Majour power loss in SL 55 AMG

[Phynyxun]

I was driving down the road the other day in my SL 55 and caught up a truck, decided to overtake and when I pulled out on the other side of the road and pushed slightly harder on the accelerator pedal I noticed I wasnt accelerating at all, so I pushed more and more, eventually I had to put the throttle all the way to the floor... (something I have never had to do before) a few seconds later power returned, which led the back tyres to start spinning (the road was wet) luckily I caught the car on opposite lock but it was a bit scary...

Phoned up Mercedes and the cars going in next week, anyone got any ideas what the problem was/ still is?

 

[BillyBoy]

Sounds rather like the speedtronic limiter. This only cuts out on Kick Down once you have reached the pre-set speed. Is there any chance you may have knocked it on accidently, or there could be a fault with it.

Just my 2p worth.

Cheers,

Bill

 

[Phynyxun]

Could be, I dont really ever use any of them gadgets... I know I should, I paid for them... But I dont trust them ...

It does seem to me though that the sudden power jolt shouldnt have happened... I mean, there was a good chance I could be in hopsital now suffering from 10 ton truck crushed syndrome instead of "that was close" syndrome...

PS Thanks for telling me it cuts out on kick down, I didnt know that... every time I use it and am too lazy to switch it off I tap the breaks... :roll:

 

[steveperry]

Sounds rather like the speedtronic limiter. This only cuts out on Kick Down once you have reached the pre-set speed. Is there any chance you may have knocked it on accidently, or there could be a fault with it.

PS Thanks for telling me it cuts out on kick down, I didnt know that... every time I use it and am too lazy to switch it off I tap the breaks... :roll:

Umm the speedtronic limiter isn't swtiched off by using the brakes... speedtronic limits your speed to a setting of your choice and prevents you from accelerating past that speed setpoint unless you floor the accelerator pedal and activate kickdown as Billy stated above.

It's the tempomat cruise control that is switched off by dabbing the brakes.

S.

 

[Phynyxun]

I had to go out and try that... it has a speed limiter...

I honestly didnt know.

 

[piestore]

sl 55

Hi


I don't understand why the car went side ways as ESP should have corrected this before you had a chance to react, sounds very odd
I would get a full system check and short test report

 

[Phynyxun]

Its done that before, out roundabouts etc...

Basically if you can get both wheels spinning at the same speed the car doesnt think its spinning at all, well thats the conclusion I have come to...

Only ever done it in the wet though. Will have to try and do it in the dry...

I'm scared to use full throttle on it though.

 

[BillyBoy]

Your ESP should detect rear wheel spin even if both wheels are spinning at the same speed as it compares all four wheels and should pick up the difference in speed between the front and the rear wheels and reign back the power.

It's probably also worth noting that although systems such as ABS and ESP are good, in the immortal words of Scotty, "You cannae change the laws of physics". Whilst they try to maintain control of the vehicle, if your momentum is greater that the available traction on the road surface, you WILL skid. ABS will work in a straight line because it matches your deceleration to the available grip, but on bend you can still get understeer or oversteer if you are going fast enough or the road is slippery enough. Even with some of the best systems in the world, Ralph Shumacher still managed to put his Williams off the track four times at Suzuka, not to mention all the cars that crashed out in Brazil (Though you'll note that the 2 McLaren-Mercedes stayed on the track, as did the Safety car - a CLK 55 AMG if I remember correctly!)

 

[dieselman]

I've been in an SL55 and can guarentee that you can spin the wheels for a short period before the sytem backs off the power enough to regain control.
This is in a straight line let alone cornering, and not even foot to the floor.

This car is an enormous performer.