Fuel pump failure on the 2004 Mercedes Benz AMG E55
When fuel pump failure gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Mercedes Benz AMG E55 report fuel pump failure at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 20 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 55,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 130,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 78,779 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.
5% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53,007 miles | 73,026 miles | 98,500 miles | 110,000 miles | 131,786 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 $600–$2,600 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 55,000 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 31; the 2004 has 22. 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.
When you filled the tank up at any time, there would be a horrendous raw fuel smell until the fuel level dropped off of full. It was so bad I had to park the car outside instead of in the garage for fear of a fire starting and a subsequent explosion. I took it to the dealer and I had an extended warranty. The deductible was $200. They ended up having to replace the entire fuel tank, fuel pump and all related items to an updated model to get rid of the problem. I am still out the $200 deductible for my extended warranty. *tr
I have a 2004 mercedes amg e55. I purchased the car second hand from my neighbor at +/-33,000 miles. One week of ownership, I got a check engine light. I had access to a obd2 scanner and got the code for evap error. I stored the car overnight in my garage and woke up the following morning where the whole house reeked of fuel. I had recently filled up the night before. Being familiar with this mercedes vehicle I went over the fuel system from gas spout to gas tank. The smell was coming from inside the car under the rear drivers side passenger seat. Upon further inspection and removal of the seat,access panel. I could see gasoline puddling up on top of the fuel sender. I got some paper towels and dried it. That morning I bought a new gasket seal from the dealer to try and isolate the problem. That did not help...next gas fill up the car continue to smell like fuel inside the cabin. I took it to a independent mechanic who performed the smoke test to see where the leak is coming from and sure enough it was from the top of the gas tank where it met the fuel sender. Upon taking the car to the dealer, I've been told I have to replace the…
Started smelling gas after filling up and eventually found that the fuel sender/hose was spraying fuel on the underside of the car/rear seat. After researching the problem I found that fuel leaks coming from and around the tank are very common and that there was a recall years ago to reinforce the sender/hose. Fuel was also leaking and puddling up around the fuel pump and the fuel sender. This is obviously a design/part flaw and needs to be addressed as it happens repeatedly to many people. *tr
Also reported on the 2004 Mercedes Benz AMG E55
Other fuel system problem
Fuel tank, filler or EVAP failure
Fuel leak or fuel odor
Fuel gauge or level sensor failure
CV axle or driveshaft failure
Seat belt or retractor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 22 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 pump failure happen on the 2004 Mercedes Benz AMG E55?
Across 20 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 75,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is fuel pump failure on the 2004 Mercedes Benz AMG E55?
22 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 4.6 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