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I have an '09 with 92k miles on it and it has had the typical issues. I have an ok indy and fix everything as it occurs but can't DIY since I live in a high rise condo. I have not been proactive on doing extra ABC fluid changes but do all scheduled maintenance on-time. You can see my detailed service history at my 2009 MB SL service history
Would you take this car on a 1000 mile road trip to Colorado stay for a month and then drive home?
Larger repairs I've had include 1 accumulator fairly recently, the ABC pump 7 years ago under warranty, engine/trans mounts, passenger SAM, and SBC.
My main concern is breaking down and not knowing of a good indy and being really far from a dealership (not that I want to go to one of those).
What prep would you do? This will be purely in the summer so no issue with needing snow tires. I've been flying up there every summer for several years and rent cars part of the time I'm there and most of them really make me miss driving my car. One time I had a convertible Mustang with 35k on it and the rear view mirror shook so much as to be unusable on any less than perfect road. I thought the mounting must be loose but it was the whole windshield that was moving. I'll cross post since I never know which forum is more popular. Hope that doesn't ruffle anyone's feathers.
My only concern would be ABC springing a leak. I suppose the likelihood if that happening are very, very low. But the consequences are great, since you are supposed to switch-off the engines as soon as possible.
Funny, I had the same exactly thoughts before my first long trip and that is pretty normal, considering the complexity of the car. But, in my opinion, this is like not leaving the house for a jog because you're afraid of tripping and breaking a leg - can it happen? Yes. Has it happened to others? Yes. Does it mean now you have to stay at home and not do it? Of course not! Things happen that are out of our control. But that shouldn't stop us from enjoying life
Join AAA with their Premier package. You get 100 miles of tow and road service. I previously had an R129 that I took on several 2000+ mile trips. I bought this R230 last april with 98K and drove it home, 1500 miles with no issue. Since I've added 8,000 miles. I have a 3500 mile trip planned in August. If the car poops out on the trip, I'll ship it home and rent a car to complete the trip. These cars were made to drive, enjoy your trip and put the top down as much as possible.
I've taken a few 1000+ mile trips and never had an issue on the trip. I did add towing insurance for the journey, but deleted it after my return.
MB Roadside assistance is always available in most locations if needed.
How would I prepare?
Fix ALL known issues, inspect everything prior to the trip, and make sure fluids are fresh. Fix the typical issues that WILL occur (CPS for the engine, shift lever lock, etc.).
Carry a spare tire, and your SDS computer if you have one. Then enjoy the trip and don't worry. If you worry it won't be enjoyable.
I would
1) Do normal pre-trip maintenance you'd do with any car - check fluids, belts, hoses, etc.
2) Have towing insurance (AAA, or your vehicle insurance may include this).
3) Do some research ahead of time to find shops along the way in case you need one, i. e. know where to tow to if needed.
Why would you own a car that you don't want to drive? Of course you should drive to Colorado. AAA is always a good idea, but for heaven's sake enjoy your car!
WAIT.....I just re-read your headline...."would you take my car on a 1000 mile road trip?" Yes....Yes I would take your car on a 1000 or more mile road trip. Where can I pick it up??? I'll also need your credit card for gas!
I bought my 2011 SL550 2 years ago.. without doing due diligence—trusting German workmanship, but after joining this forum I became almost afraid to pull it out of the garage because of all the problems people were having. Rodney brought up the point that you hear about problems because most posts here deal with problems ... you rarely hear about the MANY r230 owners that are enjoying trouble free driving. As for me, I’ve changed oil, Tran fluid and filter, and thermostat over the past 2 years..not uncommon services on any vehicle with 44k. Still watchful for ABC problems but not to the point of obsessing. Enjoy
hey last year i took my car on a 3500mile trip in the desert, I had problems months before (SBC pump) and problems months afterwards (right coilpack) but the problems was issues that will show a sign while still very driveable, As with most r230 problems, while restart will make the problem go away a short while. So make sure everything looks fine and runs fine before (as you will do with any car on before a long road trip). And enjoy life cause life is a risk. but be prepared for the worst (I took with me a (oem donut) spare wheel, battery, oil, abc fluid, coolant,12v air compressor, tools). The only issue i had was got a knot/budge in the front tire, that made a scary vibration, which the spare fixed, (so my lesson was buy new tires cause that whats takes the most beating, especially 17hrs doing 90mph).
While attempting to leave work today I got the Red ABC Malfunction light so I pulled over and see that something has burst and I found a little black cap. I had to drive about a 1000 feet so hopefully that didn't make things much worse. Tow truck on the way. Glad this didn't occur during the big road trip I was considering this summer.
I've seen that before. Couple things this could be, and it depends on where the fluid came from (of course).
You may have had a line, pump or fitting start puking fluid. Obvious fix. Might just be a gasket, but not likely.
Was the black cap off the reservoir? The one on the right of your picture? Then the ABC system had a pressure dump and it flooded the reservoir, blowing the dipstick cap off.
This is harder to track down, and may be the pressure reservoirs at the valve blocks have failed, which is not uncommon at this mileage and age.
Good preventative maintenance would replace all reservoirs (there are 4) for continued trouble free use. This can be tested by the mechanic if he has the SDS or Xentry tools.
Shop could also determine if there are other ABC faults that have caused this dump.
Since you are not a DIY guy, expect from $500 to $2000 to do all this work at a dealer. Less at an Indy shop. DIY would be 50% off of this cost or more, and a lot of wrenching.
Let us know what the cause was, then plan that trip to Colorado.
Good preventative maintenance would replace all reservoirs (there are 4) for continued trouble free use.
I know most owners do not bother to replace the 4th pressure reservoir in the return line. And it doesn't seem to be very important. Mercedes deleted it with the 2006 ABC revision. In light of that I'm wondering what your thoughts are about not replacing the return reservoir and whether or not that would be a major mistake in your view, since you seem to know ABC. Also, unlike the other three reservoirs I guess there are no symptoms of a failed return reservoir and no way to test...Is that correct?
I know most owners do not bother to replace the 4th pressure reservoir in the return line. And it doesn't seem to be very important. Mercedes deleted it with the 2006 ABC revision. In light of that I'm wondering what your thoughts are about not replacing the return reservoir and whether or not that would be a major mistake in your view, since you seem to know ABC. Also, unlike the other three reservoirs I guess there are no symptoms of a failed return reservoir and no way to test...Is that correct?
If you read enough on this forum your knowledge will grow.
Regarding the 4th ‘return line’ reservoir. I don’t know of a test for it using SDS. You may have to remove it and poke a punch into the inlet to see if it moves. If the diaphragm moves, it’s bad.
In light of the fact that it is mainly to relieve any surge from the struts, and is furthest from the pump, which means it only sees much lower pressures, I didn’t bother to replace mine either. And I don’t worry about it, especially since it was deleted in later models. Others may want to replace this reservoir. It won’t hurt to do so.
I had the same thing happen to me on my SL500. That is spray from the ABC supply tank overflowing and blowing through the relief hole in the cap.
In my case the reason for the overflow was the diaphragm in the accumulator had burst, so it created back pressure on the line. Once I replaced both accumulators (did not replace the pulsation damper), the problem resolved itself.
With one blown accumulator you will occasionally get the "ABC Drive Carefully" error when you go over big potholes or large sudden dips in the road, but once both accumulators are gone, you can still drive the car (carefully), but every time you go over even minor potholes, rough roads or dips, you will get the "ABC drive carefully" error in the MFD.
You can see my long ABC post elsewhere. But I agree with others here regarding the accumulators. I was getting the red message after I hit a moderate bump. I had both replaced (they aren't that expensive - less than $400 for two) and - along with some other ABC items -- the car, knock wood, drives great.
I hope you decide to take the trip. I just got back from a 500 mile overnighter, had many of the same fears you expressed, and the trip was uneventful. I did take the opportunity to run the take to a quarter and pour in a bottle of Techron. I think it's a good idea to get the car rolling on a long trip and do a nice, all at once, extended fuel system cleaning.
My indy flushed the body control and power steering reservoirs. Did rodeo and multiple test drives but could not upset system. Shop believes it was a "burp" from a failing accumulator but don't want to start replacing them until this happens again.
When this first occurred I was on a level surface and it was within the first 10 seconds of driving.
My indy flushed the body control and power steering reservoirs. Did rodeo and multiple test drives but could not upset system. Shop believes it was a "burp" from a failing accumulator but don't want to start replacing them until this happens again.
When this first occurred I was on a level surface and it was within the first 10 seconds of driving.
Most likely time of failure can be anytime the engine is running, as that is when pressure is in the ABC system. Could also happen just sitting, but not likely.
There have even been accumulators that burst in pieces and went flying through the fender while parked, but that is very rare.
If the car burps again, it means another accumulator has failed, and now you have some more work to do.
At your miles and age I will bet that at least one of the accumulators did spit it's nitrogen out and popped a big bubble into the reservoir, spewing oil out and popping the cap off.
Most likely the one on the ABC pump or 1st one downstream in the LF fender well (depending on year). Call it #1.
At a minimum, I would replace this #1 accumulator, as it keeps the pump pressure spikes from harming everything else (hoses, valve blocks, accumulators, etc.) in the system. Indy will charge you about $2-300 for this.
You can do the valve block units when you start to see the grey warning when going over bumps. These are less important than #1 accumulator in the system.
Whether you replace the return line unit #4 (if you have one) is a personal choice, and will not affect ABC operation if it fails, in my opinion.
Went back to my indy a month later for A-service and mentioned the accumulators to their ABC tech. He agreed in general but thought it would be better to replace them as they start causing problems. I mentioned my trip and my desire to not have a small failure lead to a larger one and he said most of the things would cause minor issues like the drive carefully warning so I won't be stranded. He also drove around and tried to upset the system and said the car drove great. Based on that and the replies in this thread I'm going to do the road trip this summer (provided the COVID-19 threat has passed). I feel a little self conscious driving to the grocery store with the top down.
I don't care for the reactive procedure for accumulators. Bad accumulators can cause a host of issues like blown hoses which lead to grenaded ABC pumps which leads to metallic particles clogging your control blocks and then wiping out your new pump in short order.
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and that is pretty normal, considering the complexity of the car. But, in my opinion, this is like not leaving the house for a jog because you're afraid of tripping and breaking a leg - can it happen? Yes. Has it happened to others? Yes. Does it mean now you have to stay at home and not do it? Of course not! Things happen that are out of our control. But that shouldn't stop us from enjoying life 
