I have a 2000 SL500 that I just purchased with 20K miles. Both doors made a sound that was very annoying for what I believe is uncalled for in a car of this caliber so I had both Door Check Straps replaced by an Indy for $225 labor + $53 parts = $278.
As far as I am concerned it was well worth the cost. Both doors are like new. It appears that a ball bearing like part in the door stay goes bad so no amount of lubricant will fix it. In fact I tried WD40 and it made it worse. The Indy showed me the used part and it had plenty of grease.
I have a 2000 SL500 that I just purchased with 20K miles. Both doors made a sound that was very annoying for what I believe is uncalled for in a car of this caliber so I had both Door Check Straps replaced by an Indy for $225 labor + $53 parts = $278.
As far as I am concerned it was well worth the cost. Both doors are like new. It appears that a ball bearing like part in the door stay goes bad so no amount of lubricant will fix it. In fact I tried WD40 and it made it worse. The Indy showed me the used part and it had plenty of grease.
Lynns,
I may have discovered the mystery of the noisey door check. "Lubricated by anal retentive R-129 owners". I removed the offending part, waiting for delivery of new parts. I disassembled the door check, cleaned it, removed all the old lube, relubed and installed it in the door, same old, same old, noisey as ever. Took it apart again, no serious signs of wear (it is Mercedes) disassembled, removed all the lube, put it back togeather dry, put it in the door, QUIET, no noise works like new. Maybe we are oiling parts that should not be oiled, forget the WD-40 take it out and soak in a wax/grease remover. Hope I am correct, I'll leave the cleaned up part in the door and see how it goes. One final note don,t try taking the door check apart unless you have a bench vice to compress the springs to get it reassembled
Lynns,
I may have discovered the mystery of the noisey door check. "Lubricated by anal retentive R-129 owners". I removed the offending part, waiting for delivery of new parts. I disassembled the door check, cleaned it, removed all the old lube, relubed and installed it in the door, same old, same old, noisey as ever. Took it apart again, no serious signs of wear (it is Mercedes) disassembled, removed all the lube, put it back togeather dry, put it in the door, QUIET, no noise works like new. Maybe we are oiling parts that should not be oiled, forget the WD-40 take it out and soak in a wax/grease remover. Hope I am correct, I'll leave the cleaned up part in the door and see how it goes. One final note don,t try taking the door check apart unless you have a bench vice to compress the springs to get it reassembled
I'm glad you brought this up. Whenever I tried to lubricate my check straps with WD-40 it seemed to make it worse just as you found. It wasn't until they were replaced that my problem went away. I looked at the old door strap quickly and thought it was the ball bearing part that wore out and needed replacing but maybe you found something else.
Please keep us posted.
BTW, when I was test driving SL's prior to purchase I found that six of six cars had a noisy driver side door check strap in addition to the one I purchased.
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