starshine

The R230 was not M-B's finest hour. In fact, with my '03 SL500 I'm working my way throught a tick list of 'the things that will inevitably go wrong'.

So far:

• Problems with seals: mega expensive replacements, even with M-B contribution.
• Water ingress to boot caused by faulty seals, leading to PSE pump failure.
• Battery control unit replaced.
• Failure of actuator in door lock preventing opening using fob: replacement part £250.
• Brake light switch failure stopping gearshift moving out of 'Park'. Not an expensive part, but a huge inconvenience.
• Repeated 'electric consumers offline' message if the car is run decent distances regularly.
• Instrument cluster LCD 'inkspots': new cluster cost around £1k unless you can pick up one up from a breaker and get a skilled indy to swap the LCD panel.

Still to come no doubt

• Potential horrendous expense when the SBS braking system reaches the end of its pre-determined life.
• Problem with fuel tank baffles.

Today... After being stuck stationery in a traffic jam for about 30 minutes, the front, nearside suspension 'slumped'.


I've read that this is likely to happen when the car has been idling for extended period. It seems that - unnoticeably - the supension will 'lift' and then - noticeably - fall down.


When I was eventually able to move ff, the car seemed fine, with no obvious 'list' to the left. The clearance between the tyre and the arch seems equidistant on both the front N/S and O/S.


Should I be doing anything about this? The car has just been returned by the (brilliant) indy who carried out the LCD swap and checked all the systems while carrying out other work. There's been no ABC warning on the dash.


As ever, any thoughts much appreciated.

next2pool

Mine will slowly rise and then suddenly lower when idling for a long time. It doesn't sag when sitting for long periods and also seems to work just as it is supposed to during normal driving. I have a Star system and have run the rodeo, flushed the system and have no codes. I'm no longer worried about it.

carguyshu

It is the valve block. Fluid is sneaking past the one that controls the 'up' actuation and the car is slowly rising until it reaches the max height allowed by the computer. Once that occurs it then releases the fluid from the shock and it comes quickly down to the level it should be. This is indicative of either dirt or an o-rind deteriorating. To fix the problem you need to take the valve block out (either front or back, depending on which shock has the slow rise problem) and clean it and check the o-rings. If the o-rings need replaced its less than $15 in parts (might as well do this while you have it out). If you take it to the dealer they will charge you to rodeo the car twice to try and dislodge any dirt that might be in the valve block, but often this doesn't solve the problem (and it certainly won't if there is an oring going bad). The next course of action the dealer would take is try and replace the valve block to the tune of $1600-$1800. I'd try the clean/rebuild with new o-rings for < $15 1st by either doing it yourself or taking it to an indy. There is no danger or problem with this condition (mine is currently doing it on the front left), but like I said it is an indicator that there was either crappy fluid in it or that the o-rings are just getting plain worn. Since a moving car is constantly changing the valve between open and closed and letting fluid in and out it will not affect driving other than when the car is sitting and idling and the small leak in the valve block allows the shock to slowly fill. Eventually there will be something else that goes bad b/c of one of these two problems and at that point you can address this issue if you'd like. If you haven't had the ABC fluid changed regularly, then these kinds of things should come as no surprise and you need to do it ASAP. To DIY flush it is less than $150 in fluid, super easy, and should be done every 20k-30k.

Your electronics offline message is b/c of a weak battery or b/c you've let it sit and drain instead of having it on a battery tender. There are lots of systems that stay active that eat battery and there are many more that become active if the key is near the car or if something like a door is opened.

The SBC brain can be replaced for like $800 once it goes, so I don't know how worked up I'd be about that.

There are several ways to deal with the baffle problem if/when it comes that is pretty inexpensive and doesn't require removal or replacement of the tank.

carguyshu

if you do any valve work, I'd recommend replacing all 4 accumulators ($150/each) at that time. At 12 years old the rubber has likely lost its ability to work correctly and this is a maintenance item. In my 03 they are bad, but you wouldn't know unless you go fast over a bumpy road and the suspension can't keep up b/c it can't keep constant pressure due to the bad accumulators. I'd say 10 years/100k is what you can get out of a set and you're past due. The average person may not notice and you may not either that they are bad, but I'd bet heavily they are.

starshine

Thanks for the further responses: much appreciated.

The car's been driven extensively over the past few days after the misbehaviour on Sunday. Absent any recurrence, I'll have my indy guy take a look next time it's in his workshop and carguyshu's suggestions.

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