Thread: My SLS woes... are not getting better!

Really sad to hear whats happening with your SLS.
I'm from South-Africa and I am a former Mercedes Tech (Dealership cut staff).

Currently I am trying to set up my own shop with concern to problems like you are experiencing,obviously not on brand new cars,because Merc will have a fit over here.

The problem with dealerships are,and I am sure it's the same there as here,the standard of the tech guys are going way down.
As a tech I was constantly in trouble when the dealership revamped after economic downturn and accountants started running the show.
Myself along with two other guys out of a staff of 20 were "FAULT FINDING TECHNICIANS".
We would go on training regularly and as the name of the position dictates,would have to sort out vehicles with problems like you are experiencing.

Now,with the new way of running the business in place we got crapped on constantly for not being productive.
IE:a tech would have to "sell" a certain amount of labour hours a day (Service:2hrs , Brakes:1hr , etc) in our case 9hrs was the target.
Now if all you did all day was servicing and brakes you could quickly get up to 12hrs sold in a 8hr day.
Flipside,if have to locate a fault,rectify it,test it and get the car back to owner,well,that takes time.
Also a courtesy vehicle costs money.
Most of the time,especially when working on the AMG vehicles I found customers did not mind waiting for the car to be fixed,as long as it was done right and they were given updates regularly.

Fix right first time and updates were my and my fellow fault finding tech's motto.
But these day's that has gone all out the window.

Take for example,the dealerships have to cut costs and keep profit high.
Now,you have 3 highly skilled techs,one doing for instance a balancer shaft replacement on the 272 v6 Benz engine and other two something else.
Replacing that shaft takes the best of two day's with all the testing and programming afterward and then warranty will pay out 6hrs labour for that job.
Your target is 9hrs a day,you got 6hrs in two days,on paper you are unproductive,but the vehicle is sorted and the customer is happy.
You are a expensive tech and the guy doing services with little to no training clocks 12hrs a day,yet he get's comebacks,looks alot better than you business wise.

Now,getting to the problem.
As can see alot of skilled guys got the short end of the stick lately.
The guy's that are left are new parts fitters and they do not understand how the diagnostic path works.
They think the computer fixes the car,IT DOES NOT,it's a tool that points you in the right direction and gives the result,not always the cause of a fault.

Un-experienced guy hooks up the computer to SLS,goes into braking system,NO FAULT STORED,so there has to be nothing wrong,he does not lift up the car and take the wheels and look if it's something silly like a loose brake line,not checked on the pre-delivery inspection that under pressure will leak some fluid onto the hot disc and caliper.
The fault finding guy would think that far,a proper dealership principal would take action in letting a valued customer of 5 Mercs and a SLS be kept up to date and that a proper courtesy vehicle be made available.
Not to sound blunt,but the owner of an SLS has some money as does his friends,it's common sense that if he were kept happy and if he see's an effort is being made by the dealer he will tell his friends who will buy future vehicles or bring their business there. Even if niggles creep up.

Passion is something that is lost these day's. I have it,I vented a bit in this post,but the standard is going down so much and people like me are paying the price when people like you stop buying a brand,not because it's rubbish,but because service was poor.

In South-Africa I can forget about finding a job again in the motor trade unless I stoop to that fitter level,but my passion does not allow it.
Currently I am doing ok on my own in my specialist shop in my garage with all my special tools and diagnostic equipment.
I am confident I can make a success of it.

Hope you get sorted out,the SLS,any AMG for that matter is a amazing vehicle and in my opinion Mercedes-Benz make the best cars.

Originally Posted by Riceater

Ya sometimes that's the crappy part about buying limited production cars. Things go wrong, the manufacturer isn't as motivated to actually fix issues since I'm sure profit margin is very minimal on those. Stay persistent though. If the dealer wants you to quit posting "negativity" then they need to make sure their techs are working their ass off to get you what you paid for. Keep us posted and good luck!

I don't think these problems have anything to do with the car being limited production. A few months ago I test drove a brand new CL and 2 of the features didn't work. I wasn't shocked this new car needed service, I bought a C-class for my wife about 10 years ago. That thing was in the shop so often that I became a regular at the dealer. I saw the same people many times. They were becoming so friendly that it ended up as a social club. These other regulars had Benz of all types so it wasn't just my c-class.
Benz cars ride like no other. They feel like no other. They break down like no other.

Check out this forum:
http://www.mercedes-benz-usa.com/

It's an SLS AMG... this isn't a small purchase and definitely deserves more attention. They should have picked up the car from the beginning and handle it from there.

Originally Posted by dirk1984

Really sad to hear whats happening with your SLS.
I'm from South-Africa and I am a former Mercedes Tech (Dealership cut staff).

Currently I am trying to set up my own shop with concern to problems like you are experiencing,obviously not on brand new cars,because Merc will have a fit over here.

The problem with dealerships are,and I am sure it's the same there as here,the standard of the tech guys are going way down.
As a tech I was constantly in trouble when the dealership revamped after economic downturn and accountants started running the show.
Myself along with two other guys out of a staff of 20 were "FAULT FINDING TECHNICIANS".
We would go on training regularly and as the name of the position dictates,would have to sort out vehicles with problems like you are experiencing.

Now,with the new way of running the business in place we got crapped on constantly for not being productive.
IE:a tech would have to "sell" a certain amount of labour hours a day (Service:2hrs , Brakes:1hr , etc) in our case 9hrs was the target.
Now if all you did all day was servicing and brakes you could quickly get up to 12hrs sold in a 8hr day.
Flipside,if have to locate a fault,rectify it,test it and get the car back to owner,well,that takes time.
Also a courtesy vehicle costs money.
Most of the time,especially when working on the AMG vehicles I found customers did not mind waiting for the car to be fixed,as long as it was done right and they were given updates regularly.

Fix right first time and updates were my and my fellow fault finding tech's motto.
But these day's that has gone all out the window.

Take for example,the dealerships have to cut costs and keep profit high.
Now,you have 3 highly skilled techs,one doing for instance a balancer shaft replacement on the 272 v6 Benz engine and other two something else.
Replacing that shaft takes the best of two day's with all the testing and programming afterward and then warranty will pay out 6hrs labour for that job.
Your target is 9hrs a day,you got 6hrs in two days,on paper you are unproductive,but the vehicle is sorted and the customer is happy.
You are a expensive tech and the guy doing services with little to no training clocks 12hrs a day,yet he get's comebacks,looks alot better than you business wise.

Now,getting to the problem.
As can see alot of skilled guys got the short end of the stick lately.
The guy's that are left are new parts fitters and they do not understand how the diagnostic path works.
They think the computer fixes the car,IT DOES NOT,it's a tool that points you in the right direction and gives the result,not always the cause of a fault.

Un-experienced guy hooks up the computer to SLS,goes into braking system,NO FAULT STORED,so there has to be nothing wrong,he does not lift up the car and take the wheels and look if it's something silly like a loose brake line,not checked on the pre-delivery inspection that under pressure will leak some fluid onto the hot disc and caliper.
The fault finding guy would think that far,a proper dealership principal would take action in letting a valued customer of 5 Mercs and a SLS be kept up to date and that a proper courtesy vehicle be made available.
Not to sound blunt,but the owner of an SLS has some money as does his friends,it's common sense that if he were kept happy and if he see's an effort is being made by the dealer he will tell his friends who will buy future vehicles or bring their business there. Even if niggles creep up.

Passion is something that is lost these day's. I have it,I vented a bit in this post,but the standard is going down so much and people like me are paying the price when people like you stop buying a brand,not because it's rubbish,but because service was poor.

In South-Africa I can forget about finding a job again in the motor trade unless I stoop to that fitter level,but my passion does not allow it.
Currently I am doing ok on my own in my specialist shop in my garage with all my special tools and diagnostic equipment.
I am confident I can make a success of it.

Hope you get sorted out,the SLS,any AMG for that matter is a amazing vehicle and in my opinion Mercedes-Benz make the best cars.

So much of what u say is dead on....but there are a couple points I would expound further.

The way Benz does business now is not new and not exclusive to Benz. Just about all dealerships force their techs to be little more than just part changers. It has been that way about 20 years now. The economy didn't cause it, greed caused it...and you're right that it makes more sense to make customers happy but if all the dealers treat you the same way you're still sorta trapped.

I definitely don't agree Benz makes such great cars. My personal experience was horrible. Everytime I consider going back to a Benz I discover there has been some improvement in reliability but not enough. It used to be every car. Now it seems to be 50-50 in the first 50k miles. After the warranty period, heaven help you if you still own the car.

Owning a Benz was like being with a high maintenance hot chick. You try to hang on because she is hot but dealing with the issues becomes too much of a hassle. That's what drove me to Lexus. Where its like a pretty girl thats not super hot but she takes good care of you. Still a coupple issues cause nothing is perfect but far less and better attitude when those few arise. My Lexus dealership provides better service than any other I've known....and that's why I stay with the brand.

Every so often I see a CL and swoon but I hate high maintenance chicks.

Originally Posted by Ice350

So much of what u say is dead on....but there are a couple points I would expound further.

The way Benz does business now is not new and not exclusive to Benz. Just about all dealerships force their techs to be little more than just part changers. It has been that way about 20 years now. The economy didn't cause it, greed caused it...and you're right that it makes more sense to make customers happy but if all the dealers treat you the same way you're still sorta trapped.

I definitely don't agree Benz makes such great cars. My personal experience was horrible. Everytime I consider going back to a Benz I discover there has been some improvement in reliability but not enough. It used to be every car. Now it seems to be 50-50 in the first 50k miles. After the warranty period, heaven help you if you still own the car.

Owning a Benz was like being with a high maintenance hot chick. You try to hang on because she is hot but dealing with the issues becomes too much of a hassle. That's what drove me to Lexus. Where its like a pretty girl thats not super hot but she takes good care of you. Still a coupple issues cause nothing is perfect but far less and better attitude when those few arise. My Lexus dealership provides better service than any other I've known....and that's why I stay with the brand.

Every so often I see a CL and swoon but I hate high maintenance chicks.

LoL!! Awesome comparing it to hot chick! It sure is!! I suppose personal preference comes into it alot. I fell it love with Merc's when I started with them almost 7 years ago after completing my trade with KIA (LoL,really nice cars though,especially the new ones!). I suppose had I gone to Audi or BMW I would have felt the same way about such massive difference in technology and performance.

You are right in saying it's not limited to Merc,I have friends with e46 M3's and RS Audi's and they all get taken for a ride by the dealers.
The passion is gone,and like you said has been replaced by greed.

Take an e46 M3 I had here the other day.
Car had an insane oil leak and the dealer said he could bring it in 2 weeks time. I said I'll have a look and found the timing chain tensioner had come loose and was leaking oil out under pressure when the car was running.
Had a look around and found out it is common when the car is driven hard or in hot countries (South-Africa),fix being the tensioner has to be re torqued a higher amount and all M3's have to be checked for this when they come in.

I went ahead and replaced the washer,re torqued it,cleaned everything up and sent the guy on his way.
Washer:R3.50
Engine cleaner:R90
Labour:R500 (Guy ended up giving me alot more! lol)

I asked him to find out what the dealer would charge him for this,he phoned me back the following day.
BMW needs the car 2 day's because it's a big job and difficult to access. (I loosened a cowling and fitted a socket and wrench in there no problem,the thing that took the longest was cleaning up all the oil! whole job was less than 3 hours).
They quote him: R3890 for a tensioner
R58.99 for a washer
R4500 labour
=R8448.99 (I think about $800 give or take the exchange rate)

I really feel the problems with this SLS can be sorted if somebody wants to.

I am sad to say but Benz is not what used to be...

My father had W124 250d from ''88 and had no trouble with that car, than in ''95 bough W202 C180...no trouble at all....

Than for my 20th b-day, i god W203 C32AMG with 50.000km, regular servic history....etc... AND TOUBLE CAME...

Omg... allways something.... can't belive it! Realy....

Since i have that car, i thin i am gong to have an elcer.... realy... so sad to say like that....

GL with your amg.....

Originally Posted by neshmn

I am sad to say but Benz is not what used to be...

My father had W124 250d from ''88 and had no trouble with that car, than in ''95 bough W202 C180...no trouble at all....

Than for my 20th b-day, i god W203 C32AMG with 50.000km, regular servic history....etc... AND TOUBLE CAME...

Omg... allways something.... can't belive it! Realy....

Since i have that car, i thin i am gong to have an elcer.... realy... so sad to say like that....

GL with your amg.....

pozdrav prijatelju!!!

Originally Posted by scuderia747bhp

pozdrav prijatelju!!!

Nista manje!

425733_10150645381610516_756070515_11492146_2007919949_n.jpg

Could always be worse, found this gem on Copart...

Originally Posted by k1lgore_trout

Attachment 59130

Could always be worse, found this gem on Copart...

Honestly doesn't look that bad, can be fixed pretty easily..