SL55/63/65/R230 AMG: After 13 days major malfunction
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Joined: Mar 2002
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From: St. Petersburg, FL
SL 55,S 55, M3,CL 55
After 13 days major malfunction
I parked my car in a parking lot on Friday. Upon leaving the lot I was excited to have only 70 miles left for break in. The car started and alarms sounded. The dash displayed a red "return to workshop". Later a red "put in park" display came on and than vanished then came back every 5 minutes. Gas gauged was non functioning and some dash lights were on others off. Gear display lights next shift handle were out. I put down the windows and dome lights came on. Tried to restart hoping it was just a glitch. Limped into a MB dealer as they were closing. They stayed long enough to diagnosis "rear computer malfunction" and to order a new one. They did give me a loaner (230 k). At least they can hear the noise in the rear, which I believe has been attributed to an aux fuel pump by members of this board. The pump noise is louder than I expected.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Mar 2002
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From: St. Petersburg, FL
SL 55,S 55, M3,CL 55
Crown in St. Petersburg
They are the closest dealer. I was driving the loaner this morning and the visit workshop came on. Esp and bas. I think I am cursed.
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From: Bedfordshire , England
SL55amg , Range Rover TD6 Vogue , Lotus 340R , Saab 9-5 SE Estate
Different problems I know , but my first 6 weeks of ownership included best part of 3 weeks off the road because of electronics malfunctions. I think they ended up replacing some/all of the COmand/linguatronic gizmos.
MB Milton Keynes were appalling. My supplier , Leadleys of Mansfield were first class.
There's a lot to go wrong on a car like this , but when you've passed over an Aston Martin DB7GT in favour of the SL because of concerns over the reliability of the Aston , I'd be lying if I did'nt ask myself whether I'd made the right decision once or twice.
Hopefully the initial gliches were just that , and I can now look forward to the renowned MB reliability.
Is it just the two of us I wonder?
MB Milton Keynes were appalling. My supplier , Leadleys of Mansfield were first class.
There's a lot to go wrong on a car like this , but when you've passed over an Aston Martin DB7GT in favour of the SL because of concerns over the reliability of the Aston , I'd be lying if I did'nt ask myself whether I'd made the right decision once or twice.
Hopefully the initial gliches were just that , and I can now look forward to the renowned MB reliability.
Is it just the two of us I wonder?
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 2,447
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From: UK
SL55 AMG
There have been a variety of horror stories of people having early problems with their cars, often due to failing electronic modules in the car. Richard was the first and the delivery of his car was delayed until they found out some fuses had been incorrectly installed but not before they'd changed lots of bits.
Aside from the cost of the replacement parts, which does not concern us now but will down the road, the problem is the ability to accurately diagnose the failing component. This leads to the replacement of still working components, multiple replacements of the same component in the wild hope that the previous ones were faulty too and long fix times while the technicians scratch their heads for inspiration.
A car is a notoriously hostile environment for electronics due to the vibration and temperature cycling. Compare that to the cosy cool but constant temperature environment of the hard drive in your PC left on all the time. Much could be done by soak testing electronic control units to weed out early failures instead of a simple go/no-go test but if you are Bosch churning out thousands of control units a day, the logistics of doing so are demanding.
I'd like to think Mercedes are analysing the failures to determine failure patterns instead of just binning them. The good news is that once the car settles down, it's fine. The process of sorting the car out will tell you alot about Mercedes. We're all saddled here in the UK with the same useless importer but choosing your dealer and staying with them can ease the pain.
Aside from the cost of the replacement parts, which does not concern us now but will down the road, the problem is the ability to accurately diagnose the failing component. This leads to the replacement of still working components, multiple replacements of the same component in the wild hope that the previous ones were faulty too and long fix times while the technicians scratch their heads for inspiration.
A car is a notoriously hostile environment for electronics due to the vibration and temperature cycling. Compare that to the cosy cool but constant temperature environment of the hard drive in your PC left on all the time. Much could be done by soak testing electronic control units to weed out early failures instead of a simple go/no-go test but if you are Bosch churning out thousands of control units a day, the logistics of doing so are demanding.
I'd like to think Mercedes are analysing the failures to determine failure patterns instead of just binning them. The good news is that once the car settles down, it's fine. The process of sorting the car out will tell you alot about Mercedes. We're all saddled here in the UK with the same useless importer but choosing your dealer and staying with them can ease the pain.
Last edited by blueSL; Apr 29, 2003 at 02:52 AM.
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From: Mijas Costa, Spain
SL500 Ex SL55, ML55, S430
Originally posted by liveseyd
My supplier , Leadleys of Mansfield were first class.
My supplier , Leadleys of Mansfield were first class.
Cheers - Paul
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 37
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From: Bedfordshire , England
SL55amg , Range Rover TD6 Vogue , Lotus 340R , Saab 9-5 SE Estate
Paul,
Coming from lancashire originally , Mansfield is full of Southern wuzzies , and it's on the wrong side of the pennines , but they had THE car that the wife wanted , so I put my prejudices to one side !!
Had some dealings with darren I think , but mainly David the Sales Manager. They will be a big operation across that area.
Regards
David
Coming from lancashire originally , Mansfield is full of Southern wuzzies , and it's on the wrong side of the pennines , but they had THE car that the wife wanted , so I put my prejudices to one side !!
Had some dealings with darren I think , but mainly David the Sales Manager. They will be a big operation across that area.
Regards
David
Thread Starter
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Joined: Mar 2002
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From: St. Petersburg, FL
SL 55,S 55, M3,CL 55
Rear computer is dead again and the car is very difficult to drive(no gas guage and alarms sounding). Everytime you come to a stop it says go to workshop and put in park.. Found out keyless go does not lock or open doors. I was in a hurry since my dad was take to surgery. and forgot to take a key along. Had to leave my car unlocked at night for over 4 hours in hospital parking lot with lots of vagrants around. Remembered, $2000 in cash,watch, and CD's were still in the car,but could not leave.It is getting more difficult to depend on the car.
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Joined: Apr 2003
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From: Boston
Lemon the car ASAP!! DO not wait any longer. Not sure what the laws are in FL, but in MA if the problem is deemed to be a major one where the functionality of the car is compromised and the dealer has serviced it three times in one year, then it can be declared a lemon car. Good luck
