SL/R129: Reaired 2 rear lock cylindes and 2 tonneau lift cylinders with pictures
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Joined: Jul 2017
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R129/SL500
Reaired 2 rear lock cylindes and 2 tonneau lift cylinders with pictures
My rear lock cylinders were leaking like a sieve! There is not much time left to the season and I didn't want to wait the week or so to send them off to Klaus. I will be sending my bow cylinders to him as they are a little more complicated. I ordered the cup seals (not O-rings) and they arrived yesterday. It was supposed to rain today (and it did and is) so I planned on doing the work today. First I removed all the interior pieces in the trunk including the CD changer. The CD changer is fairly easy if you have a magnetic tip Phillips screwdriver. There are 4 Phillips screws and the CD changer pulls straight up. Then there are 2 small screws and 2-10mm nuts and the bracket comes out. 2 wires unplug from the changer. Then there is a bunch of push pins and the whole trunk interior pulls out. You have to remove the drivers side tail light assembly but it just unclips and then unplugs. About an hour or so to get to this point.
Here is all the trunk trim!
And these are the pins that hold all the trunk trim in place.
Here you can see hydraulic fluid on top of both lock cylinders. The tonneau lift cylinders were not leaking but I wasn't going to take any chances.
Here is what it looks like from inside the trunk. It looks intimidating but I did the side opposite the fuel fill first and it wasn't hard at all. Easy side.
And the harder side.
This is the lock cylinder removed from the lock. There is locktite on the threads holding to the lock assembly. I scraped it off and removed it fairly easily with a 7mm wrench and a 5/8 wrench holding the brass colored mount so I wouldn't twist or damage it. Careful there is a little square nut you can drop and lose.
And here is the lift cylinder. The seals were very tight and difficult to install. All the other seals I could push in by hand. These I had to use my vise with soft jaws and the seals pushed in nice! Then I had to kind of screw them on the shaft so as to not damage the new seal.
Here you can see the new seal installed in the cup and on the shaft.
Here is how I prop the bow up so I could work.
Done! It took a couple of cycles before everything worked correctly. I still have to make a slight adjustment to the front right micro switch. Sometimes the light stays on. I can make it go off with the tool! I'm tired and sore (2 bad shoulders) so that is for another day!
Here is all the trunk trim!
And these are the pins that hold all the trunk trim in place.
Here you can see hydraulic fluid on top of both lock cylinders. The tonneau lift cylinders were not leaking but I wasn't going to take any chances.
Here is what it looks like from inside the trunk. It looks intimidating but I did the side opposite the fuel fill first and it wasn't hard at all. Easy side.
And the harder side.
This is the lock cylinder removed from the lock. There is locktite on the threads holding to the lock assembly. I scraped it off and removed it fairly easily with a 7mm wrench and a 5/8 wrench holding the brass colored mount so I wouldn't twist or damage it. Careful there is a little square nut you can drop and lose.
And here is the lift cylinder. The seals were very tight and difficult to install. All the other seals I could push in by hand. These I had to use my vise with soft jaws and the seals pushed in nice! Then I had to kind of screw them on the shaft so as to not damage the new seal.
Here you can see the new seal installed in the cup and on the shaft.
Here is how I prop the bow up so I could work.
Done! It took a couple of cycles before everything worked correctly. I still have to make a slight adjustment to the front right micro switch. Sometimes the light stays on. I can make it go off with the tool! I'm tired and sore (2 bad shoulders) so that is for another day!
