Hi, I'd like to introduce my new car and welcome myself to the club! I might call her 'Guzzolene Machine.'
I recently bought this 2004 SL600 with stage 2 Renntech and several other customizations with 42,000 miles for $16,000 from a private party. I got a such a low price because it has a lemon-branded title.

I am really happy with my purchase so far. The torque at highway speeds is the most impressive thing about this car. I also love the fact that the hard top means it's almost 2 cars in one. Watching the top go up or down is like having my own Iron Man suit: engineering ****!
It's a very handsome car as well. Even though it's quite old, it still screams "I have money."

But of course things are never perfect. Here's a TO DO List that I would appreciate YOUR input on:

1. Install SmartTop module (already ordered)
2. Repair left convertible top flap hinge (https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-...ken-clips.html)
3. Repair wind noise coming from where the window meets the driver's door seal near the A pillar. How do I do this?
4. Steering wheel out/in function does not work because previous owner had a handicap system installed. Anyone know where the control for this is plugged in?
5. Fix various rubber and plastic trim pieces. What glue do you guys recommend?
6. Fix various rattles, possibly with a lubricant. What do you guys recommend?
7. Music! Bluetooth streaming, steering wheel controls, and more bass once I decide how long I'm going to keep the car. A lot of money to have a new unit, amp and sub put in. I know there are a lot of threads on this already but if anyone has any full DIY guides or can recommend someone in Arizona, that would be awesome.
8. Maybe remove resonator but keep cats. This has an aftermarket exhaust on it already but there's not much throaty sound.
9. I'd like different wheels but don't want to spend the money. Maybe I can trade with someone?
10. I want to un-blackout the badges but it's probably not worth the trouble.

Thanks for reading!!

 

Get a custom fitted sun shade for the windshield to protect your fragile leather dash from Arizona heat/sun.

You didn’t mention anything about ABC maintenance. The fluid, filter, accumulators, and pulsation damper age/condition needs to be considered. You need to remove the plastic belly pans under the car and the drivers side wheel well linings to check for sweating ABC hoses. ABC must be taken seriously and will leave you stranded if neglected.

 

That's a lot of car for the money! At least based on my experience in an SL63, you will be very happy with the resonator delete. Great sound, perfect level of volume, no drone, not obnoxious at cruise on the highway. The tops on these things like to creak and rattle when the seals get dry, pick up 0009893660 Genuine Mercedes Rubber Lubricant. It's the best seal conditioner that I've used, and does a good job of quieting down the top noise. I would keep an eye on the classifieds both here and locally for a set of wheels, R230 wheels crop up and there are other MB models that will also fit, just double check the size and offsets. There are also options from Discount Tire, Tire Rack, and the higher end companies like HRE, Forgeline, etc. I'm sure someone would buy yours.

 

Good suggestion. The car is in the garage most of the time but I will definitely pick up a sun shade for when I need it.
Don't plan to maintain the ABC system myself. Just had it checked out by a Benz shop and they said everything looked good!

Wow that oil is $30 per ounce! Do you apply to the exterior of the car to protect the seals or is this just for lubricating the connections?
As for wheels, I'm holding out until I get ones I like. Like these:
https://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Whee...Standard+Model

 

SL600's do not have resonators, it's just the cat, then all piping then to the mufflers, deleting the muffler overall is a great way to get a throaty deep rumble....here's on my car


Nice pick up, that renntech cf intake thing is like 4 grand, insane....enjoy the car! i love mine

 

Jeffrey,

Congrats on the SL600 purchase. That's certainly a great price for a very powerful and very smooth, high performance car (especially considering the Renntech mods). As others have recommended, be certain to take care of that sophisticated and complex ABC suspension system, as it can bite you for big bucks and leave you stranded if not well-maintained. My new(to me) late 2004 SL600 is going in for an ABC fluid changeout and an upgrade of the ABC system 10 micron filter to the newer 3 micron ABC filter next week at my relatively nearby independent Mercedes independent shop. I was impressed that the German factory-trained head (and only) mechanic/shop owner wanted me to bring him the service records on my car for the most recent 4-5 years before he started the job. He also recommended periodic ATF fluid drains for the automatic transmission in these cars, as it is under quite a bit of stress. Enjoy your car and good luck with it!

 

I like your wheels but I have nothing to trade. Keep me on your list. thanks Gene Your car is beautiful

 

Make sure the wheels you choose will have adequate clearance for your front brakes - they're bigger than than a run-of-mill SL500. I needed new wheels for my SL600 and wanted to stick with 18" for ride quality and because some areas around Houston have pretty bad road quality; tried an 18" TSW Avalon on the front and it would go on, but had less than 2mm clearance to the caliper. Gorgeous wheel, but since I didn't want to go to 19" it was a no-go. So just bear in mind that wheels listed to fit an SL500 will not necessarily fit your SL600.

If you're not driving it at least every couple of days, it's a good idea to get a trickle charger/battery maintainer for the consumer battery in the trunk. Some systems in the car stay active even after the key is off, so that battery can become discharged pretty easily and it can cause various fault codes. It's a good idea to take a look at that battery - preferably it's an AGM type so it won't off-gas in your trunk, but if it's a standard type at least make sure it's properly vented to the outside of the trunk. There's a hole in the trunk floor right along the front edge of the battery just for this, which lines up with a hole in the plastic shield under the car so your vent tube can have a clear shot to the open air. I went to add a maintainer to mine shortly after I bought it from a used car dealer, found that they had put a standard battery in it, no vent tube, and they had actually spilled some battery acid when they installed it and didn't clean it up at all. I was lucky to find this before major damage was done, although it was still a chore to clean up.

If you want to assure you're getting all the glorious power that the M275 has to offer, you'll want to retrofit a coolant reservoir/expansion tank for the intercooler system. Without it, the IC system tends to get air in it, which causes high intake air temps, which means noticeably less power. There's a factory system you can put together for about $240 or so, you can get all the information in this thread in the M275 forum ; be sure to read to the end of that discussion for SL-specific information. There's also a cheaper DIY way to do it, details in this thread. You'll also want to check that your intercooler pump is working properly, it's not uncommion for them to fail.The crazy thing is, these engines make so much power that many M275 owners probably have no idea that their car isn't making all the power it could, because high intake air temps won't set off a check engine light (it will set a code in the diagnostic system, but you won't know it's there unless you look). Even with a sub-optimal intercooler sitiuation, this engine is still a monster.

The massive torque of these engines is pretty hard on motor mounts, and it is not a simple operation to replace them. Some have said the engine has to come out, but I've also heard it can be done by using an engine support brace to suspend the engine from the top, then dropping the engine subframe from below. There are aftermarket heavier duty polyurethane mounts available; I've got a pair from East Coast Euro waiting for if/when my car needs them.

Coil packs can be an issue, and factory replacements are expensive, about $1400 each (there's two), but there's replacements available aftermarket that are cheaper and improved from https://www.v12icpack.com/. Probably best thing you can do to maximize the life of your coil packs is to have your car hooked up to a Mercedes diagnostic system fairly regularly and look for misfires. Misfires indicate that perhaps spark plugs and/or spark plug boots are getting worn, and these things will make your coils work harder than normal. Factory plugs are iridium and so are rated for 100K miles, but I personally wouldn't push it much past 50-60K.

Along with the ABC system, these are about all the "known issues" to look out for in our V12 cars. This is not to say these issues are inevitable, or even very common - there's plenty of M275 owners with well over 100K trouble-free miles around, so these are just some things to be aware of.

 

I use the oil on all of the rubber weatherstrips. One warning, the top will only stay half open for about 5 minutes, then automatically retracts. It starts dinging before retracting, but you don't want to have your hand stuck in there. There's a tool to hold it in position, or you can make your own via directions on the forums, but I find that it will stay open just long enough for me to clean and lube the seals.

One other simple thing, go through your service book and service records, and knock out any recommended maintenance that you aren't certain has been completed. For used cars I call this a baseline, that way you know that everything is up to date.

 

Search for “Gummi Fledge” for your seals, check the reviews and use that. It’s just as good if not the same as the Mercedes stuff and far far cheaper.

Used it on my car, worked a treat.

 

Congrats! Nice ride.

303 protectant on the seals, best out there by far and reasonably priced.
smart Top is, hands down, the best mod and takes less than 15 min to do. Takes longer to update and choose features on your computer.
be very careful following what the “dealer” recommends, very careful. There are many guys on this site that contribute that are/were involved at the dealerships and will guide you more appropriately. When the dealer says “the ABC system is fine”, it is not. When the dealer says “the transmission never requires service”, it does. The newer filter for the ABC and new fluid should be done. Your fluid on a 16 y/o car will not be clear and clean plus the filters have improved. The transmission requires fluid/filter change now as well. You will thank the contributors on this site many times over, as I have. Some of the really good contributors are gone now, due to petty issues, but their input is still available here in the forums. Read, read, read and then read some more before making your decisions.

 

I am an old fashioned guy and I just purchased a 2004 SL500 with 60 thousand miles. The Carfax was scant on maintenance so I decided to do the following. Spark Plugs,Air Filters, Fuel Filter, Belt, Idler wheel, Thermostat, Brakes Rotors and parking brake shoes, Transmission Filter, and Motor and transmission Mounts. I feel comfortable about the car now. I used all oem parts and fluids. Just an alignment is next. I read this forum for hours and appreciate all the advice One thing struck me the other day on a thread here about a car pulling to the right. I was went back to 2004 to see what guys were saying about the 2004 SL500 then and there were quite a few posts about the car pulling to the right. One other thing that strikes me strange is the left flap on the cover for the convertible is always the one that is broken. Why is that? LOL A Mystery my car too

 

Double echo on above “pearls of wisdom” shared. You are on the right track with your list. Get access to mbstar das xentry in order to properly diagnose, repair with mb technician level instructions,parts, and diagnostics. One can guess on repair and throw parts time and $$ at these wonderful complex machines. Or one can invest in the right tools, and in r230 case it goes beyond a set of metric wrenches and a code reader. Good luck and please keep us posted.

 

Thank you for your comments and I did not want to hijack the tread. Peter has been wonderful for me and this next season his xentry is on my list with my Indy Guy who is young and creative.

 

I've used the genuine MB seal lube, Gummi Pfledge, and Aerospace 303, for rubber weatherstrips I find the genuine MB stuff to have the best staying power without being greasy. Dielectric grease is another good option but it needs to be in areas where you won't touch it, because it stays greasy.

 

Hey I'm back and I thought I'd post an update on my 04 SL600



I installed the SmartTop, which works great. Installation was pretty difficult, though.

I re-attached the convertible top deck lid flap using black rubber strips and glue. Cheap, easy and no-one can tell the difference.

I fixed some interior trim with WD40 silicone lube and super glue.

I was quoted $3000 for a new stereo and subwoofer, and I decided against spending that. I just bought a bluetooth adapter kit from Amazon, and that does the job well enough.

I got the muffler deleted. Noticeable improvement in sound at low speeds. I'm enjoying cruising around town with the top down.



Remaining issues:

1. Glove box pops open often on bumpy roads. Have not looked into it yet.

2. Steering wheel out/in function doesn't work

3. I discovered the wind noise from the A pillar is caused by a gap in the raised window. Syncing the windows does not fix the gap. I'm not equipped to fix this myself, so I'm unsure if it will ever get fixed.

4. Annoying rattling coming from the vario top when it is closed. Have not looked into it yet.

 

Do you have a link to the bluetooth kit you purchased?

Thanks

 

Sure! I tried 2 kits and kept this one. You need an outlet-to-usb adapter to go along with it.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1