My SLK 230 Kompressor is poorly

[wilbo123]

Dear All

Anyone know a half decent mobile mechanic !!!!

Came to go to work last night, and car sort of runs, at low revs every thing is ok, but if I try to accelerate the car just splutters and slows down, so can't really drive any where, as my current top speed is about 10 mph.

I live in Newark, Nottinghamshire, half way between Notingham and Lincoln, tried the dealer in Lincs, he said bring it in !!!!!, 2 hour drive at 10 mph, also tried Mobilo Life, but car is 14 days too old to be covered. The will come out though for 185 quid, plus labour, plus parts.

If I get desperate that may have to do, rang a couple of local garages, but none of them were confident they could do anything.

Knew I should have got breakdown cover

 

[marnix]

Cheapest option could be to join a breakdown service.
Norwich Union does one for about £50 including "Home start"
They'll take you to the nearest dealer and you are covered for the next 12 months.

 

[robbo]

Dont know a mechanic in your area, but if I was putting any money on the problem it would be a faulty MAF sensor. Easy to change yourself, too.

 

[wilbo123]

Lets hope this fixes it !!!

Woo Hoo

Thanks for that, looked up MAF Sensor on the forum and found pictures of where it was, took it out and "cleaned" it, car is still not really drivable, but much better.

German and Swedish are sending me new one tomorrow.

Price £202 with next day express delivery (Before 1pm)
Dealer £275 and you'll have to come and fetch it (When they know car is out of action)

If I didn't need the car next week could have got one on Ebay for £106, but sounded a bit too good to be true and didn't want to wait and find out.

Also stunned the "Merc Trained Mechanic" that rang me back today, he was very impressed that I had worked it out over night.

Guess he should have rung me back sooner !!!

Short runs are not good for SLK's, will take the long way home from now on !!!

 

[cjcor]

also tried Mobilo Life, but car is 14 days too old to be covered. The will come out though for 185 quid, plus labour, plus parts.
(

Er... didn't know that SLKs have been in production for 30+ years!!!

IMHO, Mobilo life cover is for 30 years.

 

[wilbo123]

When is 30years, only 7years long ?

You'ld think 30years is a long time, but not when it comes to Mobilo Life.

Mobilo Life onlt applies to car first registured on or after 28/10/1998.

My SLK was registured on the 10/10/98 18 days too early.

Did mention on the phone to Mercedes that my car was exactly the same as the cars registured 18 days later, but they either didn't want to know or didn't care !

Here is the best bit, the helpfull man in customer care asked "haven't you got Green Flag or AA Breakdown cover", Hmmm if I had why would I be on the phone to Mobilo !!!

So I was left with a car that won't go and niether the dealer or mobilo could really be bothered to do anything to help, couldn't even offer me any suggestions ! It was only when I got a bit miffed with the guy at Mobilo that he told me you could pay for the use of the Mobilo service, but at 185 call out fee, plus parts and labour, then the tow to the dealer, because there is no way he would have a MAF Sensor with him, that would have been very expensive "help".

Mobilo Life "Our best kept secret", I can see why !!!

 

[maddog]

Get yourself some breakdown cover i have mobililife but still have AA and after breaking down in my wifes car on Saturday i cannot reccomend them highly enough, they came out and diagnosed the fault and delivered the car to the dealer.

Top service all took about 3 hours and cost £100 a year , well worth it imo

 

[wilbo123]

AA Cover it is !

Signed up today with the AA.

And here was me thinking I'll get something special a Merc

Mercs "never" breakdown !!!

Ho Hum

Owned a Renault, it was pants
Owned a Honda, very good, never went wrong in 6 years.
Owned a Vectra, boring, never went wrong in 9 years.

Own a Merc, 600 quid to fix roof after 1 year
202 quid to fix sensor after 1 year and 3 months
(First time I have had to fix it myself !!!)

And yes full Merc Service History, was last done 4 months ago.

 

[robbo]

To be fair, 7 years is getting on for a car, even a merc. There is bound to be the odd problem in a car of this age IMO, it goes with the territory.

 

[jberks]

Air sensors are common failure points for most cars these days. Think yourself lucky yours lasted 7 years - mine went at 4 years old!

What you say is true, Vectra , Honda - very reliable these days, certainly as reliable as any Merc - just soul-less and boring IMO. They are plastic consumer devices, like a PC or a washing machine. Yes, you can get 200bhp hondas, but thats just a trick with the maths as they rev so high its positively unpleasant. Park the slk in a car park and look around. 95% or the cars are clones of each other. The only distinctive one is yours.

On a more positive note, find yourself a decent local MB specialist. at 7 years old with no Mobilio there is absolutely no reason to stick with the dealer, (unless you have more money than sense) and a specialist would probably have collected your car, fixed it and popped it back on your driveway. Mine would anyway. - They have to maintain a reputation, even if the dealer doesn't.

The merc makes me smile every time I get behind the wheel, something no jap washing machine ever did, whatever the spin speed, and thats worth a lot on an icy morning at 6:30. so I'll stick with it for now, even with poor dealer service and the occasional glitch.

 

[wilbo123]

Rosey Glow

That was the reason I bought my SLK in the first place.

Alfter a crap day a work on a hot summers evening, there is nothing like pulling back that little red button and driving home with the roof down.

I still have a little chuckel too myself every time I put my foot down a little too quickly, and the warning light starts to blink as the rear wheels struggle to inject all that power into the tarmac.

And then there was one time, just after I had got the car, I was driving home with the roof down past my local corner shop, outside was a large group of preteen kids, mounted on their tresty bikes, as I went past, one of then said " core look at that Mercedes", thats was never going to happen in a Vectra !!!

I'll let you know if the new MAF Sensor sort it, should be here today by 1pm

 

[television]

That was the reason I bought my SLK in the first place.

Alfter a crap day a work on a hot summers evening, there is nothing like pulling back that little red button and driving home with the roof down.

And then there was one time, just after I had got the car, I was driving home with the roof down past my local corner shop, outside was a large group of preteen kids, mounted on their tresty bikes, as I went past, one of then said " core look at that Mercedes", thats was never going to happen in a Vectra !!!

I'll let you know if the new MAF Sensor sort it, should be here today by 1pm

Folding roofs on car were around in 1932. Not MB

Malcolm

 

[wilbo123]

Woo Hoo

Thanks to you guys my SLK is now back in perfect health.

Took it down to my local diagnostics guy, he checked all the faults in the ECU and cleared them all off, also pointed out that the O2 Sensor had seen better days but was still servicable.

Car now runs like a dream, and full power has been restored, all for a fraction of the price it would have cost me to get someone out to look at it.

Very happy bunny

I won't have to bike to work after all !

 

[Retired]

The battery failed on my car on Sunday. I also discovered that my car is a few weeks too old to qualify for Mobilo life cover. It had four years cover apparently. Also explained complete MBSH. They didn't want to know.

On the bright side I have my car insured through the MB / Norwich Union scheme which, apart from being v price competitive, includes RAC cover.

The RAC were with me within an hour!

 

[edythedraft]

slk

just like to agree with jberks,i have had my slk for a month now,its a 230,will full amg bodykit,and 1998,only 40 000 on the clock,full dealer history.i traded a 1 year old mazda 2.0 sport to get the slk,ans had to pay 1800 cash too,but its been worth every penny.the mazda was a fantastic car,ive had 5 and never had a problem with anyone,not even a flat battery,but it dosnt matter how much kit you put in them,its a box that gets you from a to b ,nothing more.lost count of the comments i get at work about my "FLASH" car,and the amout of second glances you get,you never get that driving a box.it brings a smile to my face every time i drive it,except when i have to drive to the petrol station,as im only getting about 20 to the gallon,but at the moment even thats not wiping the smile from my face.might change when it breaks down,but thereis a couple of local specialists,so hopefully that wont be too dear.so despite its faults,its worth every penny to me.

 

[JY Kelly]

Merc Dealer in Lincoln is absolute rubbish. They always fit parts you don't need and generally bump up the bill.

Doncaster is no better though, so good luck.

I'm considering selling my CLK as I'm sick of them all.

 

[jberks]

take it to Merc Care in Leeds. A bit of a drive but they know what they're doing and the prices are back on planet earth.

 

[Blobcat]

The battery failed on my car on Sunday. I also discovered that my car is a few weeks too old to qualify for Mobilo life cover. It had four years cover apparently. Also explained complete MBSH. They didn't want to know.

I was under the impression that the Mobillife 'warranty' became 'yearly' dependant upon keeping the MB service history up, after the first 3/4 years. Is this not now the case??