A sense of sense of deja vu, baffles in petrol tank now gone.

gramey

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Well it seems my R230 is determined to take me down the same road as my R129.
Less than a week and I need to resolve an issue with the consumer battery and now the petrol tank baffles have decided to part company with the rest of it judging by the sounds coming from behind me.
The car is under a used car warranty from WMS, whoever they are , somehow I doubt a rattling fuel tank will be covered?
 

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Seeing as MB didn’t cover it I doubt WMS will do!!!
 

malcolm E53 AMG

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You have the option to take the car back from what I understand the baffle fix is expensive ie new tank
 

peterws1957

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I would check the T & C's of the warranty first. There are probably exclusions regarding defective workmanship etc, but surely worth a shot. Think you will find it's just one baffle that has come adrift. Apparently there are a few methods of fixing. Someone on here I think had the tank removed, cut open and the baffle fixed and the tank rewelded and reinstalled. A costly job. There was a mobile technician offering a £1500 fix at some point - quite what he did I don't know. An owner I know used a spring attached to the loose baffle and fastened to the tank sender unit to stop the rattling. If you are particularly dextrous you can apparently use very long pliers through the tank sender hole , fold up the baffle and pull it out the hole. You then have to put up with the sound of fuel sloshing about in the tank...I might be inclined to accept the rattling if warranty doesn't cough up.
 
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gramey

gramey

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There's a very nice chap in Stuttgart who for €1990 will come and fix it for me and give a 10year warranty.
I shall see what the warranty says, I don't really want to take the car back as I like it. I'll speak to a couple of well respected local independents and get their take on it.
Failing that it's a holiday in Germany this summer as if I take the car there it's €890. :)
 

peterws1957

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There's a very nice chap in Stuttgart who for €1990 will come and fix it for me and give a 10year warranty.
I shall see what the warranty says, I don't really want to take the car back as I like it. I'll speak to a couple of well respected local independents and get their take on it.
Failing that it's a holiday in Germany this summer as if I take the car there it's €890. :)
Before you do, find out what he will do exactly for 1990 euros. If its the spring thing its a touch high!;)
 

Ken_R

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I'd consider it a safety/stability issue. I don't know what the tank capacity is but if one were to work out the weight of the contents of a 3/4 full tank and consider how that would react at speed on a winding road, then I'd suggest such movement would put the driver into the realms of 'ditch finding'.

No doubt, when the vehicle was designed, the design and placement of the baffles was meticulously calculated by a competent and highly paid Engineer with a knowledge of 'fluids'. They weren't included purely on a 'whim'.

Going back a few years and 'our lot' were having a number of 'spin outs', normally exiting roundabouts at speed, with what I would call the Mk 11 Austin Metro. The one with the filler placed ahead of the rear axle. Austin/Morris/BLMC/BL (whatever their 'guise' at the time) were approached and couldn't offer an explanation.

So, on an old airfield, along with filming facilities, certain scenarios were considered and it was found that, rapidly going from a right hand radius into a left hand radius, fuel (petrol) was escaping from the filler cap into the path of the rear wheel.

When the 'evidence' was presented to the Manufacturer there was issued a Recall on that particular model. I say 'Recall', but what I got was a re-engineered filler cap through the post.:)
 
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gramey

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Doesn't the consumer act cover this...?

I'll find out what Martin at Chiltern Motors has to say when I talk to him, he seems a decent straight up bloke. I've checked the warranty and it only covers the fuel pump, MAF and EGR not the fuel tank.
This appears to be a common problem with R230's certainly up to 2006, but Mercedes wouldn't recognise it as a design flaw and issue a recall although several years ago a guy took them to court over it and won his case.
 

peterws1957

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IIRC that was exactly the problem - the tank wasn't designed correctly in the first place. Owners of the first models complained about the loud sloshing about of petrol in the tank. An extra baffle was added to the tank eventually but from what I have read it is this extra baffle which comes loose for some reason, and clatters about in the tank.
 

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To give this a sense of proportion cost wise my fuel tank was replaced with a new one in the sum of just over £1500 by Star Motor Service in October 2015........the only sensible and guaranteed permanent fix.

Mic
 
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gramey

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To give this a sense of proportion cost wise my fuel tank was replaced with a new one in the sum of just over £1500 by Star Motor Service in October 2015........the only sensible and guaranteed permanent fix.

Mic

Well I spoke to Martin at Chiltern Motors who I bought the car from this morning and unlike many used car dealers he is the top bloke I thought he was and straight away said he didn't expect me to be driving around in a car that rattles.
He's talking to the chap at Star Motors but I understand he's running a business so suggested he may wish to speak to this chap as well.
I chatted to him this morning on the phone, his name is Basie, and he's confident that the repair he does, which he assures me is not the spring method touted on the forums, will stand the test of time and guarantees his work.
Hopefully I can get it sorted on my days off next week, anyway here's the link for anyone with this tank baffle issue, if the car goes this route I'll let you know how it goes.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Benz-SL-R230-fuel-tank-baffle-noise-rattle-repair/202253925253?_trkparms=aid=111001&algo=REC.SEED&ao=1&asc=20160727114228&meid=c9db8ae760e8479d8c528f06ed0006ab&pid=100290&rk=1&rkt=4&sd=202253925253&itm=202253925253&_trksid=p2060778.c100290.m3507
 
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gramey

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Hope you get it sorted bud.

Thanks, hopefully things are going as well as they can as Basie, the guy in London on ebay, was able to fit me in this coming Thursday. As he was quite happy to get out of London for the day he's coming to me, I figured for the extra cost over what it would be for my petrol I'd have him come to mine.

I know people will say so he should as I've only had the car 9 days now but a huge shout out to Martin Traynor at http://chilternmotors.co.uk/ an absolute top bloke. No quibbling, no if's, ands or buts just how could he get it sorted for me to make it right. Not all his cars are shown on his website so if you're in the market for a used car could be worth a call to see what he's got. Fortunately he hadn't priced it up or I could have been tempted,but he had a lovely all black CLK 55 AMG cabriolet he'd just taken in when I bought my car, probably more than I could afford anyway. :)
 
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Ken_R

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Good news and top marks for promoting a dealer that looks after their customers.
 
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gramey

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Good news and top marks for promoting a dealer that looks after their customers.

I hope it doesn't breach forum rules as I have no vested interest, I live 135 miles away, but Martin really has been a top man and I believe in credit where it's due as it's rare to find such straight up dealer out there these days. :)
 

00slk

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Hope it works out for you gramey we had the same issues with our 500 when we got it. I was lucky enough to have a forum member on here do ours for us and I think he was Jameson1 user name?? A really nice chap. His repair is holding out well and when he was during the repair stage found our baffle had broken in a totally different place than normally seen so added extra retainers. I did have this documented on my post but lost all the photo's from PB :mad:
We were quoted £1800 to fit a new tank back then too.
 
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gramey

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Thanks, I'll find out tomorrow, the guy who's coming to do it was saying he's been doing these for the past two years and obviously as the cars get older he's doing more. So it appears he has some experience of doing these, certainly more than I have as I've never done one.
 

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Martin at chiltern cars is a very trustworthy dealer, I’m not sure how those tanks can be fixed in situ, even with it on the floor, we could not find a way of removing the baffle or properly securing as to not rattle in the future. Hope you get it sorted tho and would be interested on his method.
 
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gramey

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Martin at chiltern cars is a very trustworthy dealer, I’m not sure how those tanks can be fixed in situ, even with it on the floor, we could not find a way of removing the baffle or properly securing as to not rattle in the future. Hope you get it sorted tho and would be interested on his method.

I shall endeavour to find out exactly what he's putting in there, he assures me it's not the spring method but some form of bracket? I would think that providing he gives enough information, but without giving too much away, then it will actually increase his business. There's a guy in Stuttgart who also offers an in situ remedial service for this problem but at 1990 euros for him to travel here that's an expensive fix.
 

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