Mercedes SLK 55 AMG
Discussion
This is our Mercedes SLK 55 AMG. I always wanted a convertible V8, but so many are really big and heavy cars, and I wanted something small and light. This fitted the bill perfectly and is one of the smallest and lightest cars with a large, (5.4ltr), V8 engine.
I really wanted a car with the black leather. Some of the Mercedes two tone interiors are hideous in my opinion. I also didn't want a silver car... I considered black, then this one came up. Low miles, one owner, used mainly on trips to their place in the south of France so the miles were not short trips... It was also 2005 which meant it was the low tax bracket
Soon after purchase I set about servicing the car, even though it had a full Mercedes Service history, as I have an inbuilt mistrust of garages having worked in quite a few in my early career. All the fluids on the car were changed, including the all-important automatic gearbox oil change.
I am fortunate that I have the luxury of a mid-height hoist in my garage which makes maintenance so much easier.
Changing the gearbox oil is relatively easy. First it needs to be drained and to do this you need to remove the drain plug. However, once this is out very little oil comes out; this is because it’s prevented in doing so by a plastic weir pipe which also defines the oil level in the gearbox. To drain the oil out you need to insert a screwdriver into the drain hole and move it to the side; this breaks off the weir pipe inside the gearbox. The oil is then free to drain out.
Once drained, the sump pan can be removed to replace the weir pipe and also the transmission filter. Care should be taken not to get any dust or debris into the gearbox at this point. It’s also best to replace the sump pan gasket and the retaining bolts as these are stretch bolts and should only be used once. You will need a low reading torque wrench to tighten them up after fitting the sump pan back into place.
To refill the gearbox I made an adaptor out of a piece of nylon bar, threaded to fit the drain hole. This was attached to a new and clean piece of pipe and onto a new pump spray bottle. With this I was able to pump the new fluid up into the gearbox. Keep removing the pipe to see if you have filled it above the weir pipe.
After the initial filling, the gearbox has to be got up to 40 – 45 degrees C before the final level check. I used an infrared thermometer to check this, pointed at the sump pan. At tick over it took about 10 mins to reach this temperature.
One of the common faults of the 5.4 AMG engine is leaking valve covers. This is an easy fault to fix and entails removing the covers and re sealing with a silicone sealant. Care should be taken not to use too much silicon as this can squash out inside the engine and give problems. Before applying the silicon, make sure that both surfaces are oil free as this then provides a clean surface for the silicon to bond to.
All back together :-)
The front fog lights corrode badly; these were bead blasted before being repainted in matt black to match the original finish. The lenses have also been coated with 3M protection film as this tends to stop them being cracked by stones.
As many will know the price of the front brake disks for the 55 AMG from model years 2005 to 2007 are horrendous! This is because they used Brembo fully floating discs and 6 pot callipers. They are around £1200 for the discs alone and are only available from Mercedes, there are no aftermarket parts for these! Its a bit unnecessary really and in 2008 Mercedes changed to a solid vented disk. Unfortunately these don’t fit the earlier cars as they are dimensionally incompatible.
I have managed to find some discs that are the right dimension, but missing a locating hole for the screw that just locates the disk on the hub. I have machined a countersunk hole in the disk to the originals size and they now fit perfectly! They have been on for a few thousand mile now and to be honest I cant tell the difference, but my wallet can!
Here are the original discs on the car
Here are the modified ones
Side by side for comparison
Machining the new locating hole
With the locating bolt in its new home!
I really wanted a car with the black leather. Some of the Mercedes two tone interiors are hideous in my opinion. I also didn't want a silver car... I considered black, then this one came up. Low miles, one owner, used mainly on trips to their place in the south of France so the miles were not short trips... It was also 2005 which meant it was the low tax bracket
Soon after purchase I set about servicing the car, even though it had a full Mercedes Service history, as I have an inbuilt mistrust of garages having worked in quite a few in my early career. All the fluids on the car were changed, including the all-important automatic gearbox oil change.
I am fortunate that I have the luxury of a mid-height hoist in my garage which makes maintenance so much easier.
Changing the gearbox oil is relatively easy. First it needs to be drained and to do this you need to remove the drain plug. However, once this is out very little oil comes out; this is because it’s prevented in doing so by a plastic weir pipe which also defines the oil level in the gearbox. To drain the oil out you need to insert a screwdriver into the drain hole and move it to the side; this breaks off the weir pipe inside the gearbox. The oil is then free to drain out.
Once drained, the sump pan can be removed to replace the weir pipe and also the transmission filter. Care should be taken not to get any dust or debris into the gearbox at this point. It’s also best to replace the sump pan gasket and the retaining bolts as these are stretch bolts and should only be used once. You will need a low reading torque wrench to tighten them up after fitting the sump pan back into place.
To refill the gearbox I made an adaptor out of a piece of nylon bar, threaded to fit the drain hole. This was attached to a new and clean piece of pipe and onto a new pump spray bottle. With this I was able to pump the new fluid up into the gearbox. Keep removing the pipe to see if you have filled it above the weir pipe.
After the initial filling, the gearbox has to be got up to 40 – 45 degrees C before the final level check. I used an infrared thermometer to check this, pointed at the sump pan. At tick over it took about 10 mins to reach this temperature.
One of the common faults of the 5.4 AMG engine is leaking valve covers. This is an easy fault to fix and entails removing the covers and re sealing with a silicone sealant. Care should be taken not to use too much silicon as this can squash out inside the engine and give problems. Before applying the silicon, make sure that both surfaces are oil free as this then provides a clean surface for the silicon to bond to.
All back together :-)
The front fog lights corrode badly; these were bead blasted before being repainted in matt black to match the original finish. The lenses have also been coated with 3M protection film as this tends to stop them being cracked by stones.
As many will know the price of the front brake disks for the 55 AMG from model years 2005 to 2007 are horrendous! This is because they used Brembo fully floating discs and 6 pot callipers. They are around £1200 for the discs alone and are only available from Mercedes, there are no aftermarket parts for these! Its a bit unnecessary really and in 2008 Mercedes changed to a solid vented disk. Unfortunately these don’t fit the earlier cars as they are dimensionally incompatible.
I have managed to find some discs that are the right dimension, but missing a locating hole for the screw that just locates the disk on the hub. I have machined a countersunk hole in the disk to the originals size and they now fit perfectly! They have been on for a few thousand mile now and to be honest I cant tell the difference, but my wallet can!
Here are the original discs on the car
Here are the modified ones
Side by side for comparison
Machining the new locating hole
With the locating bolt in its new home!
Chris Bowes said:
Great post Buzz
I also have a AMG SLK 55 and like you changed the transmission fluid ( as I have a mistrust of garages ) but did you find out how to drain the torque converter ?
I would be interested to know what discs you bought and modified ie car they fit etc
Changing the spark plugs on these is fun as there is 16 of them
C
On these you can’t drain the torque converter, there is no plug. The fluid that came out was very clean, but I am planning to change it again in say 10k miles time.I also have a AMG SLK 55 and like you changed the transmission fluid ( as I have a mistrust of garages ) but did you find out how to drain the torque converter ?
I would be interested to know what discs you bought and modified ie car they fit etc
Changing the spark plugs on these is fun as there is 16 of them
C
I also plan to do the plugs sometime soon…
rgv250ads said:
What is that lift you've got?!
Details pls
here you go, great service from this company! judging by your user name you like bikes... it makes a great bike lift as well!Details pls
Edited by rgv250ads on Monday 6th October 21:37
http://www.automotechservices.co.uk/product-catego...
Thought I would update this as I have been doing a bit of maintenance in preparation for the summer... I have been putting off doing the spark plug change for a long time... I was going to do it a few months ago, but broke a rib so didn't fancy doing it while that was still hurting!
Bit the bullet yesterday and today and changed them. In reality It was not a bad job. By using different extensions and ratchets it was fairly easy. more difficult was getting the plug caps off... I didn't want to pull on the leads, but by using a combination of a spanner, and long nose pliers, I was able to prize them off.
I did the valve covers a while ago, but the passenger side one still leaked a bit. I was never happy with the silicon sealant I had used, so this time I used some genuine Ducati stuff which I had used on a Ducati engine I had built. Expensive at £15 a small tube, but the the engine builder I spoke to who does all sorts of engines said its all he uses now. What I also like is its grey, so it does not show...We will see...
Bit the bullet yesterday and today and changed them. In reality It was not a bad job. By using different extensions and ratchets it was fairly easy. more difficult was getting the plug caps off... I didn't want to pull on the leads, but by using a combination of a spanner, and long nose pliers, I was able to prize them off.
I did the valve covers a while ago, but the passenger side one still leaked a bit. I was never happy with the silicon sealant I had used, so this time I used some genuine Ducati stuff which I had used on a Ducati engine I had built. Expensive at £15 a small tube, but the the engine builder I spoke to who does all sorts of engines said its all he uses now. What I also like is its grey, so it does not show...We will see...
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