Hey Everyone,

Brand new member here. My g/f has a benz SLK 230 Kompressor. It's one of those small two seaters with a convertible hard top. Cute little car but has so many problems I don't even know where to start.

How about we start with the biggest issue. Engine power. This car lacks power something horrible. I read her owners manual and it says the car has a 2.3 liter supercharged motor with 185 HP. Hers however has about 80 hp if I had to estimate. We lined it up with a friends old beat up falling apart Geo Metro and he out ran her quite easily LOL. I see it has an Eaton centrifugal supercharger which I would have assumed is not working based on power output but I revved the engine and saw the clutch engage on the front of it.


Checked engine codes and there was a fuel trim and cylinder misfire codes. I cleared them and they never came back.
I pulled the spark plugs and they look fine. Nothing abnormal. I'll replace them anyways.

I read the manual and it says the car has a "limp home mode" with reduced engine output. Could it be in this mode? How can I tell?

Next major item: Transmission
This is a more recent problem that started just a few months ago. If you get on the throttle hard (WOT - wide open throttle) it will not shift gears. It just gets stuck in the gear and you have to let off the throttle for it to shift.
I looked under hood and don't see a transmission dipstick anywhere. I assume its one of those sealed systems. Is there a way to check from under the car in case it has leaked fluid?
Oh yeah and put the car in reverse and the tranny/car shudders real bad. Put it in a forward gear though and its real smooth. Not sure if that is common on these cars or not?

Convertible top gets stuck all the time. Trunk deck lid opens, windows roll down, but roof doesn't budge. I removed plastic cap under roof where it attaches to windshield and verified that piece unlocks. It won't move for some other reason. She's taken it into Mercedes Benz a few times when she first bought the car because of this issue and they always said nothing is wrong. Of course it would never stick when we took the car in.

Power door locks:
If you put the key in and turn it both door locks go up and down just fine. They appear to be hydraulic. I can hear a pump in the back of the car going as the go up and down. When you hit the lock button on the dash I can hear the same pump going but no as loud and the door locks don't move. Key fob lock/unlock doesn't work either.

Interior light does not turn off when doors are closed even when switch is in the door position. As a result we just leave it off all the time. Is this a common issue? easy fix?

At one point I had the passenger's side front wheel off and tore out the panels to get to the washer fluid bottle. While there fixing a window washer problem I noticed additional provisions and hoses. What on earth else gets a liquid from there? lol. I traced this hose (which looks non factory I might add) all over the side of the car, across the front bumper over to the other side and lost sight of where it goes exactly.

I have so many more questions but this should get us started. My main concerns are engine power and tranny shifting for now.

Thanks a ton guys
Malcolm
PS - I work on cars as a hobby and have built many a hot rods so I know about engines and that sort of stuff. Just never had a benz ever, or even worked on one so this is new territory for me.