neeillyb

Hello everyone, just joined, and thank you for all the helpful threads. I have a question, but first, the back story.

Purchased a new to me, 2000 CLK320, in excellent shape. Soft top would go down with some assistance and putting it back up was hit or miss and it finally quit a couple days into owning it. After some wrenching, I have found that the pressure relief valve was open and the hydraulic reservoir did not have enough fluid in it. I assume some neglectful ownership and poor workmanship, but who am I to judge. My first thing to do is refill the reservoir to the appropriate level and close the pressure relief valve, and cross my fingers. My questions are:

Do I need to purge/bleed the hydraulic system once I refill? What is that process?
Do you think it could really be that simple of a fix?
Do I need to reset the system for it to cycle properly as I have been manually opening and closing?

I do see that I will need to get some of the cylinders rebuilt and that will be a project for this winter, they are not in terrible shape, but if this fixes the problem, rebuilding will be a priority for it to be in tip top shape.

I appreciate all the insights and comments and look forward to hearing what the expert owners and wrenchers have to say.

Neeilly

DAVEAE

I doubt that refilling the reservoir will be that simple a solution. Cylinder problems at this age are very common.
No purge / bleed necessary. Top Hydraulic has an excellent video Two latch locks are the most common failure followed by the main lift cylinders.
One thing no one seems to talk about is the bottom anchor for the case lid (storage) cylinder becoming loose. When this happens the lid doesn't open far enough and the latch will cut the soft top. The stud is secured by a nut that isn't easy to get to. I drilled a hole in the side of the flange so I could get a wrench in there.

neeillyb

Thanks for the response. You were right, it wasn't that simple. The plus side, I see no leaks in the system that are visible, so the neglect from the last owner with the loose cylinder drain and leaving the pressure valve open contributed to the low fluid. As it stands, right now the roof will not go up or down on its own. Interesting to note, the case pulls down when I press the button to close and it does not open. It is very stiff to manually disengage the case lock. Some other strange things occurring is that the roll bar will go up along with the windows when the button is pressed to close the roof and the roll bar will stay up when I lift the button to open the roof, then there is slow flashing. I can use the roll bar button to lower with no problem, but then nothing happens, except slow flashing after holding the button for 20-30 seconds. I'm at a loss. Electrical, and/or bow lock issues? I'll take any starting points to get me going to diagnose. For now I am manually operating to enjoy the car I just bought. I knew this was going to be a project so I am just going to roll with it. Thanks.

DAVEAE

Flashing light means a fault, Is the trunk guard is in place? Trunk closed? What You had for breakfast might be the problem as well. LOL

andy_breuer

I just finished a rebuild on my CLK430 top, with a similar situation as yours. It works perfectly now.

I bought a seal kit for two cylinders that were visible leaking (you can smell the oil) and if I pulled up the rear seat there was pool of 1/2 cup of oil collecting.

You’ll need to refill the reservoir, then don’t forget the trunk cover needs to be closed before it will operate again🤣

I also now have a trunk access hole behind the license plate for easy opening.

andy_breuer

I just finished a rebuild on my CLK430 top, with a similar situation as yours. It works perfectly now.

I bought a seal kit for two cylinders that were visible leaking (you can smell the oil) and if I pulled up the rear seat there was pool of 1/2 cup of oil collecting.

You’ll need to refill the reservoir, then don’t forget the trunk cover needs to be closed before it will operate again🤣

I also now have a trunk access hole behind the license plate for easy opening.