2001 CLK 430 W208 Rollbar issue
03-21-2017, 08:31 PM
#1
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CLK 430
2001 CLK 430 W208 Rollbar issue
Howdy all,
My CLK 430's rear headrests/rollbars deployed quite some time ago. I tried some of the home remedies to no avail, took the car into a European "specialist" whose only recommendation was to replace the entire assembly (to the tune of $5k plus labour) but given the fact is lot was jammed with cars and he never seemed to be there, I'm disinclined to accept his diagnosis.
The car was running great, roof operated with no issues, I'm a fair weather driver and then one day I drove home, parked and put the roof up before I parked it in the garage and there was a hiccup.
After engaging the top to go up, the roll bars engaged and would not go back down. Consequently the roof also would not go back up? As mentioned, off to the mechanic who just manually raised the roof and did not correct the issue. Parked her for the winter, returned her to him in the spring to do a full check which resulted in the above diagnosis and him manually lowering the roof (so I could at least enjoy the car that summer).
I've searched the Internet and the closest I've come is a suggestion that there is a spring release that can be used by inserting a rod down beside the headrest along the seam. However, I believe that only works on the W209 because I've had no luck detecting such a release.
So if ANYONE has any insight to either resetting the rollbars or even disabling them, I'd be very grateful.
I also had another issue with the headlamps staying on after I winterized her but I'll put that in a new thread. Thanks in advance!!!
My CLK 430's rear headrests/rollbars deployed quite some time ago. I tried some of the home remedies to no avail, took the car into a European "specialist" whose only recommendation was to replace the entire assembly (to the tune of $5k plus labour) but given the fact is lot was jammed with cars and he never seemed to be there, I'm disinclined to accept his diagnosis.
The car was running great, roof operated with no issues, I'm a fair weather driver and then one day I drove home, parked and put the roof up before I parked it in the garage and there was a hiccup.
After engaging the top to go up, the roll bars engaged and would not go back down. Consequently the roof also would not go back up? As mentioned, off to the mechanic who just manually raised the roof and did not correct the issue. Parked her for the winter, returned her to him in the spring to do a full check which resulted in the above diagnosis and him manually lowering the roof (so I could at least enjoy the car that summer).
I've searched the Internet and the closest I've come is a suggestion that there is a spring release that can be used by inserting a rod down beside the headrest along the seam. However, I believe that only works on the W209 because I've had no luck detecting such a release.
So if ANYONE has any insight to either resetting the rollbars or even disabling them, I'd be very grateful.
I also had another issue with the headlamps staying on after I winterized her but I'll put that in a new thread. Thanks in advance!!!
04-04-2017, 06:46 PM
#3
MBWorld Fanatic!
The procedure for manually lowering the roll-bar, after crash deployment, on the W208 is not the same as on the W209.
Additional details are in post # 11 at:
https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...r-problem.html
Additional details are in post # 11 at:
https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...r-problem.html
Last edited by Serndipity; 04-04-2017 at 06:53 PM.
