hirlemann1

i try to open the hardtop of my sl 500 03, but the passenger rear small window does not go down , in consecuence the hard top stops lowering , what can i do HELP PLEASE

JeffGuySL500

It's a rare problem on the 03's but it does happen and it happened to mine.
You will not be able to fix it yourself so resign yourself to bringing it in to the
dealership. When mine broke they told me it was the first one they had ever
seen. The dealership needed to acquire a $1700 tool in order to diagnose
which of the 4 separate hydraulic systems had a problem. Eventually after
taking 3 days to get the tool they fixed it in a couple of days. The car was
in the shop for a week.

Hope you have the extended warranty....it covers the vario roof.

JeffGuySL500

Another thing:

If it's stuck in the half-open position there's a manual procedure for opening
the trunk using the steel key and there's a big hexagonal wrench in the tool
kit that inserts into a hex-nut in the rear. You turn the hex-key and it
re-latches the roof. I only have a vague recollection of all this....it was
3 years ago but MB roadside walked me through it over the phone.

hirlemann1

i don´t know what happened but next morning when i turn the engine on, the window was working fine, then in the afternoon the window was blocked again, something extrange happen: when i approach to the car try to unlock the doors with the key´s remote control, didn´t open, i thought it was low battery in the key but it wasn´t, i thought was the battery in the trunk and replace the battery ( i had one extra in my garage from my 04 C240) and works perfectly, including the window, very extrange eh? hope still working i don´t have extended warranty and this is the only one sl 500 in my country (el salvador) then the workshop have no experience at all with this car in particular.

JeffGuySL500

You are a very brave man sir!

azndevil67

I have a similar problem with my 03 SL500 where sometimes the trunk will get stuck 1 second before it is fully done. And I have to let go of the button and re-press it. It happens both lowering and bringing up the roof. Like I said it happens once in awhile. Any ideas?

tiggerfink

I took my 2004 SL 500 to get the 3rd brake light replaced and my top will stop in the middle of the opening process. I discovered that one flap on the left side did not pop up. So I manually pop the flap and my trunks works with no issues.

The flaps look like part of the black trim on the rear deck. When the top is in the closed position, the flaps are underneath the trunk deck.

JeffGuySL500

I dont know. I know it's a complicated system with 4 separate hydraulic
circuits, limit sensors and logic in the circuit itself. My problem was hydraulic
so it just wouldn't go up all the way and it wouldn't go back down....all the
subsystems got screwed up at that point. I think that if it is eventually going
up or down for you it's not a hydraulic problem (leak). It sounds more like a
slightly flaky limit sensor and pressing the button again resets it. I would bring
it in and just pay for an hour to get them to run a diagnostic on it. If it's
just a sensor that needs to be replaced it might not cost that much. As I
mentioned previously, if you have the extended warranty the roof is covered
....believe me, I asked before I plunked down the $6K plus a B-Service for it.

hirlemann1

AS I SAID NEXT MORNING THE SYSTEM WORK PERFECT, BUT THEN IT HAPPEN AGAIN, WHAT I DID WAS DISCONECTING THE BATTERY , WAIT a FEW MINUTES AND .....VOILA IT WORKS PERFECT AGAIN.... any ideas what can be????????

spilok

My dealer looked at mine today...you can see the hydraulic motor control in the trunk on the left side of the spare. My fluid was very low for some reason. It's going in the shop on Thursday. I hope my top is fixed by just the addition of fluid. We'll see. Where it's leaking, I do not know. There certainly are no drippings on my garage floor.
My Sl500 is an 03, but I bought it with only 7800 miles on it. It sat for a while in a garage. The top worked perfectly when I got it, but I believe that by operating it after so many years, the fluid was used somehow. Perhaps dry seals or something. I'm looking forward to Thursday night when I pick the car up. Hopefully, my slow top problem will have been solved.

Stan

ps. please see my thread on this forum about a slow opening top.

spilok

Please see my last response on this topic in this forum. Top is working perfectly now.
Stan