R231 SL400 soft close boot failure

[AdamF1]

Morning All!

My 2015 R231 has been a pretty reliable beast. Hitting 75K miles now which I guess could be seen as quite a lot but it is my daily driver and I'm doing a 100mile return commute at least 3 days a week.

I noticed last year that cold weather seems to affect the soft close latch and it fails to lock into place after opening. usually this rectifies itself after a drive and I assume the mechanism has warmed up a bit. This morning was not frosty here in Kent but the cold seems to have broken it again! Unfortunately this time, it is still broken after arriving at my destination.

I can seen this is a motorised electrical device and by looking up the part it seems to be a very sealed unit and not user serviceable. So, I'm thinking to cure this issue I will need to swap it out. Found a Chinesium one on ebay for £130 but I'm not sure I'm brave enough. Might need to get the original part at a fairly eye watering £450!

Anybody got any experience of this fault or indeed a potential fix?

 

[sl500amgsport]

Morning All!

My 2015 R231 has been a pretty reliable beast. Hitting 75K miles now which I guess could be seen as quite a lot but it is my daily driver and I'm doing a 100mile return commute at least 3 days a week.

I noticed last year that cold weather seems to affect the soft close latch and it fails to lock into place after opening. usually this rectifies itself after a drive and I assume the mechanism has warmed up a bit. This morning was not frosty here in Kent but the cold seems to have broken it again! Unfortunately this time, it is still broken after arriving at my destination.

I can seen this is a motorised electrical device and by looking up the part it seems to be a very sealed unit and not user serviceable. So, I'm thinking to cure this issue I will need to swap it out. Found a Chinesium one on ebay for £130 but I'm not sure I'm brave enough. Might need to get the original part at a fairly eye watering £450!

Anybody got any experience of this fault or indeed a potential fix?

No experience here but might be worth checking the power supply to it first before investing in the part, if there is a loom issue stopping the power reaching the motor, a new unit will not fix.

Can you test the wiring to it?

I know what you mean about the cold, my 2014 SL500 like yours has been incredibly reliable and also sits at 70k miles. One of the headlamp washers decided not to fully retract the other day, put that down to wintry conditions, decided to px as I did not want to push my luck for another 3 years with the car....

Best car I have ever owned though in 40 years motoring!

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[SL63 Mark]

Don't know if it is worth a thought, but boot latches are prone to failing due to the wires in the boot hinge wearing out due to constant flexing.

 

[peterws1957]

If all else fails I'd be tempted to look at a guaranteed used part from a breaker.

 

[ajlsl600]

Check all ur micro witches. Things must work in sequence.

 

[AdamF1]

So a little update, I got out there with a can of WD-40 and spayed some up in the latch mechanism which seemed to do the trick...for now. I'm planning on some using some of my motorbike dry chain lubricant in there next for a longer term solution.

Did check for fault codes first and she was clean.

I've done about 50K miles in 3 years in total in the SL so might do a little monologue on my experience of it in another thread! It has been a fine machine to own for the best part.

 

[sl500amgsport]

So a little update, I got out there with a can of WD-40 and spayed some up in the latch mechanism which seemed to do the trick...for now. I'm planning on some using some of my motorbike dry chain lubricant in there next for a longer term solution.

Did check for fault codes first and she was clean.

I've done about 50K miles in 3 years in total in the SL so might do a little monologue on my experience of it in another thread! It has been a fine machine to own for the best part.

Great news, the R231 really is a beautiful beast, bet you can't wait for Summer again, had my roof off today with airscarf and heated seats doing their job, got plenty of funny looks but as I will be losing her soon wanted to make the most of the time left...

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[AdamF1]

Great news, the R231 really is a beautiful beast, bet you can't wait for Summer again, had my roof off today with airscarf and heated seats doing their job, got plenty of funny looks but as I will be losing her soon wanted to make the most of the time left...

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I'm sure like many others here, I put the roof down anytime it's not raining really. Although not so much for my M25 commute, due to the noise fatigue of all the traffic and blowy hair! I remember reading on here that's important to use the roof in winter or it can seize up from lack of use.

The plan is to keep the SL for as long as possible really. I can't see why I would need something quicker, the remap has taken it up to circa 400 ponies and it's bordering on unnecessarily fast for a road car. Opportunities to open it up and really work the chassis are few and far between both with the state of the roads and the traffic.

 

[sl500amgsport]

I guess just the V8 howl would entice you, not for performance as there is barely 1 second to 60 difference and the car is heavier, for me it was an itch that needed scratching, done now so back to 6 cylinders bolted to a hoover....

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[ajlsl600]

So a little update, I got out there with a can of WD-40 and spayed some up in the latch mechanism which seemed to do the trick...for now. I'm planning on some using some of my motorbike dry chain lubricant in there next for a longer term solution.

Did check for fault codes first and she was clean.

I've done about 50K miles in 3 years in total in the SL so might do a little monologue on my experience of it in another thread! It has been a fine machine to own for the best part.

Don't reccomend any thick oil 3 in one max I wud say, thicker oil and anything that holds onto crxp not a good thing