2003 sl55 problem - sticking throttle actuator & green fluid
 

I purchased my first mercedes last december. It's a 2003 sl55. Yesterday a fault came up on my dials as follows,

Left dial: ESP
Right dial: defective visit work shop

The car starts but does not respond to the accelerator pedal I.e. When I press the pedal the engine rev doesn't increase. The guys at mercedes said the car goes into a limp mode because of the malfunction.

When I turn off the ESP then the vehicle works fine.

I took the vehicle to mercedes Benz Romford today who said the following

The ESP and Engine management system is interlinked and they suspect the problem isn't with the ESP. They think the problem is a "sticking throttle actuator" which will cost £1000- £1100 to replace.

However they also said they found a green oily substance on the connectors to the Engine control unit which they said could also be causing the problem. They have no idea where this substance came from.

They recommended cleaning the connectors to the ecu first to see if the fault comes up at a charge of £200-£250.

If it does then they recommend having the throttle actuator replaced.

I wasn't to impressed with mercedes Benz romford. Im thinking of taking the vehicle to mercedes Benz hq in Milton keynes for a better diagnostic.

I would really appreciate any advice on this.

Thanks.

first guess could be the throttle actuator or the pedal value sensor/throttle position sensor which is the gas pedal itself, green fluid sounds to me like ABC suspension fluid.