I recently purchased an one-owner, 2001 SLK230 with the gray engine coating partially melted off. I had the car checked out by a Mercedes shop and they said it was in good working order. The cars runs and looks great otherwise, but on a recent three hour trip, the coolant fluid light went on. I added MB coolant and distilled water and haven't had a problem since, but I am wondering 1.) how the engine coating had melted, and 2.) is there a way to get it recoated?

Thank you.

 

Welcome. Seems you have been introduced to the engine paint peeling issue. Rest assured, this is merely cosmetic no danger to your engine. I too have the paint except mine is bubbling up in different areas, no peeling yet. Plus, the paint on the red spark plug cover has cracks and bubbles in it too. You can blame the heat from the crankcase for this; members in other forums like benzworld.org have resorted to repainting the valve cover and the spark plug cover after an intense strip down of the paint. For now, I am willing to live with it since this is my daily driver and I cannot yet replace it while it is being worked on.