I have a 1994 SL500 with about 50,000 miles on it. It has been serviced by Atlanta Classic Cars for the past few years, but is now out of extended warranty and I am thinking about moving to an independent shop. My immediate problem is that the car is idling rough. It looks like it is idling about 525 or 550 rpm and the car is shaking a bit. ACC told me that I could upgrade or update, I forget which, the DME, I think, but it seemed pretty expensive. Does any of this make sense. Is there something I can upgrade or update or replace that would be expected to smooth the idle out. Thanks

I work in the North Atlanta area. Being independent, we look at things a little differently than the Big Dealers. They tend to replace expensive parts without giving a thought to the lesser things.

I would start on the other end. I would look at the engine mounts, distributor caps and rotors and fuel pressures before throwing parts at it.

This is just my opinion, but I have MANY happy customers!

1994 SL500
 

You may well be right. The thing was "skipping" 3 or four times a day, as I commuted down town. I took it in, and quite frankly, I can't remember exactly what they said, but I had water in something, I would have said the roter, but I don't know whether that could be right. Anyway, they did five hundred dollars of work, and it quite skipping, but then the idle was rough. Have you all opened the shop on Peachtree industrial, or are you somewhere else?

Hi there,

I have a 1995 SL 500. Idle is rough too, sometimes dropping for a part of a second. I tried a lot to get it fixed, e.g. two new distributors (the electric "rotation" thing???) but nothing helped. My garage says it could be the valves but I should just live with it, as it will cost a lot of money $500 and up...

So I'm fine now, not bothering about it.

I would not spend money on an upgrade, then I would rather completely chip tune the engine (the 500 will run as fast as 280 km/h)

Sorry, its me again.

I forgot you do not care about top speed too much, do you?

I just wanted to ad that my car is not serviced at a dealership but at a private garage. Mercedes always ripped us of whenever we went there. No more dealer - never ever.