R107 500SL Play in Throttle Pedal

[Ribbs27]

Hi,

My 500SL has an inch or two of play in the throttle pedal i.e. I have to depress it quite a distance before anything happens.

Anyone know if this is a quick easy fix?

Thanks

[P.Nott]

It seems they all do that. I tried several 107s before buying mine, some from specialists The SL Shop, and they all had the same slack in the throttle pedal. The guy at The SL Shop told me that was normal when I queried it, which I wasn't convinced about at the time.
However, I eventually bought from another specialist and the car I have now is exactly the same. Like you, I asked on the forum (MB Club) and was told by everybody else theirs is also the same, so learned to live with it. I must say that after a while I didn't even notice it any longer, despite using my other cars which don't have the same slack.

Quite why it is like that though, I have never been able to find out.

Hope that helps.

Edited by P.Nott on Friday 18th January 23:49

[the pips]

My 500SL had the same problem....until the pedal disconnected itself completely! We whipped the filter off and the problem was obvious, the linkage had come out of the socket. There was a fibre washer thing that had collapsed. A few minutes sorting through the bits box and we found a nyloc nut that fitted perfectly. Reassembled, the slack had gone and the throttle seemed a whole lot more responsive.

The linkage had loads of roads, bell cranks, springs so it's well worth having a look to see if there's play at any of them.

Regards
Doug

[P.Nott]

Odd how so many of them have this same problem though. I took the air filter off mine to take a look as well and the play seemed to come from a large ovalised hole in one of the many throttle links. Thing is that it was apparently designed like this, although as I said above, I have absolutely no idea why. For this reason, and many people telling me TADTS, I simply got used to it.

Mine is a low mileage example, so I can't believe it is due to wear either.