Illustrated technical details '96 SL600

[jdkirkk]

I own a pristine '96 SL600 but this is my first MB and I am having difficulty finding information on the car. This 129 series has been produced for many years so I would think there would be publications available from someone.
I am not a mechanic but have an aviation background and like to know the technical details of the car.
Any leads out there?

[ALUEB]

Don't feel bad I have a 99 C280 and there are no manuals you can buy in a store. Bentley Publishing, perhaps the largest publisher of car book repair and informational doesn't have one. Hynes, I understand has a C Class 94 to 00 in England.

I find it odd that these companies have books for most newer cars except Mercedes. I bought a 450SLC, and the former owner had the Mercedes shop manuals for the car. As he explained when he bought the car back in the early 90's there wasn't much available. But the shop manuals are written for the tech and not the DIY. Also, with the 450SLC, I find the information at times misleading or confusing. For instance the heater AC system, there is a separate manual for this system as the book covers 3 versions of Heater AC system up to the mid eighties. Also, the diagrams of vacuum system and electrical systems, sometimes don't match what I am looking at in my car. They are supposed to cover all versions of the car, including Japan and Austrilia, so things can get confusing. I am trying track down a vacuum problem now, and the colors or the vacuum lines do not match what the manual says the US version should be? I called the former owner and he said he had the same situation. I finally got part of the problems fixed just by changing lines around until what I wanted to work, worked.


There are several books available, on the history of SL's. I have one and your car I know it's not covered. It stops around 1990.

[jdkirkk]

The 129 was built from 1990 through 2001 or so, I think. Several thousand vehicles on basically the same chassis with mostly a six, a V8 and a few V12's; one manual and two automatic transmissions.
There would seem to be a market for a limited edition technical manual for these cars. My son in law has a printing business in Nebraska that could handle what I'm looking for. I wonder where a guy could get some illustrations of the chassis and so on. Some exploded views to help a curious owner figure some things out.
Aircraft manuals are usually in a three ring binder sort of volume so you can add or replace pages as necessary. It could have an index for wiring diagrams and so on for an individual car. Technical writing is specialized, but there have been many articles printed over the years and they might be available. Such a voume could be broken down into systems chapters on electrical, hydraulic, chassis, heating and air conditioning and so on. If nothing else it would satisfy the curious and it might help a person isolate a problem. The SL is a sports car that appeals to people with a technical bent (I would think) so such a book would have an audience. A good editor would be a must, but there wouldn't be much, if any, profit in it so I'm uncertain how one would go about putting such a book together. I think I will look into it though. Any ideas?

[parodecki]

JD.... it's far from perfect, but MB does have a lot of what you're looking for in their "Star Classic Service Manual Library" CD ROM. Part # P-2700-129-04. Cost is about $160 or so. It has repair info, wiring diagrams, parts info, service bulletins and diagnostic manuals.

I do a lot of DIY on our '96 SL 320, and the info has been pretty helpful. Of course there's always the job where, search as you will, you just can't find what your'e looking for! That's when I SWAG it!

If you're not inclined to spend alll those bucks... the exact same info is available on the 'net at "www.alldata.com" for an annual subscription of about $15 or so. I started with Alldata, then went out and bought the disk... it's just handier to have, I think.

I agree with you and Alueb.... there just don't seem to be any books out there on the R129's. It's like they are the "stepchild" of the family and no one wants to write about them!

Paul Rodecki

[OU1954]

I have the STAR Classic Service Manual Library for the Model 129. It's available for about $125 at the dealer, a special order item in most instances.

It's a DVD, not a CD, and it installs a very old version of Adobe Reader (Version 5, It won't accept a current version which is 7). It also installs some strange index reader from Autodesk, forgot just what it is since I have un-installed the system for now.

It's almost useless and is somewhat limited in what it can find for you. It does, however, have complete wiring diagrams, but they are in a form that requires you to print out sections because they are too compact to read on the screen or to print out at screen size.

I think it does, at times, download a .pdf file from the internet, not sure, so I suppose if one had enought time and patience it would be possible to accumulate a considerable amount of data. The main problem is that you have to select from one of 4 search groups (or all groups) with a search term. There is NO INDEX, you have go just guess and search. If you don't put in a term the system recognizes it reports back with a zero result on your search.

It clearly is not in any way equivalent to what the dealers have available to them.

The folder says the coverage is:

Model line 129 MY 1990 up to MY 2002 and includes:

300SL/SL300
500SL/SL500
600SL/SL600

(I still don't know the difference between an SL500 and a 500SL, there must be some. Also, using all the resources of the DVD, I still don't know where the spark plugs are on this car, at least based on the DVD.)

I did find some beneficial but non-workable things when I had the DVD installed on my system. As just one example, there are detailed instructions on how to use the tools I bought from the dealer to pull out the instrument cluster. Everything is right on point up until you learn from all your pulling effores that the cluster will probably break before it will slide out.

The description says it provides:

>Repair information-Component disassembly and assembly.

>Parts information-This catalog helps you to identify frequently-used maintenance parts

>Diagnostic Manual-Profices test and troubleshoot information

>ETM with STAR Finder-Contains wiring diagrams in a Web-based format with links to component location.

"All information is designed for quick access within a single browser window and is fully printable"

They also claim it includes some other reference information. I found very little "other reference information"

Could be, but the data base is just full of gaps and holes. I'm not sure I will re-install it, it's just too hard to find anything useful.

If anyone is still interested, the part number is P-2700-129-04 Version 1.0 and you will probably have to get it through the "Accessories" department of the dealership, not the "Parts Department". Strange separation of church and state.

I wonder whether there will be a subsequent version that is more user-friendly.

I do have some documentaion for our 98 SL500 and for our 99 ML320 which I got for a very reasonable price on the internet. They are pages from an estimators manual, which includes every part that could possibly be replaced for collision purposes, including the prices and labor hours. The parts list, not a MB product, actually goes down to items like oil filters, screws, spark plugs, timing chains, etc., with drawings of them in exploded form. Very helpful. Also, when my SL500 was last on a lift I took photos of the bottom from front to rear, also very informative.

Let me clarify one thing. I have repaired my own cars for 50+ years, and that includes complete engine rebuilding, re-alignment, etc. I was could always get good factory service manuals for every car, including my last 4 *Corvettes (which never required any repair, other than a few recalls), but for some reason MB seems to go to extreme efforts to make it hard to get worthwhile information on their cars, even though they have the highest 4 year repair rate of any care sold in the U.S.

*Regarding Corvettes, I can assure you that the 98 Vette I had had more advanced technology and features than the 98 SL500 I now have. If I had known of the pain I would have with the MB cars we would still be driving American cars.

DAW :mad: