Hi,

I have sold my SL500 and will not be on MBWorld anymore.
Thanks for all the advice and help I received over the years. It was invaluable.
you guys were the first port of call, whenever I had a problem and there were many of them.
Although the car was fantastic to drive when it was working properly. I am glad to have gotten rid of it.
Mercedes Benz make nice cars but not good cars.
Again thank you for your help.

Gerard.

 

Well said.

Happy motoring in the next set of wheels!

 

The R230 certainly has it's issues, and as it ages, it gets damned expensive and frustrating to keep. That's why I moved on from the R230 to the R231. However, I think "nice" and "good" are subjective. There is no car that I enjoy more than my 2015 SL400, including my 2004 Audi TT 225, which is still in the family.

While you are glad to be rid of the R230 problems, I think you will miss the car as time goes on. There is no car more head-turning than the Mercedes SL. Looking to see your return.

 

It is pretty well established that the R231 is far more reliable than the R230. Can a pre 2009 R230 be sorted to become a reliable car?

 

I think they make good cars. No, I think they are GREAT cars. It's all up to what you value.

All my R230s have been as reliable as I could ask them to be.

My SL600? 2004. My SL550? 2007. My SL55 AMG? 2003.

All way beyond fantastic.

I did own a 1991 R129 SL500, or 500SL, that had the 2 distributors with spark plug wires on the engine. That car had an enigmatic issue where moisture would collect inside one distributor cap!! So even with all new parts soon it would run like crap. Baffled me for over a year until I figured it out, and that there was a rubber piece you could stick in there (?!?!?!??!?!?!) to keep out moisture. Now, THAT was weird. But once I did the "mod" it was fine after that, and the people who own the car after me have had it six years, without any prob since. Thank God.

 

Ha! I had a 1981 Volvo Wagon in Baby Poop Yellow with the same problem. The Volvo dealership in Frankfurt am Main told me to spray the inside of the distributor cap with WD40. Man, I loved that car. It was a tank.

 

All my R230s have been as reliable as I could ask them to be.

Those who love the car will overlook many things, happens in the Porsche world as well. There’s a reason that Mercedes cars depreciate at an astonishingly high rate. And it isn’t beccause they are reliable cars.

 

The R230 is a specialty car, and a pleasure car, more than a daily driver or commuter car, although some owners might use it as such. Being the "best designed convertible in the world", it has that system that other cars don't have, plus it has the unique suspension. All systems on any car are going to need maintenance and will eventually break since it is a machine. Then you have the dollars factor: Bring an R230 to a shop and no matter what, they think you're rich and if they sense that you don't know as much as they "know" about the car, they can lie to you and rip you off. Ever paid for a can of compression? LoL And the dealerships are the WORST!
So it's not usually the car's fault. Most of the parts on the car that wear out are "consumables", but once I've bought a used Mercedes and replaced what I consider are consumables, I have always ended up with a rock solid car that just goes and goes, and does it like no other cars. Having been a car nut all my life, I'm lucky I guess that I learned the right ways to have work done, and learned about the car's components so I don't have to be at the mercy of unscrupulous shops. Knowing the right way to do repairs the car needs, and knowing the right people to take the car to, finding capable and honest mechanics who are also passionate about their work, has saved me tons of money on all the work I've had done. But, definitely, for the average car owner, the R230 is more of a specialty car, and almost any Mercedes can be costly to maintain and keep in good order. For most drivers, a simpler car is what they need, just to get to work and back, etc. I think the bulk of R230s are owned by passionate, crazy folks who are just crazy about their car(s). Thank God for the forums!! A super valuable resource indeed.

 

Bingo! Ain't that the truth! Except my local Benz dealership knows I ain't rich because I tell them so and bring my own parts, explaining that I get them from FCP Euro and can get reimbursed for the old parts. They are agreeable and will admit that the Pentosin I bring for a tranny service is what they use in the shop. All the other parts are Mercedes genuine, OE, or OEM from FCP. They do good work and only what I ask. In that respect, I'm very lucky.

It's interesting that my dealership is in Hagerstown, Maryland, a smaller town over an hour away from Washington, DC, whereas the dealerships closer in are the ones that seem to fit the criticism of questionable practices. If you take your car to one of those dealerships, you probably are rich. When I purchased my SL500 from a co-worker several years ago, she had just had a B Service performed at one of those DC dealerships and they presented her with a laundry list of work they recommended for a care with 50k miles -- it came to over $10,000. Oh, and that's what they offered her on a trade-in. Instead she sold it to me for that amount. I don't think the dealership was expecting that or happy that she sold it instead of trading it.

 

Alex Foltz at Hagerstown is the man. Knew him for 25 years. I live in Az now and too far away.

 

I've been super happy with my '09 silver arrow even though it's relatively costly to maintain. Not surprised by that and ok with that. Also it's been reliable in that it's only needed to be towed twice in 15 years. Both times for ABC issues.

I'm glad to the hear the R231s are considered to be even better. I no longer want something complex if it's too hard to maintain and I worry that the new SL and AMG models are too complicated. So an early R231 may be the way to go. If I do this I expect to keep it at least 10 years. I find it highly annoying that some places won't service my '09 because it's too old. Quality cars shouldn't be thrown away after 15 years if they've been well maintained.

 

I went from an R230 to an R231 and don't regret it for a moment. Both cars were bought used, but had good maintenance records. A semi-conventional suspension on the R231 was a big plus for me. It still uses adaptive damping (Bilstein DampTronic), just not ABC. I agree that the R231 is the way to go, and would recommend the SL400 or SL450 (V6 models) unless you want the extra couple tenths of a second to 60. The engine bay is huge and a V6 gives lots or room to work on your car. Surprisingly, the M276 bi-turbo is easier to maintain than the M276 3.5 liter NA that I have in my C350. The M276 is lighter than the V8 versions and seems to be a rock solid engine.

 

I love my 2003 SL55 AMG, I found guys who are super and work on it happily and will take care of anything it needs, anyone who "won't" or "can't" work on it is too stupid and not worthy anyhow, you have to find geniuses whom care... they are out there and when you find them, will appreciate the car and also will appreciate you as a customer, too. An R230 vs R231, both are comlex, just slightly different. The beauty of the car is ridiculous. V6!!!!!!! LoL

 

Hell, my wife thinks I drive too fast, anyway. And I'm too old to get another. (Car or wife? You figure it out.)

 

Bought my 03 SL55 AMG for $17,000 USD and at 19 years old and 90K miles, consumable parts were worn out. Parts like accumulators, alternator which had been replaced with a wrong one, the pulleys at front of engine, including water pump... spark plugs and wires, brakes, and motor mounts and trannie mount. All consumable parts. But the engine and transmission are like new, and with proper care in typical Mercedes fashion, can expect to be able to go 500,000 miles although I won't live long enough to do that. . I don't see how any of those parts being worn out, in any way make the car an unreliable car. The ABC accumulators are certainly a thing that 99% of other cars don't have, but they don't have ABC to enjoy either. Once I got all those "little" "odds and ends" sorted the car is like a new car to me. Considering what the car cost new, and how great a car it is, the cost of fixing those things didn't seem to be too much to take, Other owners might have become unhappy, and it was more than I expected, but I'm happy. BUT I did all the repairs the smart way, learning on here how to do them without getting ripped off by bad mechanics. Finding the parts the cheap guy way, online, making sure to get genuine parts and not chinese knockoffs, just shopping around for the best deal. Like I have been doing ever since the internet began! And avoiding the dealership at all costs!! A person who's not versed in how to do all this could easily have paid about 2.5X what I paid in costs. Being a car that has systems that other cars don't have, i.e. the roof and suspension, and a few other things, you can expect these will need maintenance. R230: Love it or leave it! LoL
Maybe the R230 is more than just a car, it's a hobby, a challenge for the car nut in us. So the average car buyer, may not know this and can be surprised at what he's got himself into sometimes.
Anything my R230 needs, it gets. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. I'm happy to be able to say that with my insurance, they give a declared value, and if God Forbid, the car was to get totaled and I survive, I'd get a check that is still $10,000 over what I have into the car. I don't foresee any needs for at least the next year, now, other than replacing the supercharger oil, which I plan for March/April. Already have the oil and syringe, etc.
With these cars more than most others, it's important that the owner understand the car and get to know how systems work, and learn what to do when a repair or maintenance need arises. The last thing you want is for the car to need something, and you have no idea, and bring it to someone who doesn't know the car either, and guesses, or if they know the car but realize that you don't, and then lie to you or rip you off, sometimes fixing the problem, sometimes not even being capable of that. Even MBZ dealerships have "thrown parts at" the cars, not knowing what they're doing! It ain't their money...

 

E

I do enjoy your enthusiasm about your car lasting 500,000 miles, but you may want to start thinking about replacing the timing cover orings. On the left we have a jelly like 90,000 mile oring that decided it didn’t want to be in the timing cover any more. The picture on the right is what it’s supposed to look like and the size it’s supposed to be.

The next picture is of a 70,000 mile m113k that I have, I decided to take a peek at that one, lo and behold the bulging disc of m112 and m113 death.

I have fully disassembled 2 m112k engines and am starting this m113k. All have rock hard oil pump orings, very soft bulging timing cover orings, and valve stem seals that are rock hard and not doing their job.
To properly replace these requires engine out heads and pan off. So put that on your list

 

OH NO!!! That's it... I'm taking off right now to my nearest Chevy dealer.

 

Why would you do that? You’ve got a brand new car according to your accounts. Love is blind. I don’t need to do this in my 20 plus year old Chevy engines, with many more miles and much less maintenance.

 

The R230 has a classic beauty that I think surpasses even the R231. For me, though, I had done enough DIY repair on the ABC, rebuilding valves and replacing valve blocks. Then there was this persistent leak on the rear valve block. And then when the gas tank baffle started knocking, I wanted to go with something newer. The R231 is lighter, faster, newer technology, and arguably more reliable because of fixing the problems with the R230. Don't misunderstand, for its day, the R230 was an amazing car and still is. It just becomes a matter of what you want. Maybe if I had the SL55 instead of the SL500, I'd feel differently. I tried to get an aftermarket supercharger for it, but he company that made them once, stopped producing them.

 

Everyone is entitled to their choices. Specs ?

Somehow curb weight is almost identical
230/231

0-60 is almost identical
231 does have nicer headlights

Superchargers for NA M113’s are still available
https://www.vrpspeed.com/product/m11...onversion-kit/

 

That's just a pulley kit; not the supercharger.

 

The top of the page is a pulley kit while below it is the explanation of the entire thing is actually for an NA M113

 

Right, so you still need to acquire a factory SC separately and build a custom intake. And some kind of intercooler. Really? A set of pulleys is not much of a kit. Do you know of anyone who has converted their M113 to a pseudo-M113K with this "kit"?

Kleeman once built a complete kit for $10,000. But they no longer offer it and haven't for a LONG time. I wonder why. If it was any good (meaning it didn't blow up the engine or tranny), I think there would be a great demand for it as these cars are now available for pennies on the dollar.

Kinda moot for me since I have moved on.

 

[QUOTE=JettaRed;8902157

Kinda moot for me since I have moved on.
[/QUOTE]

TBH; it seems you clearly haven’t.
Everyone is welcome here but please don’t forget this forum is for R230.
I highly doubt Kleeman sold even 100 “K” kits because anyone who cares would have bought an AMG probably cheaper. No brainer.

VRP allows for the option of building an NA into a FI engine if you’re skilled in automotive engineering any like working on cars

As a Pastor I counsel people and I would say it’s healthier to take your own advice and lean to the 231 forum where you have a shared interest with others a like
Good luck

 

The SL55AMG they are out there, maybe find someone who doesn't realize what they have. I got mine from a Honda dealer after it had been traded in. They knew nothing about the car. Thought I paid a little too much and also traded in my 07 SL550 which had been thoroughly sorted and gone thru, and really in perfect shape needing nothing.Whoever bought that SL550 I hope they realized the great condition and how it needed absolutely zero to be so close to perfect. Many times people trade a car in because it's got issues and needs...
After purchase, I had to do some refurbishing mechanically on peripherals on the AMG but now, even at 20 years old now it is "just like" a new car. Timing cover O-rings, oil pump O-rings, etc., I'll deal with those issues if they arise. The engine shows zero leaks and runs like it was made last month. Supercharger certainly seems to work well. LoL
I had the SL600 RennTech, and that was like flying a UFO, it didn't seem like driving a car really. The SL55 AMG seems more like a car cause you can hear the engine roar, and it is faster than I even need to go, and I've always been a power nut. I drive a little slower most of the time now, than I used to, because I have no desire to crash!!
It is the most fantastic car for the money. I'm 99% sure that I can go out and drive it just about anywhere now, without any problem arising, and it is more beautiful than almost anything in any parking lot. A new SL55 AMG at the local MBZ dealer costs $145,000 and while it's more modern, I think I'm happy with this 20 year old AMG. Love is blind, sure, but as a car owner I've got great sight, I've owned about 85 cars in the last 50 years and about 22 MBZ's in the last 25, and the R230 is the creme de la creme. They're not for everyone. It's a car to be passionate about, to be enjoyed, to be taken care of properly, and not everyone has the time or money, and knowledge and resources to do all these things right.
That said, I'm going out to drive mine right now. Tomorrow it's the Maserati's turn.