Mercedes Questions?
 

I just bought a used Mercedes SLK 230 Kompressor for my wife and I have so many questions and have heard so many mixed answers are there any mercedes owners out there??????

I've had a 98 SLK 230 for over a year now. What do you want to know?

i used to work for a mercedes dealer, shoot and well see what we can figure out.

I have a good friend with this car, Ill pass on any questions you have to him,

I currently own an S-55 and previously owned an older model ('92) SL, so I'd love to help. There's plent of people on the board with good car knowledge and skill.

I've owned a couple diesel mercs.


There is nothing more expensive than a cheap mercedes.

They are mainly questions about changing the oil, here they go:

Do I have to take it to Mercedes Dealership to change the oil?

Is it gonna cost me over $200?

Can I learn to do it myself?

Do you have to pump it out through the top and not drain through the bottom?

Is the filter inclosed in a cannister in a complicated way?

Is it 8 quarts of full sythentic that is reccomended to be changed every 2,000 miles even though the oil manufacurer recomends 10,000 miles?

Sorry so many questions, its just that I have read the Mercedes owners manual frant to back about five times now and no where does it have any of this info, thanks!

You can buy a topsider (oil sucker) and do it yourself from above. The filter is up high and easy to get to. Of course it can also be changed from the underside. My wife works for an independent shop and I let them do it from their lift. No problems at all. Crawling on the ground to change it without oiling your driveway is going to be a challenge.

There's nothing tricky about the filter. I do buy mine from the dealership but I don't know if there's any advantage or virtue using genuine MB. It's just the path of least resistance and worry for me.

I change mine every 5,000 using Mobile 1. If I was autocrossing the car I'd change it more often but most everyone agrees 5k miles is reasonable.

There are two R170 SLK class specific forums that I've found.

BenzWorld is the busier of the two, but MBWorld has a decent forum also.

What model year is your SLK? By far, the most common problem with this car is intermittent taillight failure. You'll know when it happens because you'll get a light on the right side of the dash. The traditional fix is to replace the entire housing for about $180 at the dealer. That's what I did when my passenger side failed and when it failed again 6 months later it was a free fix under service warranty. If it ever happens again, I will try one of the home-brew fixes you can find at the above sites or buy a replacement housing on eBay.

You may also see a flashing low fuel light when you have plenty of gas. This indicates a pressurization problem in the fuel system. When you gas your car do NOT overfill and when you put the cap on, tighten to the first click and stop. If you overfill you'll get gas in your charcoal canister. I don't know exactly why, but I am told this is bad.

About the only other really common problem is paint peeling off the console. Let me know if you have this issue - I had mine professionally repainted for not that much $$ and it looks terrific.

I have an ISO file of some kind of SLK service manual CD except it's not really a service manual. It does have a lot of assembly/disassembly and animations and stuff though. PM me and I'll give you a link to download it.

I put one of these in my SLK and it works very well - much better than RF modulator or cassette adaptor.

How many miles are on your car? If it's an automatic, there is no way to check the fluid - the dipstick is sealed. At 60K miles or so a lot of experienced owners recommend you have it flushed and refilled and have a dipstick installed. Not many trannys go bad but if it does, it's really expensive to fix.

You can put a different pulley on your supercharger and pick up about 20 hp for around $500.

I can't think of much else right now. I drove mine every day until about 6 weeks ago when it got demoted to being my wife's daily driver. I really liked the car and the retractible hardtop is fucking genius. You'll never ever want a soft top again. Enjoy and be sure to let us know how it goes. Post a picture or two!

It's a 1999 with 62,000 miles on it, I already have the warning light on the right side of the dash but all the exterior lights work fine...Do you know where I can purchase the topsider from? Thanks alot bodypainter I really appreciate it!