German Car Zone

I can't see Mercedes without a V12. If Maybach and Aston are really teaming up they'll have to have a V12 so that means Mercedes will have one. They may have to keep refining the current one and giving it some new features, DI etc, but no V12 at all..I can't see it. The current AMG V12 won't be around much longer, in the "65" cars, but the standard "600" V12 will IMO.


M

We will see how smooth you think they are after owning one for two years. After the motor and transmission mounts go bad.


You forgot to add the V12s in the grand prix cars.


That is one of the main reasons why I would always take the V8 AMG S class over the V12 S class. It is so easy to rack up thousands in repairs on a V12.

As already said in this thread: BMW will very soon introduce the new Twin Turbo V12.
This info would be off-topic if any other company but Mercedes was supposed to drop the V12. But, if BMW has a new state of the art V12, MB will 99.9999% follow. They will not tolerate BMW being alone there.
MB is not a brand that follows, but if the competition has something they don't have, they will simply develop it too. Period.

I really like the new Klier

Is this a chronic problem or one that occurs with cars that have been massively abused?


True. But when we're talking about Mercedes passenger or civilian-market sedans, there was no V12 until the W140 and R129. The biggest and most powerful engines of the past found in Mercedes civilian-market cars were the 400-horsepower supercharged 7.7-l 8-cylinder inline found in a few 770s Großer Mercedes sedans for Nazi party members.

[quote=cawimmer430;348899]Is this a chronic problem or one that occurs with cars that have been massively abused?

Not really, it's a problem with these V12 engines because they are heavy and they require a set of mounts every 3-4 years.

Oil leaks are also a problem with the current generation of Mercedes V12 and they do, as others have pointed out, cost an arm and a leg to rectify.

Under bonnet temperature is also a problem with all V12-equipped cars (both BMW and Mercedes). The size of the V12 engine leaves very little room for sufficient cooling. Heat-soak is a big problem. This is usually not an issue if the engine fan(s) do their job. But cars in Asia, the Middle East and Africa do run into the occasional problem of overheating because of a blown fuse or a faulty engine fan clutch that stop the fans from doing their jobs.

Also, don't be too pessimistic. I'm sure the V12 will be back on the agenda if customers demand it. The Russians and Chinese are V12 lovers. So if the numbers stack up, I'm sure they will be back. It was the same case in the mid-1990's. It seemed the days of supercars were over. How wrong were we then..........................

Touche!

Abused and babied all V12s pretty much suffer from this. It might be the weight of the engine, but I do not know for sure.


I think the M137 had more oil leak issues then the M275. The oil cooler would leak, since it is in the valley of the engine it would leak down the back. Many people replaced the rear main seal several times before figuring out where the oil was actually coming from. To replace the oil cooler you had to remove both heads. The main oil leak problems with the M275 all had to do with the ABC system. AHHH yes the final straw in my employment.

Engine fans for the V12s were another issue. The fans are so powerful that if the fan was running when the vehicle was stopped it would shake the entire car. The early W220s had issues with the fuse to the fan blowing, there was a recall to install new wiring harness for the fan.

Not sure if this has been posted but i thought it was 'interesting'




Mercedes-Benz, longtime stalwarts of the V12 engine, is considering lowering its preferred cylinder count by a third. While our first inclination is to assume that this change is being made to increase the fuel efficiency and lower the emissions of the overall Daimler line, the real reason that the bent-12 engine program is being dropped is simply because the block is too long. A V12 is, for all intents and purposes, the same length as an inline-six, and the German automaker's latest line of mainstream engines are all in a V-design, so its cars are no longer being designed with an engine compartment large enough to house such a lengthy engine. Fear not, power fans, as the company isn't abandoning high horsepower in general. The V12 program is apparently being shifted towards twin-turbo V8s, and the magic of forced-induction means there's no reason to assume that fewer cylinders will equal fewer ponies. Expect the moratorium on V12s to begin the next few years.


Mercedes will begin phasing out V12 engines - Autoblog

I heard rumors from MB Insiders that the 600 Series V12 engines will be replaced by a 5.0 Liter turbo V8 producing 580 to 600bhp and the 65 Series V12 engines will be replaced with a 5.0 Liter Twin Turbo V8 producing 700bhp with 1200 nm of torque. Both of these engines will be mated to Mercedes-Benz's new 8 speed transmisson which is currently being developed. The 65 replacement will have a heavily Reinforced 8 speed dual-clutch Transmisson.