New member with 2003 SL350 looking for advice please

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Calleva

New Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2013
Messages
8
Location
Hampshire
Car
Mercedes SL350. TR6. TR7v8 Grinnall
Hello forum members. I have recently joined the club as I bought a 2003 SL350 on 13 August. I love the car, Topaz Blue with cream interior and Bose stereo. ( can you tell I am a lady owner, nothing said about technical stuff!).
I have travelled 344 miles in it, it goes very well and is doing 25 mpg. All well with the world one would think but sadly NO!!

Well I have hit a few ISSUES with the car and it is going back to the dealership I bought it from for fixing but I would welcome some views on the issues I have had and the possible reasons for them.

I'll list them as they have cropped up:-

1 The GLOVE BOX is very difficult to open the push button does not seem to do anything. To open I have to grab hold of the LHS near the passenger door and pull it down. This is not good as when I sit in the driver's seat I want to open it with my left hand so I can activate the Bluetooth device I have fitted in the AUX port to link to my iPod Touch. Q How easy is it to get the release button (the silver square one) to work properly? Why couldn't they just put a pull down handle on it?

2 I foolishly only test drove the car with the roof down as that is why I bought it! BUT on driving it with ROOF UP I hear quite a bit of CREAKING, more so on bumpy roads. I have siliconized all the rubbers as the car has been dry stored for about 3 months and the front rubbers looked a little dry, not sure it did much good. Now is this a "feature" I will have to live with or CAN something be done?

3 After one week of ownership I was cruising in town at 30 mph and suddenly had the Parktronic alarms go off BOTH the red lights and the audible tone. So from manual that looks like a component fail rather than dirty sensors. This problem existed for 3 days and I had to drive around with the P light on so the P was OFF (great logic Mercs have!!). BUT yesterday the Parktronic system seems to be OK again. So what is all that about?? Any views. Can a STAR system see what has happened?

4 Yesterday after taking my husband out in the car for the FIRST time since purchase I parked on the drive went to close the car with the key fob press in and nothing happened. The door buttons did not go down and the door mirrors did not park.

Another check in the manual and I discover how to lock the Bxxxxy thing and fortunately I can STILL open the driver's door with the KEYLESS GO key I have in my pocket. I have changed the battery in the key fob and the red light comes on when fob tested and I get the wing mirror lights blinking at me when I try and use the key fob but the door WILL not LOCK with the key fob or soft touch. ALSO The lock and unlock buttons on the central console DO NOT WORK now.

AND I have to lock and unlock the boot with the emergency key. The red light comes on on the open boot switch inside the car and will not open the boot.

Fortunately the fuel filler cap stays UNLOCKED whether the car is locked by the emergency key or not.THANK GOD as I would not have had enough petrol in car to get back to dealership. How would I have solved that one I wonder?

The comfort functions on the seats have stopped working I think. The other day I discovered what these switches were and used them for the first time. I am talking about the multi contour backrest switches on page 91 of OM. I had maxed out on the backrest side cushions with quite a lot of air being blown into the seat and while I was sitting in the car I thought I heard noises coming from them. My husband also tried these switches out on the drive yesterday.

You can tell where I am going with this thread---I think the PSE pump has failed, do you agree. It explains the central, locking, console locking, and comfort seat switch failures I believe. What do you all think? Do the symptoms make sense? What can be done to check all this out, will they use the STAR system?

We were checking the BOOT yesterday and all looked nice and DRY and tidy so I don't think water is a problem.

I also checked out the yellow fuses for the pump and they are both 25, not 20 as I thought they should be. When I bought the car someone had been in the fuse box recently as the cover plate was lose and not clipped in properly. What could that all be about?

AND OF COURSE TODAY the sun is shining BUT I now cannot open the roof. I get and error message saying "Close boot separator" I checked and I have closed the boot separator and made sure both sides and snug in their slots. Is this linked to the PSE pump failure and the fact that now the boot has had to locked with an emergency key and so has lost its marbles and is playing safe??

FINALLY to cap it all the soft touch rubber button on the drivers door popped out today and was so loose I have put it in a plastic bag for the garage to deal with. The switch looked quite green and corroded between the rubber button and the door contact. Are these easy to sort out. Could this have been the start of all the trouble.

Well my fellow Merc. owners this concludes my issues after 13 DAYS of ownership. As a woman I have been phased and upset by all of this. However I now have read the 422 page OM cover to cover several times and have even stuck post it notes on pages. I observe that only MERC. could write a manual of 422 pages and not include the tyre pressures in the technical section but just allude to the figures that they have put INSIDE the FUEL filler cap.

I could really do with a virtual hug as my husband has that "told you so" look on his face because he said that he thought the SL range would be a nightmare. Was he right?

As I said the car is going back to the dealership soon to be sorted any ADVICE on what else I should check that should work once they have hopefully FIXED it would be welcome. I have also taken out 2 year extended warranty in addition to the AA Gold Warranty that came bundled with the car and which would not cover any of these items according to the policy exclusions.

I believe that under the sale of goods act I now have 6 months protection where the dealer who sold me the car must rectify the faults. Am I right?:(
 
Well quite a few symptoms, but only a couple of causes as below

Hello forum members. I have recently joined the club as I bought a 2003 SL350 on 13 August. I love the car, Topaz Blue with cream interior and Bose stereo. ( can you tell I am a lady owner, nothing said about technical stuff!).
I have travelled 344 miles in it, it goes very well and is doing 25 mpg. All well with the world one would think but sadly NO!!

Well I have hit a few ISSUES with the car and it is going back to the dealership I bought it from for fixing but I would welcome some views on the issues I have had and the possible reasons for them.

I'll list them as they have cropped up:-

1 The GLOVE BOX is very difficult to open the push button does not seem to do anything. To open I have to grab hold of the LHS near the passenger door and pull it down. This is not good as when I sit in the driver's seat I want to open it with my left hand so I can activate the Bluetooth device I have fitted in the AUX port to link to my iPod Touch. Q How easy is it to get the release button (the silver square one) to work properly? Why couldn't they just put a pull down handle on it?(

Easy when you know how (I don't) but fiddly

2 I foolishly only test drove the car with the roof down as that is why I bought it! BUT on driving it with ROOF UP I hear quite a bit of CREAKING, more so on bumpy roads. I have siliconized all the rubbers as the car has been dry stored for about 3 months and the front rubbers looked a little dry, not sure it did much good. Now is this a "feature" I will have to live with or CAN something be done? (

Simple to fix. Silicon will hep, but you really need the proper stuff. Google "Krytox" - get a bottle of that & follow the instructions, but first, clean all rubber seals AND the metal panels against which they seal

3 After one week of ownership I was cruising in town at 30 mph and suddenly had the Parktronic alarms go off BOTH the red lights and the audible tone. So from manual that looks like a component fail rather than dirty sensors. This problem existed for 3 days and I had to drive around with the P light on so the P was OFF (great logic Mercs have!!). BUT yesterday the Parktronic system seems to be OK again. So what is all that about?? Any views. Can a STAR system see what has happened?(

This can happen with water getting into a sensor - it is sometimes logged as a fault which saves much trial & error

4 Yesterday after taking my husband out in the car for the FIRST time since purchase I parked on the drive went to close the car with the key fob press in and nothing happened. The door buttons did not go down and the door mirrors did not park. (
The PSE pump isn't working

Another check in the manual and I discover how to lock the Bxxxxy thing and fortunately I can STILL open the driver's door with the KEYLESS GO key I have in my pocket. I have changed the battery in the key fob and the red light comes on when fob tested and I get the wing mirror lights blinking at me when I try and use the key fob but the door WILL not LOCK with the key fob or soft touch. ALSO The lock and unlock buttons on the central console DO NOT WORK now.(
The PSE pump isn't working

AND I have to lock and unlock the boot with the emergency key. The red light comes on on the open boot switch inside the car and will not open the boot.(
The PSE pump isn't working

Fortunately the fuel filler cap stays UNLOCKED whether the car is locked by the emergency key or not.THANK GOD as I would not have had enough petrol in car to get back to dealership. How would I have solved that one I wonder?(
With difficulty!

The comfort functions on the seats have stopped working I think. The other day I discovered what these switches were and used them for the first time. I am talking about the multi contour backrest switches on page 91 of OM. I had maxed out on the backrest side cushions with quite a lot of air being blown into the seat and while I was sitting in the car I thought I heard noises coming from them. My husband also tried these switches out on the drive yesterday.(
The PSE pump isn't working

You can tell where I am going with this thread---I think the PSE pump has failed, do you agree. It explains the central, locking, console locking, and comfort seat switch failures I believe. What do you all think? Do the symptoms make sense? What can be done to check all this out, will they use the STAR system? (
Yes - the PSE pump isn't working - doesn't need STAR (just someone who has had the same symptoms!)

We were checking the BOOT yesterday and all looked nice and DRY and tidy so I don't think water is a problem.(
The PSE pump can go all by itself without water contamination - the vanes in the compressor get stick & it can/will blow the fuse to start, then the internal electronics in the pump as a finale :eek:

I also checked out the yellow fuses for the pump and they are both 25, not 20 as I thought they should be. When I bought the car someone had been in the fuse box recently as the cover plate was lose and not clipped in properly. What could that all be about?(
There's only one fuse for the PSE. In the compartment behind the driver's seat under the false floor - the yellow just left of centre. PSE pumps can run right at the 20amp limit, so a 25 amp can bypass that issue - up to a point. Clearly someone has seen this fault developing & tried to avoid it

AND OF COURSE TODAY the sun is shining BUT I now cannot open the roof. I get and error message saying "Close boot separator" I checked and I have closed the boot separator and made sure both sides and snug in their slots. Is this linked to the PSE pump failure and the fact that now the boot has had to locked with an emergency key and so has lost its marbles and is playing safe??(
If the PSE pump isn't working, the roof won't go down. Do check the fuse again - pulling & reinserting can sometimes get the PSE to run again - but only for a short time. It is a past PSE pump!

FINALLY to cap it all the soft touch rubber button on the drivers door popped out today and was so loose I have put it in a plastic bag for the garage to deal with. The switch looked quite green and corroded between the rubber button and the door contact. Are these easy to sort out. Could this have been the start of all the trouble.(
A common problem - cannot be repaired - needs new handle - about £180 (ready painted though!)

Well my fellow Merc. owners this concludes my issues after 13 DAYS of ownership. As a woman I have been phased and upset by all of this. However I now have read the 422 page OM cover to cover several times and have even stuck post it notes on pages. I observe that only MERC. could write a manual of 422 pages and not include the tyre pressures in the technical section but just allude to the figures that they have put INSIDE the FUEL filler cap.

I could really do with a virtual hug as my husband has that "told you so" look on his face because he said that he thought the SL range would be a nightmare. Was he right?

As I said the car is going back to the dealership soon to be sorted any ADVICE on what else I should check that should work once they have hopefully FIXED it would be welcome. I have also taken out 2 year extended warranty in addition to the AA Gold Warranty that came bundled with the car and which would not cover any of these items according to the policy exclusions.

I believe that under the sale of goods act I now have 6 months protection where the dealer who sold me the car must rectify the faults. Am I right?:(
I think you are, but it's all really down to two faults - the PSE needs to be replaced as does the exterior door handle. It will cost about £1000 all in - the supplying dealer should get it sorted. Consider yourself hugged, get the dealer to get it sorted then go & enjoy!!
 
Just an update to the central locking problems. I followed the guidance found on this website and extracted the yellow 20amp fuse in the black holder. Found it had blown. Replaced it and all seems ok. What causes the fuse to blow? We were testing out the comfort functions on the seats during the drive could that have overloaded the system. Should I do what some have suggested put a 25amp fuse in? I get the feeling I may need to buy a pack of these little darlings for future use!!!
 
Just an update to the central locking problems. I followed the guidance found on this website and extracted the yellow 20amp fuse in the black holder. Found it had blown. Replaced it and all seems ok. What causes the fuse to blow? We were testing out the comfort functions on the seats during the drive could that have overloaded the system. Should I do what some have suggested put a 25amp fuse in? I get the feeling I may need to buy a pack of these little darlings for future use!!!

Difficult call - a 25 amp shouldn't cause any potential danger & if it stays ok, fine. If it blows, then a new PSE pump is on the horizon but as long as it is not wet, warranty should cover it.

Comfort seat only run for about 20 minutes to avoid the pump overheating. In theory, if one ran for the 20 minutes then the other right after, then the combined 40 (assuming the pump didn't realise what it was being asked to do) could have overloaded it.

and yes, do buy some spare fuses!

Just in case the pump decides to give up when you just locked the car, make sure (now) that the metal key will open doors & boot - very common for the boot in particular to seize from lack of use. Also, when the car locks, so does the storage compartment behind the driver's seat (and it has no key) - should the pump fail having locked, use the meatl key to get in, move the seat forward to the max and on the near vertical front of the said compartment you will see a leather covered panel - that unclips (just prise off with a screwdriver) to allow access to the fuses with a pair of long nose pliers (or a small hand!!)
 
Thanks for all the advice. This car has proved a challenge for me. I have owned cars for 40 years and have never had to cope with the repercussions of failed electronic systems. Even my Vauxhall Omega Elite just worked. One final question. I have read on the board some members have had bigger issues with a failed PSE pump, namely they cannot access the fuel tank as the filler cap locks up. Mine actually remained open, even when locked by the emergency key!!! Others have said on R230s there is not an emergency access switch on the inside RHS of the boot. So if the filler cap locks in another "electronic failure episode" on my 2003 SL350, how on earth do you access the fuel tank?

Thanks again for all the super help you very knowledgeable members put on this board. I have even picked up a fuse map here, how to sort out the glove box switch and replacing the door handle to repair the soft lock function. I had assumed everything had to come out on the inside of the door. Thanks again for setting it right that you don't have to do that. I am not capable of doing any of that but I hope to find a man who can if the garage fails me.
 
Re the fuel flap there is a manual realease inside the boot. But its not the easiest of things to get to. Its hidden behind the offside boot trim.

If you let us know what area you are in we can advise you on a local indy that we would recommend you use if the garge fails you.
 
Your in luck that is an area i cover if you need it
 

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