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

[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

[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.....