Door Seal Repair

My mild OCD means that whenever there is something a little wrong with my car it bothers me. Recently I noticed that the rocker panel door seal under the driver’s side door was missing.

I figured it would be an easy repair, but that was before I found out that the seal itself (part 230-690-01-98) was discontinued. (sigh)

The one for the passenger side is still available. I assume that is because the driver’s door is used more frequently and thus there is a higher chance for the seal to go missing.

Replacing the Hazard Switch

I have some mild OCD, and when it comes to cars this expresses itself in that I need to keep my vehicles in a particular state of repair. If they aren’t clean, etc., this causes anxiety.

This means I tend to do things no sane automobile owner would do, like replacing a perfectly functioning switch with a new one.

Cars as old as the Banana have a tendency to develop “sticky” switches. Apparently this has something to do with the non-slip coating used on them degrading with time. When I got my first SL55, the Shark, I went to work trying to clean that stickiness off of the controls.

Driver's Door Repair

It took an extra week, but I did get the Banana back on Friday.

As mentioned in my previous post, I went to pick up the car last week and couldn’t get in it due to the driver’s side door not opening. I had been having problems with the door, but the shop couldn’t recreate it until I showed up.

I left the car another week and they replaced the door latch mechanism. So far it has been working fine.

Driver's Door Issue

I was very excited to get the car back on Friday. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.

They were able to determine that my transmission woes were due to a bad shifter, which meant the transmission had no idea which gear was selected. Replacing the part (which runs ~$1600) cleared the codes and supposedly fixed the issue.

Why “supposedly”? Because I couldn’t get into the car to drive it. (sigh)

Transmission Woes

It’s been a long time since I updated this blog, but I hope to correct that going forward.

I’m still enjoying the Banana but I haven’t been driving it much lately. My father moved in with us and since he is getting older we decided he didn’t need to drive anymore, so I became the proud owner of his 2007 Camry. I figure it is much less stressful to park that car at the airport than the Mercedes, and since I spent the first part of the year in airports I didn’t drive the SL55 much.

Wonkiness

I got in the Banana this morning to run an errand and meet a friend for lunch. I started it up and immediately pulled out of the garage, as my mother-in-law is staying in the apartment above it and she complains that the engine makes it shake.

I went to drop the top (as it wasn’t raining) and the screen popped up the with the “close the trunk partition” error.

Repair Shock

Okay, look, I know that high-end sports cars can require a lot of maintenance, but I can honestly say I was really disappointed when my mechanic sent me a list of things that need to be done to The Banana.

I’m not going to do all of them at once, but here are some things I have to do now.

• Front rotors and pads
• Engine Mount
• Front Thrust Arm Bearings
• Valve Cover Gaskets
• Transmission Oil Cooler Hose Seal Rings
• Windshield Wipers
• Reseal Rear Differential

That last one is a doozy, as it is mainly labor and requires removing the differential from the car. I’ve asked about Limited Slip Differential options as it should be almost no extra label to install it during this process.