Hi everyone,

First post so apologies if this is well covered ground. I am seriously considering buying an SL55, 2004, 39,000 miles, one owner car. It has full MB service history, has just been serviced & MOT'd and the owner assures me its in fantastic condition. I am a bit of a car nut myself and from the looks of the car, I agree with him. Always garaged, paintwork like new, barely a stone chip in sight.

BUT.

I have read so much about absolute nightmares with these cars that Im thinking I am going to commit financial harakiri if I go ahead and buy it. So, a couple of questions....

1. The ABC nightmare. From what I can read and I have read a lot, this is a problem that is simply going to happen, its unavoidable and when it does happen...make sure you are well wadded up because its horrendously expensive to fix....am I correct? If so, what numbers are we looking at and what tends to break? Can parts be recondition rather than replaced. ie. is there any reasonable way of looking after the ABC system.
2. Roof seals...check the boot, behind the seats etc for any sign of water ingress. Early cars are likely to have leaky roofs that just lead to more problems?
3. Does the car have any other significant weak points? I can buy a warranty for £1000 / year but due to the age of the car this only covers the fundamentals (crucially noone will cover the ABC)...is it worth buying? From the sounds of things its £1000 per visit for any trouble on these cars.
4. Is there a good argument to say buy a 2007 onwards SL55 for considerably more money but know that the second generation ABC is much more robust than the earlier version. One may well recoup the cost of the purchase over the first couple of years having nightmares with the early ABC?

If anyone could give me a bit of guidance please do. I absolutely love the car and do not mind spending say £2000 / year keeping it on the road and in tip top condition. £4000-£5000 a year is too much though. Thanks in advance!

 

Hi, I came from an Audi S5 into an Sl55 and wouldn't look back! Mine is a 2004 with around 100,000 on the clock so a lot more miles than the one you are looking at. I bought mine purely for the high spec and history. I have had to replace my ABC Valve block last month, after diagnosing, testing etc and also had the B service (major) done, plus new spark plugs (16 of em!) the total bill was £2800, not cheap but i'm hoping that will be it for a while! Much more fun than the S5 ever was, great with the roof down, ok the Bose system in the Merc isn't as good as the B&O in the Audi but not far off and of course upgradeable.

Never had any roof leaks, so long as the drains are kept clear you should be fine (go onto the UK mercedes forum very helpful like here).

Apart from ABC roof pumps / switches can be temperamental but again touchwood i've had no issues, and due to the age of them now people are going more 'diy' in getting them fixed so a lot cheaper.

2007 onwards would be nice but not sure if worth the extra money. Wouldn't bother with a warranty (in the UK), waste of time, better off putting hte £1000 in a piggy bank until it breaks.

Any more advice let me know! Had an Sl500 before the S5 for 2 years and had my Sl55 for about 6 months now and wouldn't change it for anything! (until the C63 coupes drop in price!!)

 

I've owned my '03 SL55 for about 15 months. It had 44K on it when I bought it, had lived most of it's life in a dry climate, and was exceptionally clean. It's previous owner was a Porsche 928 guy I'd known via the internet, and an MD who treated the car well. Car was in perfect condition, and I drove it 2200 miles from his residence to mine. It is the most fun to drive of any car I've ever owned. Even though I'd 'retired' from track driving and sold my Porsche 928 S4 a couple of months before buying the SL55, I decided to 'unretire' for one event, and spent two days with the SL55 on the Watkins Glen racetrack here in the US (site of the original US Grand Prix races). It was marvelous there, as I expected it to be.

Since I liked the car so much, and expect to drive it for several years, I wanted to be sure everything was well maintained (I had all the previous 10 years of records).

SO -I've spent about $850 US on 'preventive maintenance' (e.g. purged ABC system, put in new fluid in the trans, differential, Power Steering, new rear battery, motor oil, supercharger oil, coolant, all filters, etc last winter (do all work myself). I'll put all new ABC system 'accumulators' on it this winter. That'll be about another $600.

I also spent $$ on the smaller supercharger pulley and a ECU tune for another 50 hp and ft lbs, but can't really count that against the 'car'. I may also buy a STAR Diagnostic system and may even replace the COMAND system this winter.

Everything on the cars seems pretty bullet proof, except for the ABC system, but in reading reports from Germany where the fluid has been purged/replaced every 3 years or so (it IS hygroscopic, like brake fluid), the cars have gone 2-300K miles without any significant problems in the suspension. That type maintenance is in my plan.

I suggest three links to visit.

1. This link has a dozen or so forum threads about ABC system:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r230...gence-etc.html

2. Within that link, here is a thread about the importance of maintaining the ABC system:

http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r230...d-changes.html



3. Finally, here is the ultimate in information about how the ABC system works - it's a great writeup:

http://mercedes-abc-drive-carefully....y-part-of.html