Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure on the 2003 Mercedes Benz AMG E55
When fuel tank, filler or evap failure gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Mercedes Benz AMG E55 report fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 100,646 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
18% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12,000 miles | 42,500 miles | 73,593 miles | 103,700 miles | 112,646 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,800 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2005, at a median of 62,500 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 90,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 29; the 2003 has 12. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Gas is leaking from the gas tank after the vehicle is filled up. If you fill up and let it sit overnight in the garage you wake up to raw fuel leaking out under the car under the rear seat driver side. We have had 6 fuel pumps, sending units and level sensors replaced in the gas tank the last 3 years. Then the gas tank itself was changed along with new sensors and pumps. It started leaking a year later. Same situation if you fill the car up it starts to leak. When will this situation be fixed. Mbusa has failed to offer any assistance to owners that have paid upwards of 90,000 dollars for these vehicles. Why? So that mbusa can show the NHTSA people "look we have no warranty claims on file" just read the complaints of 2003-2006 e55 owners. Now the newer e63 gas tanks are starting to leak as the vehicles reach 4 years of age. Just like our e55 started to leak at 4yrs and 50k miles. How much red tape does NHTSA have to go thru? You have hundreds of leaking e55s all over the country and you do nothing? *tr
Upon filling the fuel tank, there is an obvious odor of fuel which is noticed outside the vehicle but difficult to pinpoint where it's coming from. I went to the dealer and they said all the recalls or safety recalls were performed on my vehicle already. But the odor of gas is very strong and not resolved yet. *tr
Fuel leaks from tank when it is filled to the top. Car has been to dealer and had fuel tank seals replaced twice. Fuel pumps, gauge and hose system was also replaced for $1,500. Strong odor of gasoline if the car is parked in my garage after filling tank. I kept the pump assembly as a souvenir and see that many parts are brittle and prone to cracking. Materials in fuel pumping system appear to be inappropriate for driving in hot florida climate. Car has been kept in garage since new (except after filling gas tank). *tr
Also reported on the 2003 Mercedes Benz AMG E55
Other fuel system problem
Fuel leak or fuel odor
Fuel pump failure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Airbag inflator rupture
Radiator or coolant leak
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does fuel tank, filler or evap failure happen on the 2003 Mercedes Benz AMG E55?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is fuel tank, filler or evap failure on the 2003 Mercedes Benz AMG E55?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.5 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed