mark_nimda

I have one in mind and am trying to justify a $4500 or so warranty. I know IC pumps are an issue. I am trying to get a feel for common issues and repairs and then way the risks if I choose not to get a warranty. The car is not a DD. Probably 5K miles a year if that. Very sweet car tha was so far ahead of its time

Rook3300

There are some known issues that MB won't let their consumers know about. It's a total conspiracy that starts all the way at the top with CEO who designed these flaws into the car to force people to buy new cars. 1. After approximately 5.17 years, the roof is known to disconnect from the car and fly off if the driver reaches 88mph, 2. Headlight fluid costs $300 per liter and must be refilled after 6 hours of headlight use, 3. the car can be modified to run on water but the bigwigs don't want you to know that one! When running on water, you can get over 100mpg out of it!

Ok, ok -- I couldn't keep that up for too long. I was almost starting to believe it myself.

Basically, aside from the intercooler issues, many of the SL's can get the same problems. Ususally they are with the ABC pump and the hydraulic suspension struts. The pump runs about $1200 and the struts are between $1200-$1500 each when done by the dealership. I've heard of people getting them done at indy's with aftermarket replacement struts for about $700-$1000 per corner. It is only necessary to replace the one that went bad. The ABC pump can't be purchased aftermarket as I believe it is OEM only. Other than that, they may have some hydraulic problems with the convertible top -- pump, hoses or seals all could go bad. That can get into some scratch but it depends. There's no real age/mileage at which they specifically go bad.

Honestly, you get ahold of a honey of a car with no problems. Or you could get unlucky. It's the whole gamble of cars in general.

-ROOK

Sunir

Rook nailed it. exactly. ABC is the main issue, along with maybe some components dealing with the roof...other than that the drivetrain and powertrain are great. Also make sure to periodicly check suspension componenents and bushings...this is a heavy car and things like that will need to be inspected and replaced when needed. Don't worry so much about the mileage, again as Rook said...it just depends on the car...you could get a trouble free car wih high miles just as easily as a low mileage car with issues...2 words for you: Service History - check it, then re-check it...also lower number of owners, original documentation, and original paint is better in general.

Thereaperxx

Hello, I am considering purchasing a 2003 or 2004 SL55 Amg. My questions are. Is the 04 any more dependable than the 03? I have always been told to avoid 1st year redesigns as the bugs aren't worked out. I have seen one sl65 close to my price range but I doubt I could afford to maintain it. Is it possible to maintain the car yourself. I am a decent shadetree mechanic and maintain my c5 vette and 83 944 myself. Can service manuals for these cars be obtained at a somewhat reasonable price. The vette has been to the dealer once for electrical isues ( I hate electrical issues)! Thanks for any Info or exp. anyone wishes to convey. I hope to obtain my 1st SL this summer or If I have to wait maybe next Feb.

Sunir

^^^ 03 is the same as '04 and they are reliable. Make sure it has the full service history and has been maintained well. You should be in good shape and have no issues wit the SL55. Mine is currently for sale if you're interested PM me. Mine is modded correctly, and is dead on reliable and very fast. Only reason for selling is I took delivery on a newer car and no need to have 2 front engine rear wheel GT cars.

Sir-Boost-a-Lot

iTrader: (1)

I'd personally recommend you get the newest one that fits the budget, although a car owned by someone familiar with the systems such as the silver one Sunir has is good as well.

However even doing the wrench work yourself these cars are on a whole new level in regards to repairs and maintenance. Especially if you're accustomed to the reliability and user-friendly nature of the late model Corvettes.

RoundTheBenz

Right or wrong, I have a different thought process to most... I'd say buy one with higher mileage, most of the crap will already be done by PO's. These cars may have the niggling problems but the engines are built to last. Most important is getting a good indy. Get them to check it out first.

cal1

It looks like some great responses so far. I will throw my Two-cents in. ABC is definitely an issue, however, we now know that proper maintenance and keeping the fluid (pentosin) clean will minimize issues. In the early days of the model, there was no maintenance done whatsoever. This likely made many of the ABC issues much worse. There is a link floating around with great info on how to maintain the ABC system. We should probably have it stickied.

More known issues. As Sunir mentioned our cars are heavy pigs. They are tough on front end components. SL stands for "Sports Light". SS would have been more accurate, "sports swine." The supercharger (SC) bearing has a tendency to fail. I am on my third bearing with 90k on the odo. The bearing is an easy replacement, but the stealer won't replace the bearing only. They want to replace the clutch pack for something like $1,500. I'm thinking a new bearing can be purchased on line for $100 or so. An indy should pop it in for an hour labor charge at the very most. I think my indy charged me $50 to install the last one. Speaking of the clutch pack, it has a tendency to wear and begin to chirp. There are tons of good discussion on chirping clutches on the boards so I won't go into it here. A couple of other big ticket items would include loose or broken fuel baffle which I am thinking is a $4,000 fix at the dealer and xenon light failure. I am not certain how common the fuel baffle issue and xenon light failure is. I had both issues and I know of others who have.

Regarding warranties. If you plan to use the dealer to maintain your car, one trip could pay for the whole warranty. I had one of the coveted Chrysler bumper to bumper plans. It was less than $3,000 when I bought it over five years ago. I had about $8,000 worth of repairs covered by the warranty.

I think it is fair to say that technically, 2002 was the R230s first year. It just was not available in the US until 2003. I doubt there is much difference between an 03 and 04. They also made fewer 04s if I remember correctly.

An excellent DVD based repair manual is available. One of my member buddies sends me screen shots from his manual on occasion. I am not sure of the cost.

I tend to agree with you because as you say, if the car was driven a lot by the previous owner, he likely has already run into and fixed many of the common R230 maladies.

I have recommended to people in the past to get a hold of the maintenance records of a car they might buy and post it here. A long list of repairs might seem bad to the new buyer, but the members here may look at it and notice that all or many of the known problems were fixed on the current owners dime which makes the car a better deal.

Even the 03s were north of $100,000 when new. When it comes to repairs, they are still $100,000 + cars even though they were purchased for much much less.

A final note. I think most will agree that these cars are special. 95% of the time when I roll my SL back into the garage after a spirited drive, I say to myself, "damn I love this car". The other 5% I say something quite the opposite.

One more thing. To all new owners. If you have a problem with your car. Come to the forum and tell us about it before taking it for repairs. It is very likely someone will have already dealt with the issue and will know the fix and it might be something very cheap and simple. For example. I recently had cracking, creaking noises when I turned the steering wheel at low speeds. Not following my own advice, I took the car to my Indy. They struggled to find the problem and then decided it must the rack. When i saw the price of a new rack, I told them to hold up. I came to the boards and found out that the diagonal supports get corrosion where they bolt up and this is the cause of the noise. There was actually an MB service bulletin posted on this very thing. The fix was to remove the bolts, clean the corrosion and re-install the bolts. I sent the bulletin to my indy and 50 bucks later, the car was fixed. By the way, the bulletin had a large warning stating: do not replace rack.

coldhammer

i can sum it up with one word. EVERYTHING.

I swear I love my car but the **** that goes wrong is never ending. No sooner fix one thing then two months later something else goes out.

IngenereAMG

With any used car, it's all about the history and care and feeding it got through its life.

I over service my cars, and as a result I have very few problems.

I have had my '03 since new. In the past 11 years, other than routine service and fluid changes..... engine, brakes, ABC, etc. Here's my experience:

TPS replaced 2X
AC Compressor
Shifter
Idler bearings
IC pump/relay
Secondary air pump

Brake rotors/pads 2X
Spark plugs
K&N Air filters... routine service of same
Cabin filters 3X

As you can see, if cared for these cars can be very reliable. Whichever car you buy, make sure it's been cared for.

SpiritR230

^exactly, same rule apply to any other car

cal1

I agree in general, but have to push back just a bit. I should also add, it seems like you and JMF003 happened to get the two most perfect R230s made. As far as I know, neither of you have had any large issues.

My SL also got all of the proper maintenance at the proper time. I used the dealer for all of this and if they told me the flux capacitor needed replaced, I told them to do it.

In the early days, there was no maintenance for ABC yet I lost a hyde pump. I am not sure what the maintenance should have been on the SC bearing. Most everyone has had that issue. Not sure what the maintenance on the IC pump is either. I got to deal with the dreaded loose fuel baffle also.

Although I agree with you, I also think the R230 had a few design issues that led to additional problems. Could be that these type of issue just seem to go along with sophisticated $100K + cars.

BlownV8

Much of Ingener's dependability rests upon having much lower mileage than average. With twice to three times the mileage, the outcome would be completely different. A vehicle between 40k to 55k miles should not have many issues. It's when you get above 65k miles when the expensive problems really start to occur.

Sunir

^^^ 60K + miles is LOW MILES for a 10 year old car. These Cars are NOT problematic. I have had ZERO problems with mine...and I drove it and cared for it meticulously. Just take care of the thing and it's fine. Keep records, do the service intervals etc. it's not rocket science. Heck I drove it straight across the entire country TWICE!!!

They are great cars. and a bargain basement deal. Mine if for sale, anyone interested PM or email me. Only reason for the sale is that I took delivery on my Aston Martin DB and don't want or need to keep both big heavy front engine GT cruiser coupes, otherwise I would keep my SL.

BlownV8

Sunir, how many miles on your SL?

Georgee6086

I recently had cracking, creaking noises when I turned the steering wheel at low speeds. Not following my own advice, I took the car to my Indy. They struggled to find the problem and then decided it must the rack. When i saw the price of a new rack, I told them to hold up. I came to the boards and found out that the diagonal supports get corrosion where they bolt up and this is the cause of the noise. There was actually an MB service bulletin posted on this very thing. The fix was to remove the bolts, clean the corrosion and re-install the bolts. I sent the bulletin to my indy and 50 bucks later, the car was fixed. By the way, the bulletin had a large warning stating: do not replace rack.[/QUOTE]

Hi Cal1, do you have a link for this or a picture of the bolts that have to be cleaned? I was just about to order ball joint even tho thers no play in them I dint know what else it could be.

To the OP, I have owned 13 Mercedes in the past 15 years and I always buy high milage cars and have never had any major problems. From my experience these cars like to be driven and cause less problems when they are in constant use. I usually check the car fax or auto proof to see how many miles were put on by the original owner. For example if the original owner drove 75000 miles in the first 4 years I bet he went through almost everything that would go wrong, the second owner usually babies the car and dosent drive it much.

For what's its worth this is my second sl55, the first one was a 2003 and I put approx 30000 miles in one year and it didn't give me any issues.

Good luck!

fxrs1955

Hi Cal1, do you have a link for this or a picture of the bolts that have to be cleaned? I was just about to order ball joint even tho thers no play in them I dint know what else it could be.

To the OP, I have owned 13 Mercedes in the past 15 years and I always buy high milage cars and have never had any major problems. From my experience these cars like to be driven and cause less problems when they are in constant use. I usually check the car fax or auto proof to see how many miles were put on by the original owner. For example if the original owner drove 75000 miles in the first 4 years I bet he went through almost everything that would go wrong, the second owner usually babies the car and dosent drive it much.

For what's its worth this is my second sl55, the first one was a 2003 and I put approx 30000 miles in one year and it didn't give me any issues.

Good luck![/QUOTE]


Cal1, I'd like to see the bulletin too.


Thanks

Sunir

approx. 67K miles...it's an '03 so averages to just over 6K miles per year which is considered Low miles on bluebook.

cal1

Hope this helps




If you need a clean printout, shoot me a pm and we will figure out a way to get the original pdf to you.

LaForce

Thanks for posting this. I have the same issue with my 2005 SL55 and have almost 70K miles on the car.

Georgee6086

Cal1 thank you, no more embarrassing creeking!

fxrs1955

Cal1, thank you very much.

cal1

^ Glad to help. I have gotten tons of great info from this board over the years. It is nice to get an opportunity to give back a little. I think it is this give and take that makes MBW so successful.