sl r129 anyone taken the risk on a 3/4k car

[Paz565]

Thanks guys, I went for one without The ADS system as I too had heard horror stories about repair costs and how troublesome they are. And if I'm honest I love the way the standard set up rides and handles

I would have loved heated seats in mine but wasn't bothered either way again due to stories and general opinion that the heating stops working and is a pain to replace. This might not be true but I did find a lot of online forums mentioning it and the few cars I'd viewed with them weren't working fully. Mickey you got a good one i think Lol. It's a shame as I do tend to have the roof down as much as possible In my old MX5 and SLK ....BUT the heaters in R129 are so strong anyway I can't imagine I'll miss them on topless mountain runs

Once the ice in Huddersfield has gone I'm going to book It into the Mercedes specialist in Elland to have a poke around and see what they think. The ASR thing, the buzzing every 20 seconds central locking pump and the sssssssssslow wiper motor, it left me driving up the snowy M1 Sunday night more or less blind

I'll do a proper readers ride thread once the problems have been resolved and I've had chance to drive the car properly instead of tiptoeing 250 icy miles from Wales to Kent and then 230 snowy and icy miles from Kent to Huddersfield!

[mickyveloce]

good news . another Yorkshire 129!
I've a great specialist near Boroughbridge if you need one Paz.

[Yuxi]

The ADS and ASR issues on my car (1993 500SL) were solved by replacing the battery and actualy driving it, they hate sitting for months on end and need a very healthy battery. I also cleaned the front ABS sensors and ensured all tyre pressures were correct.

My heated seats both work, as well as the seat and mirror memory, including the electric interior mirror (which is a bit OTT I think!)

[truck71]

Yuxi said:

The ADS and ASR issues on my car (1993 500SL) were solved by replacing the battery and actualy driving it, they hate sitting for months on end and need a very healthy battery. I also cleaned the front ABS sensors and ensured all tyre pressures were correct.

My heated seats both work, as well as the seat and mirror memory, including the electric interior mirror (which is a bit OTT I think!)

Maybe some original owners were of considerable girth making the electric function worth while..

[f1ten]

interesting and good to hear.
i have a suspicion it might be the dreaded wiring loom in mine on the ASR albeit the battery has not been fully charged so probably going to replace that first. Any ideas on cost of changing the wiring loom? I see from youtube that a guy refitting one to the M119 engine took the loom off an SL to fit to his M119 engined S500 of the same age and that cured the problem. One assumes the key to doing this change affordably is by getting a 2nd hand loom from a breaking yard.

Yuxi said:

The ADS and ASR issues on my car (1993 500SL) were solved by replacing the battery and actualy driving it, they hate sitting for months on end and need a very healthy battery. I also cleaned the front ABS sensors and ensured all tyre pressures were correct.

My heated seats both work, as well as the seat and mirror memory, including the electric interior mirror (which is a bit OTT I think!)

[Yuxi]

someone i know has just had engine and throttle body looms replaced for about £1200, i think this invloves using the old connectors and splicing in new wires. i will do this myself one day if i need to.
i made a code reader with an led, switch and a resistor, this reads and clears all codes. loads of info on the US forum at benzworld.com

[f1ten]

A quick picture of ours

Yuxi said:

someone i know has just had engine and throttle body looms replaced for about £1200, i think this invloves using the old connectors and splicing in new wires. i will do this myself one day if i need to.
i made a code reader with an led, switch and a resistor, this reads and clears all codes. loads of info on the US forum at benzworld.com

[Paz565]

A quick update on mine, I replaced the battery for a brand spanking new one and it's solved the 3-4 starts before the ASR light stays off. It still comes on after 5 minutes of the engine running but at least this time it doesn't start in limp home mode, with dead throttle and cutting out, and when it does come on it doesn't seem to affect the way it drives??

One new thing I've got now though is I tried to pop off the hard top, disconnected the heated window, dropped the windows and pulled the top switch. It flashed and then laboured so I had a friend feel to see if it moved at all. It was trying to pop the roof up but felt like the motors were either caught or something else needed unclipping? Do the hard tops get abit sticky if they've not been used in a while?

At the moment the car is stuck behind the house as its a steep slope onto the main road but it's so icy I daren't take the car near the slope!! It struggles on the flat ice let alone a slope I had the day off today and I so wanted to go for a drive and listen to the V8 hum, Sod off snow!!

[r129sl]

Yes, hardtop gets very sticky if not used for a while. There is a manual procedure (which is detailed in the manual) and which may free everything off. Other possibility is low fluid but it's a sealed system and has to go somewhere. Leaking hydraulic cylinders are not unusual. Second hand replacements are available on Ebay or there are people who rebuild these things for pennies.

My advice is to use it for a fair bit once the weather improves: drive it daily for a month or so, let everything settle down and then get it into a specialist to fix the bugs.

[truck71]

stropley said:

Another low miles Jap import 500 like the Bornite one discussed above :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1995-M-Mercedes-Benz-SL5...

So, popped into to look at this on the way oop north on Thursday. Sadly it's scruffy around the edges, the front valance cracked and quite a few nicks and dings- all alloys kerbed. Interior looked good except for the drivers seat bolster that was more heavily worn that the mileage suggests it should be. My guess is it was a city car in Japan with lots of getting in and out, short journeys and close up action with other traffic.

[f1ten]

HI Paz
how is yours getting on ? any more pics?
I managed to pick up the hard top stand for my 1990G reg 500 this weekend. Feel a lot better about the hard top being on the stand as Im using a shared storage area and dont want my neighbours knocking the hardtop around.
Im tempted to say my 1990 is slightly deeper in engine note on than my dads 1993 k reg car

Paz565 said:

A quick update on mine, I replaced the battery for a brand spanking new one and it's solved the 3-4 starts before the ASR light stays off. It still comes on after 5 minutes of the engine running but at least this time it doesn't start in limp home mode, with dead throttle and cutting out, and when it does come on it doesn't seem to affect the way it drives??

One new thing I've got now though is I tried to pop off the hard top, disconnected the heated window, dropped the windows and pulled the top switch. It flashed and then laboured so I had a friend feel to see if it moved at all. It was trying to pop the roof up but felt like the motors were either caught or something else needed unclipping? Do the hard tops get abit sticky if they've not been used in a while?

At the moment the car is stuck behind the house as its a steep slope onto the main road but it's so icy I daren't take the car near the slope!! It struggles on the flat ice let alone a slope I had the day off today and I so wanted to go for a drive and listen to the V8 hum, Sod off snow!!

[Paz565]

L....No real updates with mine i'm sorry to say. Its in the safe hands of Elite In Elland though they've found the buzzing is the central locking motor pump?? which has internal leak so it keeps trying to build up pressure in the system?? (forgive me, i'm not very technical) The hard top motors had become stiff through lack of use so they've lubed all the motors and joints. Finally the ASR light has been traced to a..... erm.... something that again maintains the pressure of the ABS system?? i can't remember the name of it, anyway they had a look, poked it and finally banged it with a hammer and its sorted itself so i'm hoping thats an end of that. Something else that came back from the diagnostic was an idle control valve which meant the idle once warm was settling slightly too high, its a cheap fix so thats getting fixed. The guys down at Elite have been so great in dealing with me and i couldn't recommend them enough, they've really gone the extra mile for me

Now this is much the same as the last picture, but in my defence the car since i got it has only been on snowy motorways here it is with my SLK on the way from Kent to West Yorkshire, a friend (insured) who'd never driven an auto or a RWD got roped into driving the SLK back up for me.... i don't think he enjoyed it much

Edited by Paz565 on Wednesday 13th February 22:08

[BlueMR2]

Paz565 said:

....No real updates with mine i'm sorry to say. Its in the safe hands of Elite In Elland though they've found the buzzing is the central locking motor pump?? which has internal leak so it keeps trying to build up pressure in the system?? (forgive me, i'm not very technical) The hard top motors had become stiff through lack of use so they've lubed all the motors and joints. Finally the ASR light has been traced to a..... erm.... something that again maintains the pressure of the ABS system?? i can't remember the name of it, anyway they had a look, poked it and finally banged it with a hammer and its sorted itself so i'm hoping thats an end of that. Something else that came back from the diagnostic was an idle control valve which meant the idle once warm was settling slightly too high, its a cheap fix so thats getting fixed. The guys down at Elite have been so great in dealing with me and i couldn't recommend them enough, they've really gone the extra mile for me

Now this is much the same as the last picture, but in my defence the car since i got it has only been on showy motorways here it is with my SLK on the way from Kent to West Yorkshire, a friend (insured) who'd never driven an auto or a RWD got roped into driving the SLK back up for me.... i don't think he enjoyed it much

I tried to fit in an SLK.

Won't be driving one of them anytime soon, lol.

[swilkins999]

Paz565 how you getting on with it?

[dbanbery]

Paz565 said:

I'll do a proper readers ride thread once the problems have been resolved and I've had chance to drive the car properly instead of tiptoeing 250 icy miles from Wales to Kent and then 230 snowy and icy miles from Kent to Huddersfield!

Just a note, i found this thread while looking for something else and got reading as i like reading peoples opinion and experience to see how it compares to mine!

Paz, does my car look familiar, i think i saw you the other day - i also live in Huddersfield. there is another guy with a 500 too called "danger_mouse" on here, and i had a chat to him when i first posted my "look what i got" pics.

btw, i spent less than £4k on mine they are definitely at the sweet spot of price at the moment.

[mccrackenj]

truck71 said:

stropley said:

Another low miles Jap import 500 like the Bornite one discussed above :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1995-M-Mercedes-Benz-SL5...

So, popped into to look at this on the way oop north on Thursday. Sadly it's scruffy around the edges, the front valance cracked and quite a few nicks and dings- all alloys kerbed. Interior looked good except for the drivers seat bolster that was more heavily worn that the mileage suggests it should be. My guess is it was a city car in Japan with lots of getting in and out, short journeys and close up action with other traffic.

Glad I found this thread, as I was looking at that car last night. It's STILL for sale at £6995.

I've been thinking seriously of a 129 recently, but it would have to be a 500.

[Rollcage]

Still think these are seriously undervalued IMO, especially the 500s, when you look at the prices that W124s can fetch.

[0a]

Given the price of w124 soft tops - personally I think the SLs look far better - these must be underpriced. I'm going BM for my second car at the moment, but an SL500 is still on the must own list!

[dbanbery]

Rollcage said:

Still think these are seriously undervalued IMO, especially the 500s, when you look at the prices that W124s can fetch.

Totally right.

the 500 is the weapon of choice, they dont cost much more.

[dbanbery]

sorry to double post but i wouldnt exactly say it was a "risk" on a 3-4k car, but more of the need to be vigilant. i found that all the cars between 3-7k were all infinitely variable in their condition, so you are as likely to find one in goo nick at the lower price point as you are at the top.