don't know the outcome. It was on a lift at MB Stockport when I saw it.

 

[Smiley]

In your position I would not authorise MB to spend any money to "investigate". An investigation may or may not reveal the root cause but that is somewhat academic. The fact is that a low mileage, 3.5yr old, dealer maintained MB should not suffer a catastrophic engine failure whatever the root cause is, and therefore you would have thought that MB would be footing the bill. You would have thought......but I would not want to bet my house on it. And if your local dealer starts stripping the engine and your car is in pieces then that it is going to make it very difficult to move it later if things don't go your way - you may even end up having to have your own independent assessment carried out and it is going to be much easier to move a complete car rather than one that is half in pieces.

 

[Smiley]

Just to add....if MB says that they will pay then happy days, if they say no or you have to pay a % then I would get my car recovered to a location under my control and then I would go and see a solicitor. No point delaying that decision imho.

 

[Darrell]

Where’s a car thief when you need one.

 

[ALFAitalia]

In your position I would not authorise MB to spend any money to "investigate". An investigation may or may not reveal the root cause but that is somewhat academic. The fact is that a low mileage, 3.5yr old, dealer maintained MB should not suffer a catastrophic engine failure whatever the root cause is.....

It's to make sure it's not the customers fault...we had to do the same with any VW or Audi engine failure before we or VAG would foot the bill. If it turned out to be a manufacturing fault (it happens) then the charge for investigation was waived. You would not believe how often it was actually the drivers fault.....cars had been tracked, cars had been run very low on oil (yet were full of brand new oil when they got to the workshop....hmm), cars with poor DIY engine repairs (wrong plugs, cheap Chinese aux belts tangled in the timing gear) ....etc etc. Now I'm not suggesting that the OP has done any of these things.....but you can't blame Mercedes for wanting to check before shelling out £40 to £50k on a new engine (a completely deciduous ridiculous figure by the way....50% plus of the cost of the new car?....I think not).
Anyway....best of luck OP.

 

[BlackC55]

The cause of the failure is irrelevant. Just keep pushing MB directly. I would expect a good outcome on this.

 

[ALFAitalia]

Its not irrelevant.....if hes run it out of oil or mapped it too strongly etc (not saying either has happened in this case) they wont have to pay out.....so its very relevant to them!! As said....at Audi....no investigation report....no goodwill payment....end of. Its not a little amount of cash in this case....so you cant blame then for wanting to check.
Obviously I agree that he will just have to keep pushing Mercedes....and in my experience, almost on a daily basis so they get fed up from hearing from you.....! I also would like to think the OP would get a good outcome from this.

 

[Germgh0st]

There is consumer law that says that any goods must last for 'an acceptable time', or something like that, regardless of warranty. I'd say an engine seizing after 3.5 years is not an acceptable time for an engine to last.

I few years ago I bought a laptop that failed after 14 months, 2 months outside the warranty. I argued that a £1500 laptop should last more than a year and I ended up getting it fixed free of charge

 

[ALFAitalia]

Absolutely correct.....any warranty the makers give is in ADDITION to your statutory rights. Things have to last a "reasonable time" by law.....however the amount of time deemed to be reasonable was never set in law so its usually based on past court cases......in your situation , in the case of electrical equipment of reasonable value (so not a £10 Tesco value kettle!) has now been usually decided as five years....which is how I got my hard drive video recorder with a 12m warranty replaced after 30 months.....but if I had abused it, modified it or dropped it down the stairs...it would not be covered, statutory rights or not.
Since the Op says that its not abused, tuned etc and has full MMDSH and is only at 32,000 miles....I would be very disappointed with any other than full coverage by Mercedes.

 

[rich1068]

Goes without saying to get whatever agreement is reached in writing. Dealers can be wriggly buggers.

 

[G7Wagen]

@ OP

Really dissapointed to hear this news... I watched in horror at the treatment the owner on here reported getting from MB last year with his 3.5 year old, low mileage, full dealer serviced C43AMG . In the end after a similar battle, They i believe, put a replacement short block in, at the owners expense ( discounted apparently)
This treatment, informed my decision, to not buy a new Mercedes last year. I instead ordered a new Audi SQ5 ( also extending the warranty to 5 years just in case) .
I accept that Dealers and Manufacturers need to establish who is to blame, but an engine of this calibre, hand built in Germany, should be able to last longer than 3.5 years. The first response of the dealer should not be so dismissive.

Surely a boreascope in one of the many spark plugs holes will tell you something.. I bought one from machine mart for 35 quid and connects via WiFi to my tablet...

This response from Mercedes does, in my opinion, damage their brand slightly... and in my case drive potential purchasers away. I do still own 3 Mercedes cars as well. One is 33 years old, one 13 years old and a 20 year old AMG SL55 at 75k miles.. all working correctly. Faults in Manufacturing do occur, legal advice from a good solicitor should be sought before submitting the car to Mercedes for inspection.." not fit for purpose or not be of sufficient quality" may give you legal recorse, irrespective of the initial Mercedes response, findings.
Proceed carefully, the C43 AMG owner ended up paying for the new engine in simular circumstances.

Good luck in your quest... my heart goes out to you.

John

 

[Kudly]

Good advice on here, here's more - start contacting solicitors with experience of this type of thing (major consumer purchase failing within a short period of ownership) - Law Society website will filter specialist solicitors for you. Are you in AA or RAC? Get advice from them. Perhaps also advice from your insurance (car/home who may provide free legal assistance).

 

[badgx]

Really sad and alarming, hope MB take ownership. Wondering why a new engine, low miles, would seize up like this?

 

[Alboy]

It's to make sure it's not the customers fault...we had to do the same with any VW or Audi engine failure before we or VAG would foot the bill. If it turned out to be a manufacturing fault (it happens) then the charge for investigation was waived. You would not believe how often it was actually the drivers fault.....cars had been tracked, cars had been run very low on oil (yet were full of brand new oil when they got to the workshop....hmm), cars with poor DIY engine repairs (wrong plugs, cheap Chinese aux belts tangled in the timing gear) ....etc etc. Now I'm not suggesting that the OP has done any of these things.....but you can't blame Mercedes for wanting to check before shelling out £40 to £50k on a new engine (a completely deciduous ridiculous figure by the way....50% plus of the cost of the new car?....I think not).
Anyway....best of luck OP.

All I can say is the car has been looked after by dealer, oil topped up regularly, no oil lights came on, no DIY engine repairs ever, no modifications.

 

[Alboy]

Its not irrelevant.....if hes run it out of oil or mapped it too strongly etc (not saying either has happened in this case) they wont have to pay out.....so its very relevant to them!! As said....at Audi....no investigation report....no goodwill payment....end of. Its not a little amount of cash in this case....so you cant blame then for wanting to check.
Obviously I agree that he will just have to keep pushing Mercedes....and in my experience, almost on a daily basis so they get fed up from hearing from you.....! I also would like to think the OP would get a good outcome from this.

It is ridiculous to have to spend 9k on a bet to see if they will cover it or not. I do not know how that works.