Mine just blew a hydraulic cylinder and sprayed the inside with hydraulic fluid. Happy happy joy joy. Hope the warranty covers the cost.

 

Up to $4,300 in repair costs in less than 4 months.

 

what have you had repaired....what kind of hydraulic issue ?

 

A hydraulic cylinder for the top, door seals that were soaked by the hydraulic fluid, and a new factory amp. When the seals are exposed to the hydraulic fluid they start to get wavy and do not sit flush. I have no doubt ABC repairs will be coming soon even though the PO really did a great job keeping up with fluid and filer changes. One of the shocks seems to be bottoming out. Don't know if the internal valving is bad or it is something else.

 

okay its been a year now from purchase. Purchased MY 2005 SL65 10/2014 with 29k. As soon as I got the car went though and inspected everything. Most repairs were preventive repairs, no failures. Replaced some ABC components as they were seeping.

Oil change 100.00 Right rear strut 550.00 Expansion hose 350.00 Right strut hose 250.00 Left strut hose 250.00 swing arm bushings 100.00 ABC flush and filter 250.00 Total
1,850.00
Now after initial investment no other costs. I have put on 6000 miles this summer with zero problems. Even a 2500 mile multi state road trip.

The car has been,,, dare I say reliable.

I believe in working on cars in the dead of winter and driving them in the summer. I will be doing more preventive repairs over the winter. I would estimate $1,000.00.

 

The repair was a bit more than I thought it would be for the convertable top cylinder replacement. Had to replace two door seals and got the tranny fluid changed. So far the car has eaten $5,200 in 4 months on maintenance and repairs.

 

Gonna have to chime in guys(and gals). Been gone for a while, but i just traded my SL600, 2005 for 2007 SL65. The 600 was silky smooth and fast and i loved it. The 65 takes it to another level that i'm having fun trying to get used to. The 600 was bulletproof, 86000 miles, standard maintenance and the only major repairs were the coils. I replaced both within 1500 mi. at just under 70,000mi. That seemed about right. If the 65 is as trouble free as the 600 was, I will be a happy camper.

 

I bought an '07 2 years ago with 29K on it. I have 56K on it now and nothing beyond the normal A and B services. So on average I would say $350/year.

 

Much luckier than I was.......luckily most of mine was under warranty.......I am on my own now.........

 

Please share the details.

 

You have done well. Just thought I would mention that you might want to check your ABC fluid. Pull the little dip stick and wipe the fluid on a clean lint free towel. If the fluid is looking greenish brown or even brown, have it replaced. You might check with your SA first to make sure they haven't done an ABC fluid change. They used to say it was not necessary, but we all know it is.

 

Well it wasn't entirely luck. There was a portion of waiting for the right car and getting a little history as well. The PO had the motor mounts changed, dual pump changed and with that the ABC fluid.

That makes the fluid about 2 years old, but you are correct. It does need to be changed on a regular basis.

 

Greetings everyone! MB world is a very great site and I’ve been reading it for years. And today I finally registered an account and this is my very first post in MB world!

R230 is my favorite car since high school and has never down ranked in my fav car list. Right now I am driving an SL350 in Taiwan. Although sharing my maintenance record might not be useful for people planning to own an AMG SL, my list should provide an idea on which parts might frequently break.

Anyways, the annual maintenance cost is around $2.5K USD. In addition to oil changes, expenses incurred this year were:
SBC - $1.8K (refurbished, brand new unit costs $3K, labor included)
VAC step motor and lever - $ 300 (part: $100, labor hr quoted: 2)
Trunk flap repair - $ 170 (parts unknown, labor hr quoted: 2)
Front lower control arm - $ 150 (labor hr quoted: 0.5 + none OEM part: $100, FYI, OEM: $200, AMG OEM: $330)


Comparing with the figures shared by friends in this forum, maintenance is pretty cheap due to relatively cheap labor. However, OEM parts are just as expensive and the worst part is that the annual depreciation is tremendous as Merc car price in Taiwan is more than twice of US price. That is, MSRP of a brand new SL500 w/o any option is more than $250K USD – sufficient to buy a 488 or an SL65 BS.


Oh I got a question here. I see that every R230 SL owners soon or later will have problems on the ABC. My SL55 friend has spent $30K just on ABC over past one and a half yrs. It was one of the reason I chose 350 (350 equips no ABC) instead of 500. The ABC is so problematic such that Merc owners here asked local suspension makers develop conventional suspensions for ABC-equipped mercs. So in Taiwan there is suspension conversion for S, SL and CL classes. I am wondering if there’s such conversion in North America? (East coast preferred) In few years I am going to move back to Vancouver, and I will definitely get another R230 for myself : )

 

Welcome to the boards. You might want follow this thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/sl55-amg-...kit-works.html

 

Regarding ABC, my SL600 had 86,000 miles when i traded it in. At about 75,000, the ABC light would come on randomly and i would take it to my independent shop. There was never anything wrong with the ABC and my mechanic figured it was a bad sensor. His advice was not to be concerned unless i could feel a significant change in the ride. When i traded it in, the dealership agreed, and deducted $1500 to replace a sensor.