MERCEDES SL 55 AMG, WISE MOVE OR DAFT IDEA?!

[d3hno]

After almost purchasing a Bentley continental, I have ended up buying an SL 55AMG, seems absolutely amazing so far, apart from getting 12 mpg, can anyone give me any feedback on what experiences they have had with the car and whether I have been an idiot or made a good choice. Also any prices on repairs/servicing would be greatly appreciated.

Regards.
Dean

[THX138]

d3hno said:

After almost purchasing a Bentley continental, I have ended up buying an SL 55AMG, seems absolutely amazing so far, apart from getting 12 mpg, can anyone give me any feedback on what experiences they have had with the car and whether I have been an idiot or made a good choice. Also any prices on repairs/servicing would be greatly appreciated.

Regards.
Dean

Friend of mine came out of a Conti GT into an SL55 & much prefers the merc

I got one too straight after driving his, strangely I always lusted after the Bentley till I drove his, thought it was nice but very uninvolving and a bit claustrophobic.

[xxx2]

My AMG SL 55 is fantastic apart from a seemingly incurable boot leak.

[bloodyniceben]

xxx2 said:

My AMG SL 55 is fantastic apart from a seemingly incurable boot leak.

See your other post

Ben

[Nubbin]

Absolutely love mine! I'm off to have one or two silencers removed next week, to get the sound that should go with the performance. It's (nearly} all things to all drivers - a manual gearbox would be the icing on a very considerable cake...

[d3hno]

Ok, so it seems like I have made the right choice, the car needs front brakes and pads at the ventilated discs have cracked and as a result it failed its MOT, Any ideas on the cost of the repair, I imagine it would be £1k plus? Also the vehicle occasionally shows "ABC VISIT WORKSHOP" OR "ABC DRIVE CAREFULLY" in the manual this suggests that the active body control is only partially working....... any ideas?

Thanks for your help in advance and your comments so far

Dean

[steve_amv8]

d3hno said:

Ok, so it seems like I have made the right choice, the car needs front brakes and pads at the ventilated discs have cracked and as a result it failed its MOT, Any ideas on the cost of the repair, I imagine it would be £1k plus? Also the vehicle occasionally shows "ABC VISIT WORKSHOP" OR "ABC DRIVE CAREFULLY" in the manual this suggests that the active body control is only partially working....... any ideas?

Thanks for your help in advance and your comments so far

Dean

Oh dear ... could prove costly depending upon the cause!

The ABC is common across CL/SL/S I believe and seems to be prone to this!

Could be a number of things such as:

- faulty sensor
- faulty valve(s)
- dirty fluid causing valves to block
- leaking pipe(s)
- low fluid level
- faulty ignition switch electronics
- knackered/leaking seals on ABC pump
- knackered ABC pump

If it is the last one, that is (I believe) circa £1200.

I suggest you take it to your local Merc dealer and ask them to plug in the diagnostics kit to read the actual error code as this may shed some light on it.

If the car is still under the original mercedes warranty then they will probably fix it but any extended warranty may not cover the last one.

Try googling '+ABC +"Drive carefully" to see a number of discussions on this problem over on the various Merc forums.

Does the problem only occur when starting the car? Is it only on cold mornings or only after car is warm? Does it go away if you stop the engine and restart? Sometimes just reversing then stopping and starting the engine can make it go away until you next start the engine!

Edited by steve_amv8 on Wednesday 24th September 23:32

Edited by steve_amv8 on Wednesday 24th September 23:33

[markbe]

d3hno said:

Ok, so it seems like I have made the right choice, the car needs front brakes and pads at the ventilated discs have cracked and as a result it failed its MOT, Any ideas on the cost of the repair, I imagine it would be £1k plus? Also the vehicle occasionally shows "ABC VISIT WORKSHOP" OR "ABC DRIVE CAREFULLY" in the manual this suggests that the active body control is only partially working....... any ideas?

Thanks for your help in advance and your comments so far

Dean

Pads and discs are about £500 fitted but ring a couple of Merc dealers to get the best price.I trust you have a warranty to pay for these problems.

Mark.

[AlexRWD]

I'd have to say you've made a good choice, having made the same choice myself a couple of weeks ago

Nubbin said:

Absolutely love mine! I'm off to have one or two silencers removed next week, to get the sound that should go with the performance.

Nubbin, be really interested to hear how you get on with this, love the sound of the car, but it definitely needs a bit of help to get closer to those first SL55 AMG's I heard blasting up Goodwood years ago, and leading the F1 cars around.

[d3hno]

Sadly I don't have a warranty with the car, I bought it from my Business partner!
I have had the car inspected with Mercedes and it needs new suspension on the front, looking at 3.5k for the repairs, which is nasty. I am finding the cars rear wheels spin quite frequently when i accelerate, i thought the traction control would counteract that, i will be using a set of rear tyres every 2,000 miles at this rate, the inspection did not bring up any problems with the traction control..............

[d3hno]

steve_amv8 said:

d3hno said:

Ok, so it seems like I have made the right choice, the car needs front brakes and pads at the ventilated discs have cracked and as a result it failed its MOT, Any ideas on the cost of the repair, I imagine it would be £1k plus? Also the vehicle occasionally shows "ABC VISIT WORKSHOP" OR "ABC DRIVE CAREFULLY" in the manual this suggests that the active body control is only partially working....... any ideas?

Thanks for your help in advance and your comments so far

Dean

Oh dear ... could prove costly depending upon the cause!

The ABC is common across CL/SL/S I believe and seems to be prone to this!

Could be a number of things such as:

- faulty sensor
- faulty valve(s)
- dirty fluid causing valves to block
- leaking pipe(s)
- low fluid level
- faulty ignition switch electronics
- knackered/leaking seals on ABC pump
- knackered ABC pump

If it is the last one, that is (I believe) circa £1200.

I suggest you take it to your local Merc dealer and ask them to plug in the diagnostics kit to read the actual error code as this may shed some light on it.

If the car is still under the original mercedes warranty then they will probably fix it but any extended warranty may not cover the last one.

Try googling '+ABC +"Drive carefully" to see a number of discussions on this problem over on the various Merc forums.

Does the problem only occur when starting the car? Is it only on cold mornings or only after car is warm? Does it go away if you stop the engine and restart? Sometimes just reversing then stopping and starting the engine can make it go away until you next start the engine!

Edited by steve_amv8 on Wednesday 24th September 23:32

Edited by steve_amv8 on Wednesday 24th September 23:33

The warning light appears at different times, sometimes when I start the car, other times it flashes up when I have driven the car for a period of time.....

[steve_amv8]

d3hno said:

steve_amv8 said:

d3hno said:

Ok, so it seems like I have made the right choice, the car needs front brakes and pads at the ventilated discs have cracked and as a result it failed its MOT, Any ideas on the cost of the repair, I imagine it would be £1k plus? Also the vehicle occasionally shows "ABC VISIT WORKSHOP" OR "ABC DRIVE CAREFULLY" in the manual this suggests that the active body control is only partially working....... any ideas?

Thanks for your help in advance and your comments so far

Dean

Oh dear ... could prove costly depending upon the cause!

The ABC is common across CL/SL/S I believe and seems to be prone to this!

Could be a number of things such as:

- faulty sensor
- faulty valve(s)
- dirty fluid causing valves to block
- leaking pipe(s)
- low fluid level
- faulty ignition switch electronics
- knackered/leaking seals on ABC pump
- knackered ABC pump

If it is the last one, that is (I believe) circa £1200.

I suggest you take it to your local Merc dealer and ask them to plug in the diagnostics kit to read the actual error code as this may shed some light on it.

If the car is still under the original mercedes warranty then they will probably fix it but any extended warranty may not cover the last one.

Try googling '+ABC +"Drive carefully" to see a number of discussions on this problem over on the various Merc forums.

Does the problem only occur when starting the car? Is it only on cold mornings or only after car is warm? Does it go away if you stop the engine and restart? Sometimes just reversing then stopping and starting the engine can make it go away until you next start the engine!

Edited by steve_amv8 on Wednesday 24th September 23:32

Edited by steve_amv8 on Wednesday 24th September 23:33

The warning light appears at different times, sometimes when I start the car, other times it flashes up when I have driven the car for a period of time.....

Definitely time to visit your local friendly Merc dealer and ask them to read the fault log for the car ....

[puss]

I have read on another SL55 forum that the SBC pump has effectively had its warranty extended to 10 years so you might find that some ABC parts have had similar treatment although they may have done it with the SBC system on the grounds of safety.

I'll be interested to see the details of how Nubbin gets on with the removed silencers as I alos would like to make it louder. It's great when giving it some berries but at slower speeds it's far too quiet for my tastes.

[ali_kat]

for starting this, saves me a job

Topboy is looking for a new car, narrowed it down to a few (TVR, Porsche, Merc) he's decided he really likes the Merc, the SL55 AMG to be precise

However, in the thread he started in GG this was said

Zippee said:

Regarding the 55AMG - do a little research first as I've heard of a lot of very expensive horror stories on the early models. I looked at one instead of the T350 I purchased last week but was put off by a few stories from owners (so I went for a S6 TVR???)

Anything we should be aware of please?

The car he is looking at is this one?

I'd be really grateful for any advice you can give us

ETA - Nubbin - bump - how is it?

Nubbin said:

Absolutely love mine! I'm off to have one or two silencers removed next week, to get the sound that should go with the performance. It's (nearly} all things to all drivers - a manual gearbox would be the icing on a very considerable cake...

Edited by ali_kat on Wednesday 15th October 20:56

[Topboy]

Hi

Yes to further this thread any information regarding what i should look out for would be much appreciated.......

As Ali_Kat said looking at the SL55 AMG as my good lady linked too.

Thanks in advance

Topboy

[markbe]

Topboy said:

Hi

Yes to further this thread any information regarding what i should look out for would be much appreciated.......

As Ali_Kat said looking at the SL55 AMG as my good lady linked too.

Thanks in advance

Topboy

Hi Top boy,

On these early cars it is worth investing in a full check up at your local MBenze dealer, call to make sure, but about £150- £200 should cover it.
So yes, they can cost thousands if not been looked after, also if a seller is happy for Merc to check their car you hopefully have found a good one.
Or you could buy my SL600Biturbo for 37k.!!

Mark.

[rsstman]

d3hno said:

Sadly I don't have a warranty with the car, I bought it from my Business partner!
I have had the car inspected with Mercedes and it needs new suspension on the front, looking at 3.5k for the repairs, which is nasty. I am finding the cars rear wheels spin quite frequently when i accelerate, i thought the traction control would counteract that, i will be using a set of rear tyres every 2,000 miles at this rate, the inspection did not bring up any problems with the traction control..............

looks like your business "partner" has sold u a car that needs around £5k or more spent on it to put it right, i think you should be asking him to go halves on it.... the swine.