Learn me some AMG ( paging AMG tech)

"gettingoldercarguy" (gettingoldercarguy)
05/23/2019 at 23:31 • Filed to: None

Looking at an slk55. I’m curious if there are any glaring reliability issues. My wife likes the car which makes life super easy. It’s a good chassis and I finally feel old enough that an auto isn’t sacrilege. Is there something that should keep me away from this car?

DISCUSSION (19)

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > gettingoldercarguy
05/23/2019 at 23:40

No, its my turn to have AMG tech, I’ll not pass him to you.

Edit: you edited your title :(

BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > gettingoldercarguy
05/23/2019 at 23:42

Have you considered calling or texting?

Paging seems a little dated.

gettingoldercarguy > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
05/24/2019 at 00:08

Sorry man, I'm turbo tired and just trying to get life done.

gettingoldercarguy > BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo
05/24/2019 at 00:10

Works for doctors, he's pretty much there as I read.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > gettingoldercarguy
05/24/2019 at 00:37

No worries, I was being sarcastic. Get some rest! And a SLK55

gettingoldercarguy > ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability
05/24/2019 at 00:49

Thanks dude! (Is that not cool anymore?) There's a cherry one I like and my wife is cool with not too far from us. I'm just looking for their input on what is to be expected.

ItalianJobR53 - now with added 'MERICA and unreliability > gettingoldercarguy
05/24/2019 at 01:03

Everything is cool if you think it is :P

Those SLKs are nice and small, I hope AMG tech gives you some good news (I have no clue what issues those have, if any)

Good night now, gotta sleep, I wanna take the Vette to work which mean I've to swap the positions on the Mini and the Vette. Which means it adds 10 minutes to my schedule :)

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gettingoldercarguy
05/24/2019 at 01:54

R171 chassis as pictured presumably? As opposed to R172 chassis...

On that assumption, excellent engine. It’s the M113 naturally aspirated V8. You can’t kill it. It’s what my E55 has, and my R500 has the non-AMG version. Biggest downsides are that it might need valve cover gaskets at some point, and a crank sensor would probably be a good idea to prepare for. Neither of these are expensive or difficult. I can do the crank sensor in about 5 minutes, and it costs about a hundred bucks. Valve cover gaskets can be done in half a day if you’ve never done them before. Again, not hard, even for the most novice wrencher.

The transmission is the 722.9 7-speed. It’s a solid transmission. If it’s serviced every 40k. It gets only slightly less reliable if it isn’t serviced religiously. Biggest issue with them is the electronics inside. All the sensors and control unit are one piece, and the valve body has to drop out to replace them. This is often referred to as the conductor plate. It isn’t terribly difficult either, but requires dealer programming. Sometimes the whole valve body needs to be replaced at the same time, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that possibility unless the one you’re looking at is early. Post 2006 MY should be safe (no guarantee though). Either way, I think the failure rate is below 10% for all of these transmissions, not just SLK55. Cost should be in the 1-2k range depending on a few factors.

Next thing to worry about, interior condition. They’re cheaper inside than they should be. It’s likely to be rattly, and trim pieces may have seen better days.

It’s a hard top convertible. If it’s ever had any body work done other than simple bumper paint work, run away fast. The roof systems are complicated and can be very expensive if things fail. It doesn’t happen that often. But these are aging. The roof runs on hydraulics and has a bunch of sensors. Sometimes the sensors fail, sometimes hydraulics leak, sometimes the pump fails. None of this is super common, but again, nothing here is cheap. Think bare minimum of 1000 bucks every time the roof stops working.

Then you’ve got the cost of service parts. Brake pads and rotors are many hundreds of dollars. It has 16 spark plugs. Familiarize yourself with maintenance costs before diving in. You can do all the work on this yourself except trans service and roof stuff, if that’s what you want to do . It’s all simple.

They’re fun little cars to drive, but they lack the dynamics of a boxster. My suggestion is to drive it and see what you think, if you haven’t already of course. Get me the VIN, I’ll check the VMI.

Tldr; everything is pretty solid but the roof can be very expensive to fix, and maintenance costs are not low.

Discerning > gettingoldercarguy
05/24/2019 at 07:03

That generation SLK has a very sturdy powertrain and drivetrain. The engine is the M113, which had been around since the 90's. The transmission was their first 7 speed, but I’ve heard that it’s strong and reliable.

Noclue about electronics or chassis. This car was first made during the Chrysler merger and the crossfire shares many components with the pre face lifted model you are interested in.

Hopefully AMG Tech has more info for you.

I kinda like the Sporty Light Koupe. Fun fact: they made a black version in this generation

Kinja'd!!!

gettingoldercarguy > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
05/24/2019 at 07:23

2009 Mercedes-Benz SLK 55 AMG

Freeman Motor Company

$24,995

(503) 444-9751

http://atcm.co/S2PVDP/1ed26a6f

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gettingoldercarguy
05/24/2019 at 09:39

I’ll check the VIN when I get to work. But you said Freeman and I cringed. Almost every car we see from them i s trash. Many of them were wrecked and repaired, poorly, under the radar so that the title and Carfax stay clean. But they usually come to us because the cars have issues of some sort.

That being said, if this is the car in hoping it is, previous owner took excellent care of it and I've worked on it before, years ago though. So a lot could have changed.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > gettingoldercarguy
05/24/2019 at 11:18

Wow, that car looks fantastic especially in that color! Hope everything checks out. This car is local to me...like you I’ve recently been thinking hey these things actually seem like a pretty cool combo (especially with that engine in something that tiny?!), don’t worry - in no place to steal this from under you :) But just makes the wants just a tiny bit larger.

gettingoldercarguy > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
05/24/2019 at 12:14

Do you have somebody you'd suggest for a PPI?

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gettingoldercarguy
05/24/2019 at 13:16

Me? I’m just up the road from them!

Just pulled the VMI. It is the car I was thinking of. Last time I saw it, it was in immaculate condition. VMI looks excellent. Only thing I’m not seeing is a transmission service, but they’re due every 40k so no big deal. Which is strange though because it’s had literally everything else and then some already done to it. So I might just be missing it in the history.

Assuming this car hasn’t been wrecked, it’s probably the best 171 you could possibly buy. That color, absolutely incredible in person in the sun. Carbon trim and the performance package, exceedingly rare.

With oppo discount (but we don’t actually call it that) $299 for PPI at my shop. Mb-pdx. Ask for Chuck or Jake to be your service advisor. I’ve prepped Chuck on the situation. You can even have a look under it while it’s in the air and talk to me directly when you’re here. Just let them know that Matt quoted you that price and you want him to look at the car.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Discerning
05/24/2019 at 13:25

Crossfire is actually based the on the R170 chassis, previous generation from above.

gettingoldercarguy > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
05/24/2019 at 14:11

I’m in Olympia, selling my wife on it or trying to.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gettingoldercarguy
05/24/2019 at 14:20

Freeman could easily drop it off here for you if she approves of checking it out. They bring cars here all the time.

gettingoldercarguy > AMGtech - now with more recalls!
05/24/2019 at 15:35

It went from a yes to a no very quickly. Just about every time I get close to pulling the trigger on one I get a firm no. We’re having our fence redone for 12k and I think that’s h er big hangup. That car looks perfect though.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > gettingoldercarguy
05/24/2019 at 15:43

Aww that’s too bad. It is a big and legitimate hangup though. Maybe you can reconsider after the fence is redone if the car is still there. Honestly if it’s in the same condition it was last time I worked on it, you probably won’t find a nicer one. Let alone one with that color and those options.