hi all
am new to the forum but have read virtually all threads going back a few years on 500sl's. special thanx to waybomb for sending me an owners manual. so nice to still have selfless people in this world. i bought a '91 500sl novemebr last year and have had my share of trouble with it. but cannot deny, when it drives, its awesome !
main probs have been with gearbox and i am taking it back again on friday to see if a modulator adjustment solves the probs. already had 3 valve bodies fitted and the trans was rebuilt three times. (sigh) had various vaccuum hoses replaced, engine mounts done, full service, new injectors, new timing chain, reconned radiator, new drag link etc.
now i still hav a problem with leaking hydraulics on what i hope is just the one lifter for right hand side tonneau cover. man oh man.

anyway, now i have a curious prob. i live in south africa and vehicles are right hand drive. because my car is an import, it must be european (likely UK) origin. originally fitted with mph instrumentation. first owner realised this only after 6K miles and had MB put in new km/h instrumentation. so far so good. when i got the car, it had 97KKM on the clock with potentially another 6K as the speedo was never reset.(as per service book) in the last few months, between mech shop and gearbox place, after i got the car back, i thought i was going nuts on noticing extremely high petrol consumption. quickly figured out that although my actual speed seems to correctly show in km/h,car is now accummulating mileage distance on trip and main odometer in MPH ! i am certain it was not like that before. between gearbox and mech place, a lot of shoulder shrugging going on. any ideas ?

any thoughts welcome, oli