I was told that this question would work better in this area. Hope you guys can help.
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Purchased the wife a very nice 95 SL500. She/we love it. Ever since I saw how the top operated I was concerned. Not so much this car but the dynamics as a whole. I race corvettes and have learned the hard way that options and fancy things are all bad news in the long run. This car has like 48k on it and, other than the top, is in excellent condition.
The problem started last night. She showed up down at the boat and informed me that her drivers side window would not go up. Well we stayed on the water last night and after getting home this morning she put it in park and hit the red button. it almost completed its cycle, but tstopped with the top about 8 inches from the lock in holes. She looked in the manual and used the tool to get it the rest of the way closed. But the left rear did not lock down in place.

I just got to the office and have not messed with it much. What can I check for? Do you feel the window not fully working last night and the top not closing this morning are related?

I would appreciate any help I can get on this one and would be happy to return the favor with any knowledge on how to set up a C5 or C6 for racing.

Matt

Updated information:
The fuse had blown in the trunk. I replaced it and the window now works fine. However, the top will not go down. When I press the rd button the windows go down, the rear opens up but the top does not come off of the windshield. Earlier this morning she used the tool provided and followed the manuals advice to manually lock the top down. The manual has a proceedural for locking it, but does not mention unlocking it.

By manually locking the top in place at the windshield points does that mean you have to manually unlock it before it works? Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, but I would rather ask first before doing something and possibly breaking a nice car. Any help on this is appreciated.

Try playing with the windows and top together.

I ran into the same problem but i cant remember what i did.

So the red toggle button will lower the windows and open the top.
Try to open the roof fully. Raise the windows manually then try to close it again?

Or try to pop on the hard top...
last resort is the disconnect the battery ( seems to be a good fix for everything haha )

If not perhaps the motor is bad

Matt

Being a bit concerned how fragile the sophisticated R129 stystems might be over time ... I was relieved when recently on this forum I saw very experienced R129 owners report that the engine, transmission and the top hydraulics for the R129 SL 500 are all very dependable mechanisms.

Based on that and the fact that in 2 1/2 years of monitoring this forum daily, you are the first to report such problems.

I would not fear about the long term, once this syncronization problem is fixed up.

You might have to go to the MB mechanics shop to get this reset properly.

This spring I found I had to use the center finger pulls on the front edge to strech the top canvas to the point where the hydraulics could grab. After that firts top up motion it has been fine.

That stretching process had been described by other forum members on other threads. So I took it all in stride.

Enjoy the car! Not a racey as your Corvettes ... but hopefully powerfull enough to keep you interested.

i offer you all my sympathies if you still have this problem... i did, but mine was worse... mine would not move, which required a new control unit.

Firstly... DO NOT on a regular occasion (i.e. more than twice) disconnect the battery and reconnect. That was the reason my delicate soft top control unit blew. You can do it on the odd occasion, but not everytime. Your softtop control unit is very very sensitive and cost of replacement is at least £1,000 (if merc send back the old one)

Since your mechanism is still moving, you should switch on the car to position 2 (before engine start), with the top down, press both electric windows all the way down, hold it in that position for a few seconds, let go, and push them all the way to the top and again, hold the button for a few seconds when the go to the top, you should hear the windows pump. then drop the windows again and press the red button.

If that does not work, go to the dealer and avoid trying anything else yourself, the chance of causing expensive damage is too risky. Importantly, go to a dealer with some old school mechanics... a lot of the newer mechanics that work in the dealers make a huge thing out of a small issue when it comes to softops on older SLs.

OK, The CAR IS FIXED! And everything is fine..

As it turned out. The windows blew a fuse. The windows are also a function of the top going up and down. So when the top didn't do its thing on its own she manually raised it and manually locked it in place.

Replaced fuse, windows work, but top won't release from the windsheild.


HAD TO MANUALLY UNLOCK THE TOP AT THE WINDSHEILD. If you manually lock it, you have to manually unlock it. Or at least we had to.
Once unlocked, problem solved.

Glad this one was easy.

Thanks for the help.

FYI RED5,

Each window has a sensor to indicate that is has lowered all the way, since the control unit did not see that the window was down, it would not unlock the top/front section. If you notice, the top/front section is directly contacting the window glass.

I can tell you the only problem in general with the 129 top system, is in the two hydraulic rams located at the top of the windshield. Over time, they do leak internally and the system cannot maintain high enough working pressure. When this happens, the system will seem to move slower and may have trouble locking down the front section after it has engaged. BUT, it is normal, like ChrisB said to sometimes have to use that little handle grip in the center of the soft top to pull down and engage the top of the softop to the windshield header.

Enjoy!

Recently had a problem removing the hardtop. By manually unlocking the front, back popped up. Now for the new problem. The soft top will not go up. (or down) It worked great for about a month since I had it. Only after putting the hardtop on have I had a problem. I took it to my friendly neighborhood dealer yesterday. After having it two days they told me that they "think" the hydraulic pump is bad and would be happy to replace it for $2,200 plus install. Is there a way to check the oil in the hydraulic pump? Can the pump be rebuilt. I can get the back of the top to go up but the bonnet will not come up. I manually unlocked the bonnet while lowering the top and the bonnet went up, with assistance, the front unlocked and with some help I was able to get the top to go down. ??? It seems that the pump is week or low on fluid?

Not that I could solve this problem.

But if you fully describe the hard top removal problem. Maybe some knowledgable forum member could help you.

Why did you use a manual release for hard top removal? ... when the hydraulics do that?

Hey Cigarracer,

I cannot accurately tell you what's wrong of course without seeing the car, but like I described above, "The two hydraulic rams located at the top of the windshield, over time, do leak internally and the system cannot maintain high enough working pressure. When this happens, the system will seem to move SLOWER and may have trouble locking down the front section or moving the bonnent up and over. It's rarely a pump.

You can check the pump fluid level by removing the spare tire and the black cover that the spare sits on. Under that is the pump and an oil reservior, there should be level marks on the reservior. Good Luck.

Thanks MB Tech. I at least found out where the hydraulic pump is. It is acutally easy to access and if need be replace. The fluid was right to the mark. Not sure what else to do besides replace or rebuild. Any ideas on where to send the pump if it can be rebuilt or best place to buy a replacment?

Cigarracer

cigarracer -

I had the same problem when I took the hardtop of mine after the ice was off the tundra here this spring. If the hardtop came off, the would suspect the hydrolic pump is working fine (at least well enought to lift the top).

Try this (and don't laugh). Start the car and raise the windows and manually raise the roll bar and then try to raise the top. You should see the windows and bar roll down first and then top action. If not check the fuses for the item that doesn't seem to work. If the top still doesn't go up, lower the bar and windows, then try again. Turn the ignition key off and restart the car in between each attempt.

Also, look down the two holes in the rear that the hardtop hold-downs go into. Both should look the same. If not, one is out of sequence. If this is the case, replace the hardtop (per the manual), then remove and try again.

There are many sensors/limit switches in the system, the malfunction of anyone of which can kill the top. What I just described should "exorcise" all of them and hopefully allow the controller to get back in sync. It worked for me.

- FD

Hey Cigarracer,

I really don't think it's the pump. I would check other items first, some of them I wrote previously and also check the items the Floobydust wrote - I have seen that many times too. But rarely a bad pump, and a very expensive guess.

Good Luck!

Check this out: http://www.benzworld.org/forums/r129...ghlight=SLOVER

I had the same problem and solved it by myself. Then posted the solution in the forum.

good luck

I have a 1995 amg that the top will not go down on. It is opening up from the rear but will not release the front locks to allow the top to go down. I have tried to lower the windows and hold the buttons for a few seconds but that did not help. does anyone have any suggestions?

Wayne,

welcome to the forum! The most common reason why the top won't release from the front, is because the controller does not know what position the windows are in. The controller must "know" that the windows are down before it moves the top anywhere near the windows. Let's start with that, before we get into any more fancy troubleshooting.

There is a big difference between the window position readout in model years '90-'94 vs model years '95-'02:

The early models have micro switches in the doors, which signal that the windows are either up or down or in-between. The only problem with those switches is typically corrosion of the wires.

The '95+ models store the last known window position in their controllers' memories and count the turns of the window motor via a "Hall sensor" on the window motor. Thus, the initial window position needs to be taught, which is done by window synchronization. The memory of the window position gets lost if the battery has been very low for an extended period, or disconnected more than a few minutes.

Here is a simple way to check if your windows are synchronized in a model year '95+: Do the windows drop a fraction of an inch when you open the doors? If not, you will need to do the following (which is described somewhat similarly in your owner's manual):

Window synchronization in model years '95+ (not needed in '90-'94):
1) Top either all the way up (front locked) or all the way down
2) Trunk closed all the way
3) Both doors closed
4) Engine off
5) Run windows down, and up again
6) Hold window buttons in "up" position for some five seconds (either sequentially or at the same time)
7) Verify that the windows drop a fraction of an inch when you open the doors now

Please let us know what you find, and we will take it from there.

Hope this helps,

Klaus

www.tophydraulicsinc.com

Well Wayne I Tried All That And My Pass Windows Still Don't Drop & My Door Locks Don't Lock When I Pull Out
Any Help Please
Thank You
Harley03joe

MORE INFO
I Come Here Looking For An Answer, Pictures Also
Thank You

96 SL 500 Pass Side Window Won't Drop, Help Please
Ok Here Is My Story
I Replaced My Battery With One From The Dealer, Then A Week Later My 2 Top Cyl On The Windshield Was Leaking So I Had Dennis Rebuild Them, Everything Went Fine , No Problems I Was Done.

A Week Later My Battery Went Dead, So I Recharged It Up, Cycled The Top A Few Times The First 2 Times The Windshield Did Not Unlock, But 3,4,5,6 Did Open Fine.

Now My Pass Window Won't Drop The Few Inches When You Open The Door, Also My Doors Don't Lock When I Take Off ?
I Checked The Car For Codes And Found Nothing
Please Advise
Thank You
Harley03joe

how did you unhook it from the windshield manually? im having the same problem and tryed everything to unhook manually.

your help would be every use thank you