SRS Light- Intermittent start problem SL

SRS Light- Intermittent start problem SL

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stuttgartmetal

Original Poster:

8,108 posts

217 months

Sunday 3rd December 2006
quotequote all
Not my car, never posted on the Merc forum, greetings to all and sundry.
Beautiful cars, beautiful city.

I was round a friends house this afternoon, and he tells me he's going to buy an SLK.
He's got a really nice 1998 SL. Might be a 300 or 320 not sure which.
Nice car, silver.Full history, second owner. Hard and soft tops present.
AMG alloys, looks great. Ive advised him to keep it
He's selling it because he's lost faith in it, and doesn't want to be left stranded.
He's had a problem with it starting.
Its an intermittent problem, doesn't happen all the time, but has happened a few times to him.

It starts, but as soon as he touches the throttle it cuts out.
All the binnacle lights go out, except the SRS light, which stays lit.
Turning the key makes no difference, its just dead.
He clicks the ignition switch back and forth for I don't know how long, and then it starts. He's given the ignition switch some percussive maintenance [whacked it] when it did this once, and it started straight after.
He obviously now has lost faith in it.
Its a superb motor, and I'd be tempted if I wasn't loved up with my 3.2
I thought there might be a similar problem to the DME relay problem you get with 84-89 Carreras.

Has anyone experienced this problem before, or have a solve ?

dazren

22,612 posts

262 months

Monday 4th December 2006
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Having a complete stab in the dark here. SRS relates to the airbags on mercs. Could it be some sort of airbag sensor problem effectively stopping the car from revving ie pulling away? GregE240 knows a couple of reasonably priced MB specialists who do a lot of work with these SLs, maybe worth speaking to one of them. I've emailed Greg to bring this thread to his attention.

Edited by dazren on Monday 4th December 09:17

GregE240

10,857 posts

268 months

Monday 4th December 2006
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Same problem as I had with my SL.

The remedy was a new ignition switch, cost just under £300. Car now starts first time, every time. Bit annoying as I had already had a replacement switch a year before, but it turned out the original mechanic had swapped out an old design switch with an old design switch. Now replaced with updated design switch and good as gold.

So....make sure they order the newer design switch!!

The cutting out is the immobiliser, thats kind of normal behaviour.

Its an SL320, 300 was earlier.

Reference: www.mercedesshop.com/shopforum/sho
HTH
Greg

Edited by GregE240 on Monday 4th December 09:18

stuttgartmetal

Original Poster:

8,108 posts

217 months

Monday 4th December 2006
quotequote all
Big thanks Daz, big thanks Greg, spot on.
Best Wishes

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