Think I bought a jona!!

2800 Views 30 Replies 15 Participants Last post by TonyS3, May 30, 2016

Andykent

Discussion Starter · Jan 19, 2016

Upgraded our 2008 SLK200 to a 2012 fire opal SLK250.
Absolutely love the car, drives like a dream, every extra on it.
On the test drive, the ECU light was on, dealer said he would rectify, on collection, true to his word, it was off, within 1/2 mile light back on, dealer had the car a week to rectify.
Within a week , it was keyed by a scumbag, tried to remove the rear wheels, could not budge the wheel bolts for love nor money, broke my breaker bar, had to get a friend with an impact gun, used to remove wheel nuts on his lorry.
When I next washed the car, someone has clipped the near side rear wheel arch.
Now noticed the dreaded micro blisters in the paint.
When do I call it a day?

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1 - 20 of 31 Posts

wja96

· #2 · Jan 20, 2016

Andykent said:
Upgraded our 2008 SLK200 to a 2012 fire opal SLK250.
Absolutely love the car, drives like a dream, every extra on it.

That's good.

Andykent said:
On the test drive, the ECU light was on, dealer said he would rectify, on collection, true to his word, it was off, within 1/2 mile light back on, dealer had the car a week to rectify.

Ah! The joys of a used car. Some would argue you should walk away from a car with an ECU light on on a test drive. If nothing else what was the dealer thinking when he let you drive it?

Andykent said:
Within a week , it was keyed by a scumbag

You can't really blame the car for that.

Andykent said:
tried to remove the rear wheels, could not budge the wheel bolts for love nor money, broke my breaker bar, had to get a friend with an impact gun, used to remove wheel nuts on his lorry.

Again, it's not unusual for wheel bolts to bind on these days when wheels are removed so infrequently. On a 'low mileage' car the wheels might never have been off as you don't need to take the wheels off to check the brakes and if it has not required tyres then they wouldn't have been off. As for your breaker bar...

Andykent said:
When I next washed the car, someone has clipped the near side rear wheel arch.

Again, hardly the fault of the car.

Andykent said:
Now noticed the dreaded micro blisters in the paint.
When do I call it a day?

Well, when they respray the car I'm sure you can persuade them to do the wheel arch too.

I have a thing about the number 13 but I somehow managed to lease a 13 reg SLK. In the first year it was fine, but in the second year I had a no-fault accident where I was clipped in a car park while absent but someone saw the other car and collared them. I then was hit, again while stationary, by a French driver when managed somehow to persuade me to sign a constat d'accord form saying it was all my fault. Bad news!

But none of it was the car. The car can't be a Jonah. If you really think it's a Jonah, get a black cat to either walk across the path of the car or sit it in the drivers seat, preferably willingly. There's not much old sailors don't know about Jonah's!

Good luck!

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erisaman

· #3 · Jan 20, 2016

Sorry to hear your tale - that really sucks for you and I empathise totally. Good luck with your efforts to rectify your misfortune(s).

May I ask that you please post your progress with the micro-blister problem in the thread "Paint issues?" as every bit of information, experience and advice is appreciated by us all.

Thank you - and good luck again.

oldmercman

· #4 · Jan 20, 2016

wja96 said:
Again, it's not unusual for wheel bolts to bind on these days when wheels are removed so infrequently. On a 'low mileage' car the wheels might never have been off as you don't need to take the wheels off to check the brakes and if it has not required tyres then they wouldn't have been off. As for your breaker bar...
QUOTE]

Every car I have bought new, second hand or been issued with,the first job is remove the wheels knowing full well that should I have to do so in an emergency at night in pouring rain the dam things may not come off.
It's always a struggle but at least I can re-fit them with a slight smear of Copperease on all the facing surfaces & knowing that subsequent removal is a doddle. Re-application every time wheels removed & replaced.

Reactions: 3

Andykent

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 18, 2016

Ever the optimist, every cloud etc.
Had the near side rear wing fixed by an excellent PDR man, he got 95% out! You would have to search to see it, but I could still see it?
Then low and behold the car was hit by a person rushing to get off their drive, hit the near side door and completely wrecked the recent repair to the wheel arch.

In the garage at the moment, having a new near side door and rear near side quarter, all the damage will be removed,
Also given a 16 plate e350 convertible to drive , whilst mine is being repaired.

oldmercman

· #6 · May 18, 2016

Despite reassurances offered by WJA96 my guess is that you will never have the peace of mind to be able to really enjoy the car. There will always be that niggling doubt that the thing IS jinxed however irrational that thought is.
If it were me I would want to change tack ASAP, get the best possible p/ex even if it means compromising on what you change it for. Start afresh later.

DAVIETHESCAFF

· #7 · May 18, 2016

oldmercman said:
Despite reassurances offered by WJA96 my guess is that you will never have the peace of mind to be able to really enjoy the car. There will always be that niggling doubt that the thing IS jinxed however irrational that thought is.
If it were me I would want to change tack ASAP, get the best possible p/ex even if it means compromising on what you change it for. Start afresh later.

Tend to agree, you'll aleays have the thought it's jinxed.

I had an Avenger once that was the same. Lots of little mechanical problems that kept reoccuring. Not to mention having a car pull out right in front of me causing a lot of damage, then a wagon reversed into it, and finally I wrote it off swerving to avoid a dog. Never so glad to see a car go. Just wished I'd got rid of it right at the start instead of persevering with it.

erisaman

· #8 · May 19, 2016

Andykent said:
Also given a 16 plate e350 convertible to drive , whilst mine is being repaired.

So what's the verdict on the E350?

The 'silver lining' of recent events is that you and yours have come away from it safely. Good luck for the future.

bastivock

· #9 · May 19, 2016

DAVIETHESCAFF said:
I had an Avenger once that was the same. Lots of little mechanical problems that kept reoccuring.

A Chrysler/Hillman Avenger ? with lots of problems ? That's not Jinxed, they were jus c**p! I always thought they looked quite good at the time tho. :smile:

From an Avenger to a SLK55.. that's going up in the world, I salute you sir!

Reactions: 1

savcom

· #10 · May 19, 2016

bastivock said:
A Chrysler/Hillman Avenger ? with lots of problems ? That's not Jinxed, they were jus c**p

Oh come on! They weren't THAT good..... >

My dad had one. He too was grateful to have got rid of it. He bought a Datsun 180B to follow that and that's the car I learnt to drive on ... :surprise::surprise:0

:surprise:

Mind you. At least it wasn't a Morris Marina.....

Reactions: 2

DAVIETHESCAFF

· #11 · May 19, 2016

savcom said:
Oh come on! They weren't THAT good..... >

Mind you. At least it wasn't a Morris Marina.....

Had one of those too! :grin:

Now you can see why I love my 55 so much! :smile:

Reactions: 1

Just1MoreDave

· #12 · May 19, 2016

savcom said:
Oh come on! They weren't THAT good..... >

My dad had one. He too was grateful to have got rid of it. He bought a Datsun 180B to follow that and that's the car I learnt to drive on ... :surprise::surprise:0:surprise:

Mind you. At least it wasn't a Morris Marina.....

My dad had one of those. In the US they were sold as the Austin Marina, and had TV commercials featuring Julie Andrews. I think he knew right away that it was a mistake, but was stuck with it for a few years. It was a very nice color. Sadly no piano was ever dropped on it.

Reactions: 3

bastivock

· #13 · May 19, 2016

Bloody hell, it must've been grimmer up north than I'd ever imagined, the sufferin you chaps have been through... At least me an' my mates had Cortinas and Capris to play with... quality motorin that is, guess that makes us soft southern p**fs! ?

Reactions: 2

robcurs

· #14 · May 20, 2016

My dad had one to can't remember it being any trouble, after a few years body work looked like it should have been scrapped yet someone still nicked it.

Reactions: 2

savcom

· #15 · May 20, 2016

robcurs said:
My dad had one to can't remember it being any trouble, after a few years body work looked like it should have been scrapped yet someone still nicked it.

Best way, really - at least he would've got the insurance money and that saved the embarrassment of trading it in...

Reactions: 2

grimree

· #16 · May 24, 2016

savcom said:
Best way, really - at least he would've got the insurance money and that saved the embarrassment of trading it in...

Two words to say to you blokes- Hillman Hunter:|

Delucas

· #17 · May 24, 2016

Andykent said:
Upgraded our 2008 SLK200 to a 2012 fire opal SLK250.
Absolutely love the car, drives like a dream, every extra on it.
On the test drive, the ECU light was on, dealer said he would rectify, on collection, true to his word, it was off, within 1/2 mile light back on, dealer had the car a week to rectify.
Within a week , it was keyed by a scumbag, tried to remove the rear wheels, could not budge the wheel bolts for love nor money, broke my breaker bar, had to get a friend with an impact gun, used to remove wheel nuts on his lorry.
When I next washed the car, someone has clipped the near side rear wheel arch.
Now noticed the dreaded micro blisters in the paint.
When do I call it a day?

Is your car parked on the road side by any chance all these incidents happening ?

DAVIETHESCAFF

· #18 · May 24, 2016

grimree said:
Two words to say to you blokes- Hillman Hunter:|

OMG ... I also had one of these, a 1725cc version.

ChrisL

· #19 · May 24, 2016

Fire opels are definitely cursed lol mines had all sorts of bad luck in the 6 months I've had it.

Get it straight down to Mercedes and insist on having someone look over each panel for defects in the paint though definitely

grimree

· #20 · May 24, 2016

DAVIETHESCAFF said:
OMG ... I also had one of these, a 1725cc version.

I'm old - whats your excuse?

1 - 20 of 31 Posts

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