What questions should I ask when buying a used SL??? for in used SL's??? (R129 cars)

Am looking to buy an SL from the early 1990's, and am keen to know what problems to look out for. I'm told that power hoods is a good place to start checking, but how many of you SL owners have actually suffered problems with your power hood mechanisms? I've never seen the power hood open up or close, but what should I look out for when I'm given a demonstration by a salesman? I'm also hoping that even on the earliest R129 SLs from the early 1990s etc, there won't be any problems of rust/corrosion under the wheel arches etc, but might I be wrong? I'll check the obvious places.

Any other words of wisdom for me, to help me avoid buying a bad car? Here in the UK, buying a used SL from a Merc dealer brings peace of mind regarding service histories etc but prices are so much higher than similar cars sold privately. Therefore I'll be searching the private ads and would be grateful for any advice on what questions (other than the usual) to ask, and what to look for. Many thanks
Jack D.

[waynesworld]

Jack D. The R129's are great cars IMHO and you would surely enjoy touring the UK rolling hills with the top (hood) down in one of these cars. I feel that the electrical systems are the greatest concern with the early R129's (maybe all years). The car has many computer systems and control modules which are hard to diagnose and this is made more difficult by the unavailable diagnostics and repair manuals.

My recommendation upon locating a candidate would be to first operate everything and if all seem to work than bring the car to an regarded MB mechanic for a detailed once-over. Searching on 129 and/or SL in the Tech Help forum will give you a good idea of what can be expected.

Good luck and enjoy!

[elau]

Jack D,
I would not recommend to buy from a private owner, even most R129 are pretty pampered cars. You may have to spent a little more from the dealer, at least you can some form of warranty. In most cases, the dealer would at least fix the more obvious problems before putting the car on the lot. Whereas, private sellers tend to be a little close lip on the type of problem the car has, and you may find a few surprises after you purchase the vehicle. I always recommend to buy with StarMark Warranty on any SL from Mercedes, but thats just my opinion.
I do not know much about the electrical problem that SL has, for I have not encountered any. But I do know that the 104 engine tends to have a leaky head gasket, so be sure to check that one out. You may want to take the car out for a long test drive, and keep the car overnight if at all possible to see if you find any trace of oil on the ground the next day. Good luck for your car hunting.

95 R129
98 W163

[MBenzNL]

Jack,

Start looking for possible repaired damages caused by collisions. I don't know how the average UK SL is being driven, but there are a lot of R129 SL's in the Netherlands and Germany that have had some serious bodywork performed.
Check the trunk (behind the rear quarter upholstery and near the spare and battery) for repaired damages and chassis beams. Check the trunk floor for rust (inner side of the spare wheel well near the outer towing eye).
Check the front chassis beams and engine bay for possible repaired damage as well.
Check the climate control/airco and be sure that it functions properly (these repairs can end up rather expensive).

The electrical/pneumatic top either functions or functions not. Let the sales man remove the hardtop and close the soft top (to be sure that it works and to check the condition of the rear part of the soft top).

When the R129 SL is maintained properly and hade has not been caught in a collision, it will not rust under the wheel arches.

good luck & greetingz,

[G-Benz]

Ditto on the previous post...

Repairs on this model can erode your pocketbook rather quickly, so I would absolutely get one from a dealer (with said warranty).

My guess would be to check the condition of the softtop (a completely new top + installation is over $2000US!). Make sure the hydromechanical motors for the top operation are in working order.

Also check the operation of the seats, especially the driver's side (due to the more frequent use).

My used purchase was from the dealership, and I had problems with the above (of course, conveniently not covered under warranty).

Most of these cars are pampered, and all of us SL owners have yet to see what failure trends will occur when they really start piling on the mileage...

[tony s]

Check for water leaks coming from where the roof meets the front windshield. All though I've never had that problem I've heard the early r129's had several recalls to address the issue.

tony

Hi there,

I have a mid 1995 model. SL 500, over 80.000 miles.

I looked a long time in Germany and saw a lot of SLs with major reapairs done before. I also have problems with very tiny leakage at the passengers windshild side.

I think in 1994 Mercedes changed the rubber at the front side windows to prevent leakage which is supposed to be worse in older models.

Besides this I have had no troubles so far, exept a leaking airco ($ 500).

All I heared is that the 300 SL 24 is the worst possible choice because of the oil leakage of all the early 4-Valve engines. The 500 is a pleasure to drive and fuel consumption is o.k. The engine is reliable.

Avoid large wheel, as they increase wear and pressure on the steering and power steering might leak (mine does as well).

Altogether there is alsways some hazzle, but when the sun is shining, top is down -> perfect world

[Momo]

I bought a 1991 500SL here in Switzerland two years ago, with 29k km. (18k miles) on the clock. It has generally been problem free, with the following exceptions:

- Passenger side hardtop leak. Contrary to previous notes, these were only fixed under warranty when complained about. The SL 129 has only had one recall as far as I can determine. It is for a potential fire hazard on the headlight washer pump. I have not been able to determine how to fix the leak, but only use the car in the summer, so have not been bothered much so far.
- Both of the little roller blinds over the ashtray area have broken. The handle comes away from the rest. I understand that this is common.
- The headrest motor on the driver side does not work.
- The little air bladders in the orthopedic seats seem not to inflate some of the time on the driver side only.
- Everything else works. It is normal if the hood does not fully close by itself some of the time. If the locator pins do not drop directly into the center of their holes above the windscreen, you need to give a little pull. The manual refers to this.

Other than that, some color combinations are much nicer than others. I have metallic dark grey two-tone with brown leather. I think it looks bad with black leather, which also gets too hot. I don't think they were available with mono-colour paint for the first few years, but maybe someone else can comment.

Engines very reliable, according to JD Power.

Momo