Frank Wiesmann

Are any of you SL65 owners (or SL 55 for that matter) aware of this?

https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-r230/114078-sl65-has-over-heating-problem.html

lkirchner

It has been over 100 for the last 3 days in Sacramento, CA and I have not experienced any overheating problems with my SL 55

Frank Wiesmann

In the case of the Car and Driver SL 65, this problem showed up during acceleration tests and race track lapping. I doubt it would occur during normal use. Still, this is not acceptable for a Mercedes, especially AMGs and something they should work on.

Vadim @ evosport

The problem occured during testing at Willow Springs Race Track. The track is located in high desert NW of LA. It is usually 100F plus, with track surface temperatures over 140F.

It is very common for magazine editors to beat test cars senseless. Repeating drag road course and braking tests over an over again. SL65 simply runout of thermal capacity of it's intercooler cooling system. 91 octane CA gas did not help matters either, resulting in reduced power.

I doubt any owner would be this reckless in treating their car like this, even if they did decide to spend a day on the track.

bluedevil

I have an SL65, blaclk black no less, and i am working on a project in phoenix, az for the last and next few weeks. I am normally resident in LA. The car has been ridden pretty hard on the freeways here in 115 degree plus heat for two weeks, very day hours at a time, with no and engine temps only marginally above normal.

Vadim @ evosport

The problem is not with cooling system for the engine, but for the intercoolers. With two turbos pushing 22 psi, stock intercoolers just can not remove heat in time. This is the same problem that we ran into with 55s.

Frank Wiesmann

Granted, the treatment was certainly less than pristine. But am I the only one that thinks a $180,000 engineered on the autobahn and the Nueburgring should be able to endure this kind of treatment? After all, they claim to do exactly that (repeated braking and acceleration tests in extreme climates) while developing the car. And If it can't do that with the gas offered in California than maybe they shouldn't sell it in California Can anything be installed to the 55s or 65s to help prevent this form happening?

Schiznick

Frank, do you have an SL65? Are you concerned you are going to have a problem with it?

Have had my car at the track a couple of times and never had a problem. Both repeated abuse at the drag strip and on road courses, never an overheating problem.

It was one test and they had an issue. Meet some of the journalists and you will quickly realize that you wouldn't lend any of them your cars.

Most are writers if anything at all, it seems rare to find one that can actually drive. Who knows what they did to the car.

Sad really.

Schiz

Vadim @ evosport

Frank, my guess is that most of the testing was done in Germany where it rarely gets hot. We do offer a kompressor cooling package for 55s www.evosport.com, that adds a bigger intercooler fluid pump and additional heat exchanger. We can do the same for 65s if there is demand.

Can Drive 55

Very nice. How loud is the noise level of the pump? Thanks.

Vadim @ evosport

Thank you! The pump is barely audible at idle, and you can not hear it when driving.

Frank Wiesmann

HI Schiz,

to answer your first question: No, unfortunately I don't have an SL65 (I wish I did!!). THis was the first I've heard of this problem. I agree with you that some journalists really abuse cars. I know a number of motoring journalists in Germany and have seen how they drive. Allthough they are very talented at the wheel, I wouldn't want to subject my car tio that treatment. Nevertheless, I am sure that the SL 65 was not just tested in Germany, but also in Death Valley and other hot places like every other Mercedes and thus should be able to cope with this abuse.

Vadim @ evosport

I do not know where AMG does their hot-weather testing, but we see 55s suffering substantially due to intercooler design and lack of cooling capacity. This is why we ended up offering the cooling upgrade.

I am not surprised when 65s have the same problem. If anything they generate more heat than 55s (612HP vs. 493HP) and use pretty much the same cooling components as 55s.

Frank Wiesmann

This is why I'm sure the 55Ks and 65s were tested in hot climates:

https://mbworld.org/forums/s55-amg-s65-amg-s63-amg-w220-w221/115124-2007-s63-spotted-testing-death-valley-pics.html

Frank Wiesmann

I received this information from Mercedes regarding testing of engine and cooling components in hot weather:

-High altitude tests in Denver, Colorado, Lesotho (South Africa) and Granada (Spain)

-Hot weather testing in Death Valley, Upington (South Africa), Idiada (Spain), Los Angeles, California and Phoenix, Arizona

-Top speed runs on test tracks Nardo, Italy and Papenburg, Germany (incorporates repeated full acceleration and braking runs, approximately 20,000 miles of this kind of driving in 2 weeks).