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If you don’t want to get stranded in the Great North, I’d ditch the ABC and retrofit coil-overs and sway bars. In the end that would cost far far (emphasis on far) less than the cascading failures of the ABC system on a 16 year old vehicle. Replace all the hoses in the engine compartment, because the M275 engine is one of the premier “heat monsters” in the power plant world. Follow that by replacing all the brake lines and doing a survey of the top hydraulics since getting doused with hydraulic oil is pretty unpleasant during a cruise. All of these things are not a matter of “if” but “when” a failure will occur. These cars are “racehorses” not “drayhorses”, they are fast but temperamental and need to be maintained like the thoroughbreds they are. And finally, “German Engineering” is not put here on earth to entertain us but to humble us. Your “9-second” friend will discover a whole new dictionary of curses.
Rich, a beautiful looking car. I hope you are able to enjoy it after it arrives. I have owned V12 MB's since 1994 including four SL's. It would be great if you had access to the service history. Here are some failures/maintenance items we can say for sure about the 2005 V12 SL. The coil packs will fail, if the car is tuned that can accelerate the failure. I would not preventatively replace then, just wait for the failure. The motor mounts will fail and likely the transmission mount as well. If the mounts are five or more years older they have leaked down. These I would replace now if older than five years.
There will be failures in the MBC system. If the hoses are original it is best to replace them. Mine failed sitting in the garage, the Pentosin is hard to get off the concrete. Replace the hoses and pump then rodeo to confirm everything else is ok. The only top failures I am familiar with are the cables that actuate the folding flaps and the vacuum line to the trunk latch. Both are replace when needed. The top hydraulics would make a mess but that failure is not nearly as common as the ABC failures. Perhaps because the top system is not under constant pressure holding up the car like the ABC is.
Regarding tuning, I found a simple ECU/TCU flash to be mere than adequate. The challenge with the SL65 is traction at any speed under 100KPH. I am about to put stickier tires on my SL65 to see if it helps
If you don’t want to get stranded in the Great North, I’d ditch the ABC and retrofit coil-overs and sway bars. In the end that would cost far far (emphasis on far) less than the cascading failures of the ABC system on a 16 year old vehicle. Replace all the hoses in the engine compartment, because the M275 engine is one of the premier “heat monsters” in the power plant world. Follow that by replacing all the brake lines and doing a survey of the top hydraulics since getting doused with hydraulic oil is pretty unpleasant during a cruise. All of these things are not a matter of “if” but “when” a failure will occur. These cars are “racehorses” not “drayhorses”, they are fast but temperamental and need to be maintained like the thoroughbreds they are. And finally, “German Engineering” is not put here on earth to entertain us but to humble us. Your “9-second” friend will discover a whole new dictionary of curses.
As far as ditching the ABC, I could not find anyone making coil over kit for an SL65(I don’t know why).
2003 E55, 2003 SL55, 2014 CLS63, 2018 q50 Redsport, 1968 Camaro SS, 1999 Trans am Firehawk
the above linked VVK is the only proper coilover with swaybars for the v12. keep in mind the rear subframe has to be dropped in order to get the sway bar in. There is quite a bit of labor involved in the kit. There is also a lot of labor involved in engine mounts as it requires the front subframe/engine to be removed from the car. I would buy high quality aftermarket units as the stock ones will eventually fail. check all idler pulleys for cracks. they are plastic and will crack/break over time. you can buy just the rotors without the hats and save money. buying them as a complete unit isn't exactly cheap. check all ABC hoses for weeping (it is the sign that they are about to fail). most likely at that age just about every pressure side hose in the engine compartment that is exposed to heat doesn't have much life left. as someone else mentioned replace all 4 accumulators in the ABC system too. the front conv latch is usually the one most likely to fail and first to fail. check to make sure soft close trunk work properly too (several write ups on how to fix). as far as modifications the smarttop module is great and you can buy a MOST Adapter as well as a trim piece to fit any modern double din inside the console, which allows you to get this thing more up to current tech with carplay etc. from a performance standpoint the chassis can barely handle stock power and just a tune alone will cause traction flashing lights and just about anything that isn't highway speed. you can do downpipes/too, but not much beyond that without getting into more expensive custom work.
In my opinion go to a shop who know much about and have much experience with these very special cars, the V12 twin turbos from MB.
I think you can change parts preventively but than something else will fail. I would change only parts which are faulty. Maintenance reports would be helpful, e.g. if the spark plugs were changed etc.
Why the seller did know that the ABC-Pump is faulty? Additional there can be much more faulty in the ABC system, but I would not change from the ABC-System which rides good when it is in good condition.
Do you know why the roll bar is up in the car? Accident?
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