When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Knee-deep into the infamous SL hydraulic cylinder removal. I’ve got a couple leaking; one real bad. Only time before the others go, so pulling ‘em all out. I’m using the instructions from Top Hydraulics but they neglect to mention that if one plans to do all the cylinders, make sure to raise the roll bar at least halfway BEFORE one gets started. My roll bar is completely lowered and all the cylinders are out except the mains and bow extensions. In order to get the rear carpet pieces out (to have clear access to the main cylinder and bow extension pressure lines), I need to raise the roll bar a bit. But can’t as the hydraulic circuit is, understandably, out of commission with 8 cylinders removed. Does anyone have a procedure to raise the roll bar manually, without the use of the hydraulic circuit? Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Jeff
Here is the functional description of the roll bar operation, however I find no procedure in the WIS for manually raising the roll bar--other than using the "convenience switch"; which requires the hydraulics.
The bar's "normal" position is raised, extended by the main actuating springs--it is forced down against the action of those springs hydraulically and then locked down by a spring loaded ball locking mechanism. When the convenience switch is used to raised the bar the spring loaded ball lock is released by hydraulic pressure, and the bar's upward motion is controlled by metering valve in the hydraulic cylinder to raise it in a slow and controlled manner--as opposed to crash deployment where the hydraulic cylinder is mechanically disconnected from the bar and it "flies" up in 300 ms.
Because of the need for hydraulic pressure to release the spring loaded ball locks the only way I see to raise the bar without the hydraulics would be to simulate a crash deployment by tricking the controller, or disconnecting the electrical connection to the trigger solenoid and applying +12V to same (+ at the red/blue wire and - at the brown wire)--or disconnecting the soft top controller and grounding the brown wire at pin 12 of connector 1.
!!!Warning--Danger Will Robinson!!!
Doing this will cause the roll bar to snap up in 300 ms or less (I.e. REALLY frigging fast!)--make sure any parts of your body (or anyone else's) you like are out of the way!!!
Outstanding write-up Cliff - THANKS! Love the "Will Robinson" warning... Danger! Danger! But you are absolutely correct about the warning - that roll bar kicks up uber-UBER fast. I had it activate once on the road. Scared the crap out of me when it fired off. Will give this a shot (no pun intended). Thanks again.
Cheers,
Jeff
Piece of cake! Electrical connector X23 is below the roll bar hinge point, behind the passenger seat, tucked behind the side 'carpet' attachment. Very easy to get to. I disconnected it and simply connected the Red/Blue wire to the positive side of a spare battery, and momentarily touched the Brown/White wire to the negative side. Bzzzz-snap! Done. And yes, that roll bar WILL snap upward in the blink of an eye. Thanks again, Cliff.
Cheers,
Jeff
May I jump in the thread?...I was driving normally at the posted speed of 40 and the roll bar came up. Currently the roll bar dash warning light is on, the roll bar is up and will not go down or reset with the 10 seconds with the button in the up position procedure. The convertible top up/down button is lit. So, roll bar will not go down, convertible top will not go down and power windows will not work (I did try resetting those too). Thinking back I remembered two days earlier I was caught with the top down only for I'd say at most 20 seconds of rain. I dried it off that day but today I pulled the trunk just to check hydraulic level and found a little but of moisture near the battery and the bottom of the spare well. The interior as I mentioned did get rained on. There seems to be many turns in this particular decision tree but I'm thinking about the controller behind the passenger seat that was mentioned in another post. With what I've given, any opinion as to the way I should proceed from here? 2000 SL500 80K 302 8 auto 5 speed. And yes that was a great write-up cliffyk
May I jump in the thread?...I was driving normally at the posted speed of 40 and the roll bar came up. Currently the roll bar dash warning light is on, the roll bar is up and will not go down or reset with the 10 seconds with the button in the up position procedure. The convertible top up/down button is lit. So, roll bar will not go down, convertible top will not go down and power windows will not work (I did try resetting those too). Thinking back I remembered two days earlier I was caught with the top down only for I'd say at most 20 seconds of rain. I dried it off that day but today I pulled the trunk just to check hydraulic level and found a little but of moisture near the battery and the bottom of the spare well. The interior as I mentioned did get rained on. There seems to be many turns in this particular decision tree but I'm thinking about the controller behind the passenger seat that was mentioned in another post. With what I've given, any opinion as to the way I should proceed from here? 2000 SL500 80K 302 8 auto 5 speed. And yes that was a great write-up cliffyk
Definitely sounds like an electrical short to me but I can honestly say I have not run in to this problem as of yet. Still, you saw moisture after only a relatively brief exposure in other parts of the vehicle so my suspicion is water got to part of the circuit and things fried. Just my opinion.
Mercedez 1995 SL500 r129, 1967 Camaro RS Convertible, 1971 Corvette Stingray T Top
CWRobin.......May I enter this thread? Chetter here. I posted a reply to you on another thread....... "wiring on soft top controller", and I am attempting to hit you here also. I asked on the other thread if you could inform me of a source for 1995 SL 500 r 129 wiring color codes?
Mercedez 1995 SL500 r129, 1967 Camaro RS Convertible, 1971 Corvette Stingray T Top
soft top control
Originally Posted by CWRobin
Definitely sounds like an electrical short to me but I can honestly say I have not run in to this problem as of yet. Still, you saw moisture after only a relatively brief exposure in other parts of the vehicle so my suspicion is water got to part of the circuit and things fried. Just my opinion.
CWRobin you have aroused my curiosity regarding the soft top controller and the possibility and probability of by-passing the internal components of the controller and controlling the windows, top and roll bar directly with the existing switches. I have owned this SL 500 for 10 years and during that time I have experienced the power, ride and wonderful high.... above 120 mph speed...... and appreciate Mb's concern for keeping the roof on at these high speeds. I have now mellowed out and no longer desire to "run with the big boys". I just want to control the top etc for a nice Sunday afternoon ride through the countryside with the breeze blowing my balding head/hair. Can and will you give me some pointers on the subject. Chetter sends
Mercedez 1995 SL500 r129, 1967 Camaro RS Convertible, 1971 Corvette Stingray T Top
CliffyK, may I enter this thread? I am delighted to see that you have provided wiring component and contents of the soft top & window controller. I have stressed out since last fall. 2015, attempting to solve my controller issues. Can and will you provide a wiring color codes for Mb 1995 SL 500. Furthermore, would you provide a source for wiring diagrams for my car? Thank you sincerely...... Chetter sends
May I jump in the thread?...I was driving normally at the posted speed of 40 and the roll bar came up. Currently the roll bar dash warning light is on, the roll bar is up and will not go down or reset with the 10 seconds with the button in the up position procedure. The convertible top up/down button is lit. So, roll bar will not go down, convertible top will not go down and power windows will not work (I did try resetting those too). Thinking back I remembered two days earlier I was caught with the top down only for I'd say at most 20 seconds of rain. I dried it off that day but today I pulled the trunk just to check hydraulic level and found a little but of moisture near the battery and the bottom of the spare well. The interior as I mentioned did get rained on. There seems to be many turns in this particular decision tree but I'm thinking about the controller behind the passenger seat that was mentioned in another post. With what I've given, any opinion as to the way I should proceed from here? 2000 SL500 80K 302 8 auto 5 speed. And yes that was a great write-up cliffyk
Powerdog - so what was the final disposition of this issue?
Here is the functional description of the roll bar operation, however I find no procedure in the WIS for manually raising the roll bar--other than using the "convenience switch"; which requires the hydraulics.
The bar's "normal" position is raised, extended by the main actuating springs--it is forced down against the action of those springs hydraulically and then locked down by a spring loaded ball locking mechanism. When the convenience switch is used to raised the bar the spring loaded ball lock is released by hydraulic pressure, and the bar's upward motion is controlled by metering valve in the hydraulic cylinder to raise it in a slow and controlled manner--as opposed to crash deployment where the hydraulic cylinder is mechanically disconnected from the bar and it "flies" up in 300 ms.
Because of the need for hydraulic pressure to release the spring loaded ball locks the only way I see to raise the bar without the hydraulics would be to simulate a crash deployment by tricking the controller, or disconnecting the electrical connection to the trigger solenoid and applying +12V to same (+ at the red/blue wire and - at the brown wire)--or disconnecting the soft top controller and grounding the brown wire at pin 12 of connector 1.
!!!Warning--Danger Will Robinson!!!
Doing this will cause the roll bar to snap up in 300 ms or less (I.e. REALLY frigging fast!)--make sure any parts of your body (or anyone else's) you like are out of the way!!!
Hi I have a similar issue, if I may jump in. 98 Sl500. The hydraulic pump in the trunk has been shot for a few years, this is a fact. I didn't care, didn't need it. Recent minor collision caused roll bar to deploy, as it should. However, I obviously can't get it down mechanically. Is there a way to put it down manually? Thanks so much. Not actually new on here, unable to retrieve old password! Have a great one!
Piece of cake! Electrical connector X23 is below the roll bar hinge point, behind the passenger seat, tucked behind the side 'carpet' attachment. Very easy to get to. I disconnected it and simply connected the Red/Blue wire to the positive side of a spare battery, and momentarily touched the Brown/White wire to the negative side. Bzzzz-snap! Done. And yes, that roll bar WILL snap upward in the blink of an eye. Thanks again, Cliff.
Cheers,
Jeff
I'm in the process of doing this right now...did you connect bare wire to the battery, or simply touch the silver capped ends of the wires to the battery terminals?
Piece of cake! Electrical connector X23 is below the roll bar hinge point, behind the passenger seat, tucked behind the side 'carpet' attachment. Very easy to get to. I disconnected it and simply connected the Red/Blue wire to the positive side of a spare battery, and momentarily touched the Brown/White wire to the negative side. Bzzzz-snap! Done. And yes, that roll bar WILL snap upward in the blink of an eye. Thanks again, Cliff.
Cheers,
Jeff
I disconnected my soft top switch briefly to remove my center console, now the roll bar won't go down and the top won't close, can you help?
Hey guys,
Easy way to deploy the roll bar is jack up the car under the diff so both wheels off the ground. Turn the ignition on and as the car thinks both wheels have left the ground the roll bar will deploy .
Yes it comes up quick
I can't remember if I had to start the car and put it in gear and go more than 40 km/h
if you do remember to make sure the car cannot move on the jack. Stabilise with jack stands on BOTH sides of the car
Last edited by Agro; 07-04-2018 at 03:54 AM.
Reason: Additional info
So, I have been reading the forum for years and decided I should post something.
I ran into the problem of not being able to raise the roll bar while working on the hydraulics. So, I was a little unshure of how to charge the switch to raise the roll bar.
Made a video and I think I got it right. If you would like to see how fast it raises in a rollover situation or just want to raise it mechanically a video now exists.
Hi this is Gino, from Australia. I am new to the forum but have read a number of the postings here.
I’m having 2 problems with the Rollbar in my 94 Mercedes SL500 RHD (it is always down). BTW, the soft top roof works fine as I’ve had all 12 RAMS rebuilt by Top Hydraulics in the US.
Problem 1
The Rollbar does not automatically go up or down with the soft top roof AND based on limited testing to simulate one wheel lifting off the road, I suspect the automatic emergency deployment also does not work.
Investigations/actions to date:
A mechanic supposedly sent off “a” control module to be repaired (he said it also controls the airbags ... I believe he was talking about the Roll-over bar crash-actuated trigger module (part 129 820 22 26) When I picked up the car, the soft top and the Rollbar were up and I was told this part of the problem was now fixed. Once home I closed the soft top roof and the Rollbar also went down. Unfortunately the Rollbar has never again worked since. I suspect the unknown module was not repaired and the Rollbar opening was simply triggered by the mechanic (as described by Cliffyk).
Problem 2:
The Rollbar Button (RB) continually shows 2 red lights at ALL times (ignition on or off and even with battery disconnected) but the Warning Lamp on the Instrument Cluster is not on. When the RB is pressed up or down it does not raise or lower the Rollbar. Fuses have been checked and all are ok. No fault shows up on analyser. This problem is still there and the mechanic said this was caused by a different faulty module - I believe it is the soft top roof control module (part 129 820 25 26).
—————————————————————————————————————————————————— ———————
As my car build is June 94 I believe the Rollbar operation involves 2 control modules (plus other components):
(a) Roll-over bar crash-actuated trigger module (N53) and
(b) Soft top control module (N52)
QUESTIONS:
1. Do members feel that my problems are both related to one or both of these modules. Is it feasible they could both be faulty at the same time or could else be the cause?
2. If modules, are the above names and part numbers correct and which module causes which problem?
3. Can either or both of these modules repaired/rebuilt and if so who would you recommend?
Regarding problem 1. the roll bar will only raise at the end of a roof operating sequence if it was in the state to begin with. Also, I don't believe a wheel leaving the road surface will unconditionally trigger the roll bar, as speed may also be a factor. See: http://manual.startekinfo.com/manual...6/19_2/m11.jsp/
In regard to problem 2, I would read diagnostic codes from the roll bar control module. For that you ground socket #7 for three seconds and then count the flashes of the malfunction lamp within the instrument cluster to obtain a code.
Thanks for your comments obterry99. Re your problem 1 comments, the soft top roof and the rollbar were both raised when I picked up the car and they both went down when I lowered the roof. However, when I eaised the roof later that day, the rollbar did not raise at any stage. Would this indicate the the rollover bar module is the problem?
My 1990 500SL top hydrolics leak and needs repair. My brain isn't big enough to learn how to on this. Any recommendations where I can take it?
20 miles west of Chicago.
thanks.
09-10-2015, 09:49 PM
94 SL500 ROLLBAR PROBLEMS
