hasan1994

hi i am new to the forum and i am having a problem with my 97 sl500. the convertible mechanism does not work at all. no sounds or clicking or anything when i press the buttons. the buttons and switch are always on when the car is on too. the soft top is stuck down and the roll bar is stuck up and nothing wants to move. i had the computer replaced but that made matters worse. the roll bar used to move up and down and the mechanism used to work slightly. now nothing is working. the windows do work and the are synchronized already. i just did that not too long ago. the top pumps btw are leaking and i need to replace them. idk if you know where i can find them cheap online or anything. if you can please help me figure out the problem with my car. its been like this for months and i cant drive it.

Top Hydraulics

hasan1994,

welcome to the forum! Where are you located?

Thank you for the detailed description, and I'm glad that you mentioned the windows being synchronized already. That means on model years 1995+ that the windows drop about 1/2 inch when the doors get opened.

There is a common problem that could explain all of the symptoms you are describing, and it doesn't cost anything to fix it. Hope this is it: check if both rear locks are open. To do this, look down the oval holes in front of the trunk lid (where the rear of the soft top or hard top would be locked down). If you see a metal bar about 3/4" from the top of the hole, going in the front-rear direction of the car, then the lock is open. If one or both of the bars are not there, then we have probably already found the culprit. Please let us know what you find, and we will take it from there.

At that point, we will also go over the hydraulic cylinders needing to be rebuilt.

Klaus

www.tophydraulicsinc.com

hasan1994

On the driver side the bar is there but it looks like its unlocked. Because its near the top of the oval. But the passenger side that bar is all the way down

hasan1994

I am in houston texas by the way

Top Hydraulics

Okay, this must have happened after either someone manually unlocked the rear locks A129 800 11 74 and A129 800 17 74, or the hard top was removed and the red button was released before one of the locks was fully open. Just a reminder: when removing the hard top, always pull the red button long enough until you are sure that the rear locks are fully open.

There is a small design flaw in the rear locks, where they can be partially open and allow the hard top to be removed. A partially open rear lock will close by itself as soon as the hydraulic pump is activated, because one side of the hydraulic cylinders A129 800 21 72 in the rear lock always gets pressurized. When the lock closes, a micro switch will show that the lock is closed, and that is illogical to the controller (sensing the top in the storage compartment at the same time). The soft top controller will then freeze up soft top operation.

Fix: take the lock out that is currently closed, and follow my reset procedure below. Then re-install the lock. It is not enough to pull the release lever in the rear and open the latch. There is a second step. If you don't follow the second step, then the lock will close again as soon as you activate the pump.



Illustration of the second step required to fully open the rear locks of a model year '95-'02 R129




You will need to partially remove some of the carpeted panels in the front of your trunk to get access to the rear lock. Following all the instructions in http://www.tophydraulicsinc.com/R129...%20Removal.pdf is a bit of an overkill, but it will get you there. Once you have the rear lock removed, you can pull the release lever in its rear and open the lock. As I said, that's only the first step. After the rear lock is open, you want to push it open some more from the end of the cylinder. You can do that by putting a finger at the end of the chromed cylinder shaft as if to extend the shaft some more. That's when you hear the second click. That second click is latching the mechanism such that the hydraulic cylinder cannot pull it down without the top being in it.

Alternative fix: Remove the carpeted panel in the trunk's front enough to get access to the rear lock, open the lock by pulling the release lever and pulling the locking mechanism up, then try to do the second step I described above very carefully with a large screwdriver while the lock is still in place. I do not recommend this for anybody who doesn't have enough experience, because the screwdriver could scratch up your chromed cylinder shaft and make it leak.

hassan1994, after the rear lock is properly reset, you will likely have to manually move the top up to the windshield before the controller will take over operation again. You might even have to latch the front of the top.

Klaus

www.tophydraulicsinc.com

hasan1994

Thank you very much klaus. I will start working on it first thing tomorrow morning and let you know how it goes. So what i have to do is remove the lock thats currently closed. Which means its the one with the bar im the oval near the top or the one where its pushed all the way down?

hasan1994

And the steps to remove that lock is in the link you posted under the picture right?

hasan1994

hi. i just completed the steps. both locks are unlocked and i tried it again and still nothing. and the lights are still on. any idea of what i can do next? thank you

Top Hydraulics

This is getting complicated by the roll bar being up.

The top will not move because the roll bar is up. The roll bar will not move if the top is partially open. The next steps depend on how "confused" the soft top controller is at this point, meaning, how many error codes it has already accumulated (and depending on its firmware version - let's not get into that).

The soft top controller oftentimes has to relearn the position of the top by you manually moving it up to the windshield. Problem is, it will not pick up operation from there yet because the roll bar is up.

Three options:
1) Have codes read and reset at the dealer
2) With the top down and the tonneau cover locked, disconnect the negative terminal of the battery over night. This may help in clearing enough codes for the controller to pick up from there. You will have to resynch the windows after reconnecting the battery.
3) Close the top manually, front and rear. You risk getting the rear locks in the wrong position if you don't latch the rear down all the way, but you already know how to fix that... While lightly pushing down on the rear bow, you pull up the release lever on the rear lock, then push the top down as far as you can from the outside. You may have to use a 10-mm wrench to push down the lever in order to help you with the last bit of travel in the lock. This procedure will not help you if you do not manage to close both rear locks completely with the top in them.

Then try to move the roll bar. If you can hear the pump, then you're in good shape.

Let us know what you find.

Klaus

www.tophydraulicsinc.com

hasan1994

Alright. I removed the computer and contacted the place i got it from. Im sending it back to them so they can see if anything is wrong with it. I disonnected the battery. Before i removed the computer i tried locking down the top manually. Only the front top locks would lock. But the rear wouldnt. Like i kept trying to push it down but it wouldnt move. Idk if i didnt do it hard enough or something. But im going to wait till i get the computer back and try to fix it. And ill let you know if it works or not. Im attaching a pic. I cant figure out where these wires go if you can help me with that that would be great. Thank you

hasan1994

These are the wires.





And also i dont know what this is for. Thank you

Top Hydraulics

It is not easy to lock a '95+ rear bow manually. That's why I mentioned it as the third option. Better have two people do it, so that one can push down hard enough on the rear bow while the other one deals with the latch release and helping it lock again.

I think it was a little premature to send the controller back. There were good reasons for your top not to work in the current situation. When removing and replacing the controller, always make sure to have the negative battery terminal disconnected first.

Once the controller is re-installed, put the top down manually and make sure both rear locks are open and the tonneau cover is locked. Try to move the roll bar with the switch. If it was emergency deployed, then you have to hold the roll bar switch up a few seconds. Otherwise, just push the roll bar button down.

If you have questions about parts unrelated to the top, please start another thread.

Klaus

www.tophydraulicsinc.com