I have an ‘07 SL550…love it……it has about 40,000 miles and has been 100% reliable.. No major repairs except for replacing one of the front struts a year or so ago….. The 2007 model year has some upgraded components with the ABC system I believe, so that’s important. As many folks comment, condition is important and buy the best you can afford. With SL models, I would look for a car that has a complete and documented service history. these are excellent cars, but like buying anything used, condition is important.

 

yeah and this particular one does have a decent service history. but a couple of things making me look closer.

and wouldn't you know it, i was wrong about the engine. it has a serial number over 100k so as i understand it that's outside of the idler pulley concern? it was manufactured in 11/2006

 

The only thing you should be worried about is getting speeding tickets…and replacing those rear tires! Sure there are some fairly common maintenance items, but with this forum, YouTube and some mechanical ability you can keep the costs down. Consider it one of your hobbies and you’ll learn a lot. Hope this helps!

 

People always stress on service history. I don't.
Sadly the things that cause most problems on R230s are not included in the Mercedes service schedule. ABC , SBC, roof system, battery control module, battery drain, transmission oil changes. None of them looked at on a service.
Buy a car on its current condition not the fact it has a pile of invoices for money spent. Condition is everything. Some of the worst and unreliable cars have the biggest service and work history. Think about it.....

 

Most R230 issues are not caused by lack of maintenance or by putting miles on them. They don't like sun, heat, and sitting. My best predictor of the number of issues you will have is the miles driven in the last 5-7 years. It's not that not driving them necessarily causes problems, but they have just not been stressed enough to reveal problems. Those ABC hoses, for example, have weakened from age and fluid exposure and fail once they see a few pressure cycles.

Cars that have been driven have already failed those parts and had them replaced. I would much rather have a 100k mile, garage kept car that has had 5k miles put on every year vs. a 20k mile, one owner car that the owner drove for 4 years and then parked in the back yard. I have a 165k mile car that is just as nice and reliable as my 50k mile one.

Honestly, this is a rare case where (in the US) northern cars might be a better choice than southern ones. Very few have been driven in salt, so you can find a New York car that has way less heat and humidity history than a Florida car and no rust issues. Your comments on the sun damage on the car you are looking at would have me concerned.

 

I owned a 2007 SL550, Excellent car, for two and a half years and just a few months ago traded it in buying a SL55 AMG which is the same color. So my neighbors can't even tell I got another car! LoL. But my SL550 was made after the engine sprocket fix, I checked the serial numbers. With 98K miles the car still looked, runs and drives like new. I mean, perfectly. The car I traded in needed absolutely nothing, not even air filters, couldn't have been maintained any better. I hope its new owner will take care of it the way I have. The SL55 AMG I bought needs a few things to be up to my maintenance standards, but that's part of the fun. I've already got the parts and have done a few things. Both are, of course, incredible cars. When I got that SL550 its engine did not run well, I figured it needed a tune-up, and boy was I right. It had been driven for several years by a little old lady, she never even got the car to 50MPH. Engine probably hadn't surpassed 3500 RPM in five years! Literally. Engine was so carboned up I thought it might need replacement! SeaFoam 2 full cans sprayed into the engine intake then sit 30 minutes, then freeway at 70-75MPH in lower gears (6000+ RPM) for 30 minutes. Smoke billowing out the exhaust in clouds the size of Notre Dame Cathedral. 30 minutes later, no more smoke, and the car ran smooth again as if I'd spent $1500 on a tuneup at a Benz dealership. After that, new spark plugs, oil change, all filters. Car ran like new every moment after that. The way I drive, my engines don't suffer carbon buildup as I drive kinda fast once they're warmed up. SeaFoam is an amazing product. Car did need a new starter as those wear out, at 97K miles but no big deal and not a costly job. In comparison, I'm told that if my 2013 GL450 SUV (twin turbo V8) were to need a new starter, it's a 12-hour engine-out job that will cost a few grand! R230 is a true automotive masterpiece. Get one in the best condition that you can. Photo is the two together when I was buying the SL55.

 

6000 plus rpm for 30 minutes that’s silly

 

Well, it was a run on a freeway at higher RPMs (5000-6500) repeatedly and somewhat sustained, in gears like 4th instead of seventh, just long enough to blow out all the carbon smoke from the engine, and yes average 6000 RPM, not sustained for a half hour but if you ever heard of a Italian tuneup that's what we did, driving up near the red line. The car hadn't seen that in years and needed it very badly.
If you go 6500 RPM in 7th gear you're gonna be going 140MPH and we couldn't do that without going to jail, so we used lower gears. This took at least 20 minutes, being careful not to blow up the engine of course, after all was said and done there was no more black smoke coming out of the engine, and it was clear as a bell that this was exactly what the car needed. Imagine a 79 year old woman who never went over 40 MPH and only drove a few miles to church and grocery stores, owning one of these cars for 5-7 years and how much carbon would build up in the engine. Go to Youtube and type in "italian tuneup" and see a few videos. You can do an italian tuneup without using SeaFoam but that product loosens up all the carbon deposits and really is beneficial for an engine that needs it. Not all cars are going to benefit from this but that SL550 thanked me profusely by running like a brand new car again. SeaFoam breaks all that carbon loose when used as directed, and driving hard for 20-25 minutes blows that carbon buildup all out. The freeway we used is a long uphill highway in Kent Washington that goes uphill from downtown Kent to I-5 and was perfect for this task... so we went up the hill really fast then back down, then up again near full throttle and did this and over again until we got no more smoke out the exhaust. My friend the illustrious Boeing engineer said this was what the car needed and he was 1000% correct. We should have made a Youtube video. I'm sure the previous owner sold the car a few thousand dollars cheaper than they could have, if they'd known what the car needed. I've bought benzos for 20 years that needed a little help in one area, and after fixing its needs up they were perfect as new for several years. For this engine, I was absolutely amazed at how much black smoke came out. Afterwards if I told you the car had 3000 miles on it and you drove it, you'd have believed that, it ran that well. And still does today. I only traded that car in to buy the SL55 AMG, which is now my third R230. I bought the SL55 AMG a little cheap too as well because of ABC warnings on the dash; what the car wanted was new accumulators that cost under $200 each. LoL
SeaFoam is an Excellent product! Two cans cost me less than $20.
My friend the engineer wants to do this in all my other cars, but they all run so well that I don't think it's necessary. I have four other Mercedes and a Maserati, and I don't drive any of them slowly. LoL
So many Benzos I've bought needing one little thing!
People don't know what to do so they take it to a dealer, who tells them to fork over big money, so they sell the car with a problem. The wire harness issue of the 1990s played right into the hands of smart guys who knew to buy later harnesses for $150 on eBay and ...fixed! I bought three Benzos that way, killer deals, super wonderful cars. For some folks, even a simple Benz tune-up can be cost-intimidating. Instead of $1000 at a dealer, I would buy the cap, rotor, plugs, online cheaply and do it myself. I had a 300E that needed a fuel distributor (spider) the dealer wanted $800 for, I bought a used one froma college student for $100 and install myself, Viola! A $2300 repair done for a hundred bucks and two hours of easy work. I've said before, Benzworld has saved me thousands of dollars since the year 2000!!
For buying advice, I'd say look for the best condition car you can find, like MikeJ65 says... I'd stay away from cosmetic damaged cars, mechanicals you can always fix.
Merry Christmas

 

 

That’s an Italian tuneup indeed

 

It really was what the car needed. After that, it ran so much better, why didn't the seller do that, they could have asked more for the car. Apparently they thought it needed severe repairs. I almost didn't buy the car. After the italian tuneup, I did what I always do with all cars I buy. New spark plugs, air filters, oil change, as first steps. With any Mercedes, it's pretty important to use the exact specific spark plugs the owner manual calls for. A lot of auto part stores will have a cross reference; NO!!! I use the exact one that Mercedes amde the car with. It's the thing that makes the spark, that makes everything happen, why would you want to deviate! I know that with the W124's they specified a copper core plug, and deviating from that would cause issues. With the V12 TT in my SL600 also, positively no substitutes. I order the iridiums directly from NGK's own website and specify No Substitutes.
That car with 98K miles on it drove as a brand new car. Only thing I had to do to it over 2.5 years was a new starter, and two oil changes (once a year with only 2000-2500 miles driven). LoL I would not hesitate to buy another 2007 SL550 although that won't be happening as I think I'm gonna have my SL55 AMG, for a long time! The SL55 AMG hasn't been serviced and maintained quite as well as my SL550, but it's getting there, and has obviously been garage kept and not neglected. And I LOVE the grey leather!!! It's nice and warm in MY garage now, and loves being here. Although the spark plugs are super easy to replace on tne M273, the spark plugs on the M113K look to be pretty easy to reach as well! Looking forward to doing those. Merry Christmas.

 

My car gets an Italian Tune-Up every time I drive it.

 

Can you describe exactly how you do the "Italian Tune Up" using the Seafoam in detail - step by step please!

 

Dr Plastic, Thank you for your service!!
Instructions on a can of Seafoam spray. Can comes with a little red straw, and you open the air intake after the filters on the way into the engine, on a V8 you'd need to use two cans of SeaFoam spray. Need one man on the throttle to keep the engine running because it will try to cut out when you're spraying the stuff in. Warm engine up fully, then spray two full cans into the engine intake slowly, it will take about 10 minutes maybe a little more. Once both cans are sprayed into the engine, shut it off for 20 minutes maybe 30. It is then breaking loose all the carbon built up in there from driving too slowly for a very long time. My SL550 ran terribly but I bought it anyway, figuring some tuneup work would help it. My Boeing engineer friend whose uncle Joe has owned an indy car repair shop for 40 years, and Corey's been helping in that shop since he was six years old (He's around 40 now) said, "Tony you need to SeaFoam it. It will not hurt a bit and you will be amazed." Okay, I said. Once sprayed into the engine and waited near a half hour, we got in and drove to the bottom of that freeway hill then going back up in 3rd and 4th gear, with at least 5000 RPM, sometimes 6000, and WOW you never saw such massive clouds of black smoke. This was confirmation that what we were doing was going to make a big difference. Corey says, This thing needs this activity it's the worst I've ever seen. The previous owner was not a 79 year old woman but she was an asian lady and not to be insulting or anything, but they are not the speed racer type, .. "typically" drive slowly and carefully, and that's actually a good thing unless you are the engine. With this car, you could drive it to New York and back and never pass 4000 RPM, and a 32-valve V8 (actually almost any engine) needs some higher RPM to keep the carbon buildup from forming. It took near a half hour of driving pretty hard, above 5000 RPM and sometimes 6500 but NOT going over the redline, until we were no longer getting the black smoke clouds. At first the car even began to run worse. But when we were done, the engine was running very smooth, 100% better, as if we had just spent over $1000 at a Benz dealer for a tuneup! Best time to do this treatment is just before a full oil and filters change. Every moment of ownership after this treatment, the engine always ran just beautifully. If your engine has other problems besides carbon buildup, it's gonna need that repaired, but if you suspect carbon buildup, Seafoam is the stuff! Two cans cost less than about $20!!!!!!!!!!!!
If that indy dealership guy i bought the car from had done this to the car before putting it for sale I am certain he'd have asked $3000-4000 more for the car, because the engine clearly needed some help. After two and a half years when I finally traded the SL550 in while buying my SL55 AMG, the dealers I traded it in to drove it and said, Gee it drives like a new car. Yes, I know! I said, you couldn't need to do anything to the car, all filters new and clean, oil new, even the wiper blades were new a year ago but had never seen a raindrop yet! A lot of people trade in a car because it has a problem, I told those guys this car isn't one of those, I just want to have that SL55 AMG. Like I said, whoever buys that car will be really happy with it and I hope they will garage it and take care of it like I take care of all my cars.
Merry Christmas!

 

My 350SL 3.7L has 182k and I drive it from London to Scotland every week, never fails !

 

Did you end up buying the car? Was this 60k mile 07 red colored and had a broken driver side seatbelt receptacle?

 

I'm a new 2007 SL550 owner. Silver/Ash, 55K miles and paid $20K for it. I did not get a PPI, but I did spend at least an hour test driving it and another hour looking over every inch before buying it. I still missed a couple of things! I guess I took a bit of a chance buying it without a PPI, but I tend to take chances on a lot of things, just my nature. During my test drive and my time looking it over, I grew to love it and just had to have it. I love it even more now. I'm glad I got the 550 and not the 500. The power is just right for the chassis I think. It effortlessly glides down the road with power to spare just waiting to be let out. The 'feel' of the car is superb. It's a comfortable performer. It makes me feel special when I'm driving it.

Can someone please summarize what the engine sprocket issue is? How can I tell if my car is before or after the fix. Thanks.

Greg

 

Greg, I believe the sprocket for the timing chains was heat treated to make it durable enough for its job, but the heat treaters did the procedure incorrectly and so ended up with softer metal that wore down more quickly, causing the problems.
The following information is courtesy of Rudeney:
The "balance shaft" problem affects M272 V6 and M273 V8 engines installed in MBZ vehicles through about mid-MY2007. The sprocket that is the "idler" for timing chain wears and creates slack in the timing chain. On the V6, this sprocket is a forged part of the balance shaft. The V8 has no balance shaft, so the sprocket is just a simple idler bolted to the front of the block. This sprocket creates the "V" in the timing chain between cam banks. Since the crankshaft is pulling down on the chain from the right-bank cam, it will remain in proper timing. However, as the chain passes down and then around this sprocket, it being worn will create a shorter distance between it and the right camshaft. This causes the camshaft position to be "retarded" or "behind" the timing of the crankshaft. The slack in the timing chain will accumulate between the crankshaft and the right camshaft. Sometimes this can be heard as a "chain rattle". That and the trouble codes of 1200 and 1208 are the only symptoms. Those errors will at first be thrown intermittently. Once the sprocket is worn enough, they will appear as "CURRENT" immediately after startup. The variable valve timing system can adjust the camshafts to compensate for the difference in angle of the right bank. It would take quite a while before any serious engine damage is done. Likely it will be a damaged timing chain due to slap or scraping against a totally worn sprocket. Another rare possibility is broken pieces of the sprocket making their way into other internal engine areas.

These engines were used starting with the SLK350 for MY2005. Beginning with MY2006, they were used fleet-wide and all non-AMG V6 and V8 MBZ's through about MY2011 used those engines. The problem seems to be a result of that part being improperly forged/hardened so that it is too soft and wears prematurely. This manufacturing fault was discovered and revised sometime late in calendar year 2006. This was about halfway through the MY2007 build. So, all MY2006 (plus the MY2005 SLK350) V6 and V8 non-AMG MBZs will have an engine in the range for potential failure. Half of those sold as MY2007 cars will, too. If you want to know if a MY2007 cars is in the range, get its engine serial number. That can be obtained from the data card (a.k.a. build sheet) using the VIN. A good site for that is VIN Decoder for Mercedes-Benz. If the V6 engine is 30 468993 or earlier, or the V8 engine is 30 088611 or earlier, it is in the range for potential premature failure.
If your serial number is after those numbers, you can sit back and breathe a sigh of relief.
Note that I use the words "premature failure". This is a moving, mechanical part and it's not going to last forever. I'm not sure what an acceptable lifetime would be, but I'd say any failure under 250K miles is far too early. Because only MBZ and its supplier know the real truth about this, there is no way to know which ones will fail. All we know is the range of engines that "could" fail. Some of these have failed very early, under 30K miles. Other did not show symptoms until well after 100K miles. Because of this, there is the possibility that all engines in the range have defective parts and its just a matter of "how early" they will fail. For this reason, my advise is to avoid buying a car with an engine int he range unless (A) you verify that it has already been repaired or (B) you get such a good deal on it that the cost to repair it is acceptable to you. Note that even as a DIY job, pulling the engine yourself, the V6 will cost you over $1,000 in parts. The V8 is less for parts and technically the engine does not have to be pulled, just "lifted" to clear the oil pan for removal.
(Back to me): my 2007 SL550 with 98K miles, ran just beautifully when i traded it in a few months ago, it had been made after the affected serial numbers; I got lucky. I still have my 2008 S550 with its M273 and it runs impeccably, with 140K miles, drives as new!! Also My 2008 GL450 with 137K miles I traded in six months ago when buying my 2013 GL450, that also ran just like new still.

 

Thank you Tonylinc for the information. The VIN decoder was fun.

Not so fun is that my engine is definitely an early one 273965 30 023256.

How does one know if it has been fixed?

Greg

 

You could call a Benz dealership and request information with the car's VIN, i think most dealers would be able to print out a servicing list. Some will not. Then, call another one.

 

Agree with pretty much what everyone is stating in this thread. I would choose a car based on how it was cared for & maintenance performed, buying from an enthusiast is always a good idea. Perfect example is my SL65, I bought it approx. 6 months ago with 19k miles & in that time I've had the whole command system go along weeping from the front abc soft lines. The car also had original brakes & tires on it which i am replacing now along with a bunch of other stuff. If you're not hung up on just seeing low milage displayed on your dash look for condition & maintenance performed

 

Sorry to the OP for a bit of a hijack.

Thanks again Tonylinc. A couple more questions.

How much does it cost to have this fixed at the dealership - estimate. Is it a DIY job for a competent wrencher? Or is there too much 'inside' knowledge needed?

Did MB ever issue a recall or fix these under warranty (prior to anything breaking)?

Greg

 

How much does it cost to have this fixed at the dealership - estimate. Is it a DIY job for a competent wrencher? Or is there too much 'inside' knowledge needed?

Did MB ever issue a recall or fix these under warranty (prior to anything breaking)?

No recall was ever issues nor will be. There was a class-action lawsuit that gave some relief to a few owners, but it was very limited in its compensation and timeframe.

I would NOT EVER let a dealer do this. First of all, they will charge double what a good indy shop would, and it's likely they will break at least one other thing doing the job. My local dealer did this job under warranty on my CLK550 and ruined the flex plat (a.k.a. flywheel) and transmission fluid pump. This is because they pulled the engine and when re-mating it to the transmission, they didn't properly seat the torque converter.

 

If it was fixed, the work probably would have been done by a dealer, so you can see if they will look it up on the VMI for you. It may have never had the problem and still may never have it. Or it could start tomorrow. It's just not predictable.

 

Dealerships cost way too much to have them do repairs, need to have a good indy shop that you can trust. I'm lucky to have a local indy shop that employs about five former MBZ shop techs and it's a family owned business about 30 years, so they care about their reputation. They are pretty busy though, but if a car has a need they are the ones I go to. They are honest at least, and know how to do the R230 work! With 55K miles on that car I would just drive it, it could be another 75K or 100K miles before it exhibits any problem, if at all. I have a few posts on here about the horrible monsters at my local Benz dealership service department, they are so bad that I wouldn't bring my cars there if they were doing tuneups and oil changes free. Not all dealerships are bad, but a good indy shop will save you a ton of dough. Just have to make sure they are competent and honest.

 

I'm very fortunate to have Elite Automotive Group just a half hour from me. They kept our old S8 going for many years.

Sparta Auto Repair - Elite Automotive (eliteautotn.com)

I'm going to drive and enjoy the heck out of my SL550 and think positive thoughts the whole time!

Greg

 

I just got a 2005 SL55 and the first thing I'm doing is replacing the O-rings at the intake neck of the oil pump.