Chicagoland

It even happens to the best of them...

Here is some feedback from initial owners of the car and what kind of service problems that have been occuring. This is normal on any vehicle in its first year of production. Mercedes-Benz has been proactive with customers and are handling the initial problems well.

* Wind noise from the rear window caused by a missing seal at the bottom of the glass. Entire window must be replaced to solve.

* Some tire-pressure monitoring systems are malfunctioning due to European-spec sensors being installed in US-market wheels.

* Various ABC fluid leaks from hoses and fittings, a production change has already been implemented with updated fittings at level valves and struts.

* Third brake light flashes on and off when brakes are not even applied. New third brake light unit is needed to fix this problem.

* Ticking noises from the canister purge valve.

* Fuel sloshing noises in the fuel tank. An updated fuel tank is coming in July with more baffles in the tank, for less fuel movement.

* Evaporator temperature sensor failures, causing no cold air from the A/C system.

* Loose pressure release screw in the retractable hardtop hydraulic pump, causing the top to move slowly, or sometimes not at all.

victoryroad

My recollection is that the fuel tank, the brake light, air conditioning and top mechanism problems were first reported last spring. It is more than a bit troubling that MB has not yet fixed them in SL's recently produced. How difficult could it be to design and manufacture better baffles in the fuel tank? Our SL is scheduled for production in the first ten days of Nov., so I assume that it will get the faulty fuel tank, if not the other problems as well. It will be pain to have to have the fuel tank replaced next summer, to say nothing of the other problems listed. Does anyone know how common the problems are, i.e what percentage of new SL's have them? Has anyone on this forum cancelled his or her order for a new SL because of these problems? Also, does this forum have a catalog of technical bulletins that MB has issued, or are those restricted to dealership distribution only? I believe that one of the CL forums last year had a member who is an MB tech and he provided very helpful perspective on such issues.

jhb

I thought from previous posts that the fuel tank was taken care of this past summer (perhaps Chicagoland's post carries over one from before then). We have a Launch Edition. I notice the fuel sloshing noise occasionally. But we haven't had to have it in for service of any kind yet since March (we only have 3800 miles on it) and it is not significant enough of an annoyance to make a special trip to have it replaced.

Ours was one of the first ones in the US as it was delivered three days after they were released in March and we have had none of the other problems. I wouldn't worry if I were you. We absolutely love the car and believe it to be the most beautifully designed cars ever made. See November's Road and Track for their opinion. It goes something like "the best car made since the original gullwing".

Get it and you will enjoy it too.

blueSL

That list of problems has been around for a while and I do not see any of them on my car, I'm sure most of them will have been fixed for sometime so if you have recent production, you will not see them.

If you are happy with the fuel tank, it's best left alone. If you think of where it is in the car, it's not the work of a moment to replace it and there's always the danger that some other problem will be introduced in the process, as well as marred screws, squeaks and rattles.

The good news is that Mercedes will have worked to iron out the bugs in the car, they'll want a smooth production process and it looks like it's going like a train with deliveries on time and gradually shortening lead times. Not all companies take the same trouble to get their products right, take Microsoft for example...

zshly

I've heard a few chaps out our way complaining of rattles in the roof mechanism.

Also, does anyone really know when Command II will be launched?

Regards

Mustard

Had it from Mercedes that all SL's from March 2003 will have Comand II.....

Chicagoland

All of the problems that I mention are being taking care of by Mercedes. This is way I buy Mercedes. My only problem is the ML line up. I brought my wife 2000 ML320 in 1999 and was not happy with Mercedes not fixing the initial problems. Yes, I understand the price war, but Mercedes needs address these issue as fast as they did with the S-Class, SL-Class, and the other Mercedes. I am waiting for the 2005 ML. I dislike the Volvo wagon, but needed to get the wife a car.

Vehicle I am looking at very closely for 2005:

Volvo XC90

Lexus GX470

BMW Next Gen X5

Mercedes Next Gen ML

Porsche Cayenne

VW Touareg

blueSL

A big price range in that lot. I like some of the thinking behind the Volvo, they are majoring on safety which appeals strongly to woman purchasers who will make up the majority of owners.

I'm not a big fan of the ML at all, even the recent make-over has left it floundering and the big engined ones, like the ML55 AMG are completely pointless, especially with the new Range Rover and Porsche Cayenne in the picture.

victoryroad

The Volvo XC90 and the Porsche Cayenne Turbo get rave reviews in the recent issues of Motor Trend and Auto Week respectively. Of course the Posche Turbo will cost over twice what the 6 cylinder Volvo will cost.

zshly

Check out:

http://www.imakenews.com/autospies/e...e000103390.cfm

Autospies voted the Volvo XC90 as their "2003 SUV of the YEAR".

Is your wife an avid off-roader or rallyist? Have you looked at LandRover?

Regards

FloridaSLGuy

I picked up my SL in September and have had none of the problems listed above.

The only 2 problems:

1) I had the dashboard replaced due to ripples in the plastic. Dealership did an excellent job replacing.

2) 1 or 2 rattles from the top that I am working on fixing.

Other than that, the car gets better every day.

FloridaSLGuy

My biggest problem with this car is that I am driving too fast.

Every night I thank the stars for not getting a ticket.

blueSL

Did the dealer tell you how big a job it was to do? I've been delving under mine and can imagine it's a difficult job to do without causing cosmetic damage elsewhere, not to mention rattles and squeaks from the new one.

FloridaSLGuy

The dealer indicated it would be a big undertaking. They had the car for 2 days but they did a great job. No scratchs, marks or rattles. I was suprised.

They did say though, during that same week, they replaced 2 other dashboards. I guess they are getting practise

Chicagoland

My wife loves going off-road on lite trails. I have driven all of 2003 LRs, but wife did not care about the glass on the Discovery.

W210

Problems on the SL seem much easier to fix than the numerous electronic issues with the 7 series. Users are talking about which software updates they need.. then of course, BMW is to blame using Windows CE in the 745?

VIN WBAGL63402DP59442
License:


1.) Phone sometimes doesn’t power up, have to manually turn on and then only touch pad (vs steering wheel or voice control) works. (RPT 1)
2.) Following 10-14-02 service, lost two car memory settings: auto lock upon drive off & all doors unlock upon first remote press. Please restore these settings.
3.) Music (CD) interrupted preceded by loud click over speakers followed by blanking and eventual resetting of Nav display. (REPEAT 1)
4.) Idle still rough…car shakes (REPEAT 1)
5.) Voice command failed to work at all. I tried increasing volume after issuing unanswered commands in case it was all the way down. After a brief stop, it worked again. Prior to incident, car had been parked two hours.
6.) Transmission slipping under full acceleration at 60MPH after it downshifts, tach initially goes to 5,000 RPM for a second, then races (slips) up to 5,500 and then immediately back to 5,000.
7.) On a flat road, after reversing and placing in Drive, car sometimes fails to move until RPM reaches 1,800.
8.) Since 10-14 service now have persistent creak in dash when turning in either direction. Creak stops if I firmly press down on dash.
9.) Missing fastener at right front corner air dam (rubber hanging down)
10.) 10-30-02; Seat belt chime remained on entire trip (1/2 mile) coupled with loss of iDrive/other options settings, all units went to metric. After reaching destination, shutting off, locking, chime could still be heard. Made call using voice command to record event and chime muted slightly but persisted. After parked for an hour, everything was ‘normal’ again.
11.) Left rear door speaker seems bad – buzzes as if membrane is torn. Found that Logic setting had been reset to 5 after last service when it was CND'd, when returned to 8, problem returns. (REPEAT 1)
12.) The internal temperature sensing for the air conditioner is substantially off from the first car. This one requires adjusting +/- 5°F every morning and afternoon to maintain comfortable temperature. A/C with high fan speed out facia vents when ambient ~ 55°, warm air out foot vents after parked in 100° parking lot. The previous 745 nearly always maintained comfort regardless of time of day over a five month period. Both kept in auto mode. (REPEAT 1)
13.) Transmission clunks into 1st under high torque causing car to lurch ahead when stopping. Understandable when stopping quickly from higher speeds but on third day after last service I was creeping along on a residential street slowly approaching a curb to park and the car shot ahead, as if I had been hit from the rear. (REPEAT 1)
14.) Original transmission issue of jerking into action from a stop was initially fixed during last service but is beginning to return in an intermittent fashion. Several odd behaviors exhibited in past week suggest it is confused, shifting wrong and failing to start from a start until considerable throttle is applied. (REPEAT 1)
15.) Key rejected, works after third try. If you insert the key slightly angled upward it will be rejected. A subsequent attempt with the key perfectly level will also be rejected. A third attempt usually works. (REPEAT 1)
16.) Nav street names missing. This new system (2nd 745) no longer lists most streets, even in the most zoomed (400’) range. If driving north, all parallel streets will lack names. Those streets with names will flash on & off or the names dissolve into segments. I originally was using the same CD from my first 745, as no new ones were available at delivery. The first 745 worked properly in this regard, all street names were given when fully zoomed. (REPEAT 1)
17.) Windshield wipers skip across glass in all but heavy rain conditions.
18.) Wipers stay in middle of windshield when shutting car off while they’re on, auto or manually engaged. When restart car, wipers remain in middle of glass.
19.) iDrive powered up completely blank for first minute or so, appeared to repeatedly attempt to reinitialize (flashes of temp at bottom of screen switching between metric and standard) then finally powered up in metric with all option settings lost. iDrive now failing to power up at all on occasion, works fine on subsequent trips. (REPEAT 1)

jimmyg

I work for Microsoft and I have a 2002 BMW 745i. I haven't used the car much (only about 1000km), but I have spent some time playing with the iDrive system.

First of all, so far I haven't noticed any problems with the car so far but I'm preparing myself.

The Windows CE for Automotive platform that was provided to BMW is just the underlying OS on which they built their iDrive interface. In fact, the reference design for WCEfA recommends having individual buttons for primary funcitons. iDrive is totally BMW's fault; and yes, it does suck. I tried REALLY hard to like it, but the COMAND unit in my G500 is much simpler to use.

As far as all the other problems you note, they are probably due to pressure from management to get a response to the S-Class out the door ASAP. If the issues aren't resolved by the 2004 model year, BMW is in big trouble.

I've played with other prototype systems built on WCEfA and they are really nice and powerful. Where Microsoft has the advantage is inetgration with Internet services including notifications, route mapping, etc. You'll see some cool stuff in the near future.

Chicagoland

Too many problems with this car!

Chicagoland

I would agree...if BMW does not fix the major issues by 2004...watch out.

RJC

Please explain all symtoms and attempted repair of #4 rough idle.
#6 may be normal as it COULD have something to do with the adaptive nature of the transmission.

RJC

blueSL

The only BMW I ever had failed it's first MOT (safety inspection in the UK after 3 years) even though it had been properly maintained - not minor faults either - leaking master brake cylinder and worn steering (!) in a car which had done 32000 miles.

BMW's success is a marketing one, not an engineering one and their latest "dare to be different" efforts have them heading down a blind alley. Wild horses wouldn't make me have one.

The quality problems listed for the SL are history; I cannot point to a single issue with my car.

Mustard

Interesting how experience colors our prejudices - I have owned Mercedes since 1976, including 2 x 500 SL's, SLK, 380 SEC, S-Classes etc, but my last experiences:

Mercedes 300 Estate:

Blown Engine (23,000 miles at 70 mph - Stranded)
Gearbox Failure (Caught fire, kids in back at 100 mph - Stranded)
Steering box replacement (stranded)
Steering lock failure (stranded)
Faulty Tyres (replaced)
Faulty Electrics (repaired 4 times)
+30 other smaller faults alll requiring service, and 3 failed MOT's!

BMW 530d Sport Touring

1 Blown Turbo (Replaced)

So hardly engineering supremacy by Mercedes-Benz and I just don't see that BMW is marketing led. I have since driven many, and they are fine cars, especially the M3. My first experience of BMW has been generally impressive, the service absolutely faultless especially c/f my local Mercedes dealer, and my overall impression really did change my prejudice. Goood cars.

I'm back to Mercedes because the local dealer has been chucked, and because the SL is the finest new car for some time. I have also ordered a new E-Class Estate, in the hope the changes wrought in the R230's now trickle down to the E-classes.