I tried putting my top down last night and it said visit workshop. Never had an issue until this. Any ideas?

Pump?

I am thinking a switch or something.....even while I am driving and I press it.....I get that same warning instead of the "locked while in driving mode." It makes me think it is something electrical instead of mechanical.

There's this little allen screew in the boot, you might try turning it 1/4 turn back and forth.
There's a proceedure explained I think in the manual, as i recall if the roof gets stuck in mid stream they say to turn it 1/4 to release pressure allowing roof to drop, then you have to rotate the screw back to the original orientation. Theres an allen wrench in your sac. May not help in your case but i cant see how it could hurt, so long as you read the manual first and understand the system.
I may be able to look it up for you if you aint got it.

It does sound like an electrical problem, but be glad its not down and you can't get it back up! My greatest fear is when I'm cruising top down, it begins to rain, I pull over, push the button to put the top back up, nothing happens and my dash reads "visit workshop!!" Aaargh!!!

Sorry, I'm not much help, but I hope your problem will be resolved easily...

The top control module receives inputs from about a dozen different switches that tell it the position of the top, the trunk lid, EZ-Pack, side flaps, and latches. Just about any one of these switches being stuck or out of position can prevent a closed top from opening. This may be your problem.

You can diagnose this yourself with a basic electronic multimeter by checking the inputs to the top controller; or if you have the proper scanner, you can read diagnostics. If you take the car to a dealer or well-equiped independent, they should be able to diagnose the problem quickly and easily.

Seeing this often...happened to me a while back and my other friends SL as well. Visit the workshop ASAP and I pray for you that you're still under warranty.

Also, I read in another thread someone had a similar problem and the red visit workshop light came on. My visit workshop light is normal colored....what is the difference between a red and normal colored one?

Normal one means the car is still driveable without causing further excessive damage and the red one means GO STRAIGHT TO MERCEDES

Check to see that all the windows have automatically gone to the full up and closed position. Had the same problem. Window regulator was out of sync. Had to have it replaced. It was warranty so I don't know what the cost was. But, as previously stated, could be one of several points out of allignment.

Say, has anyone discovered (or created) a good temporary solution, say this happens with the top stuck down and you want to drive the car home or to the shop in the rain, or if you're a long way from civilization, some roof cover to get you and your car there dry?

I mean besides a simple large tarp and bungee cords.

Considering the price of these cars and the cost of repairs, im surprised MBenz doesnt provide some sort of emergency cover/system in the event that your top gets stuck in the folded position in the pouring rain.

Incidentally, though I really like this car, it does seem that Benz depends a bit too much on their reputation and on peoples egos to sell cars, and not quite enough on old-style perfectionism and an eye toward ultimate refinement.
A thoughtful car, but just not quite as thoughtful as i expected, or hoped for.
I like to know what others think about this. Do you think the engineers have lost some of their enthusiasm?

(I should have probably started a new thread with this idea. If there is a moderator watching, feel free to transfer this post.)

I'm going to take it in today and see what code comes up. I personally don't think it's anything major.....I can't see the thing not having one problem ever and then all of a sudden something major happening out of nowhere.

Any luck at the dealers? What was the problem? Did you get it resolved?

I didn't go yet-had too much to do. I am going to get over there this week though. It's supposed to be upper 80's all week....perfect for the top down. Oh well, that's been my luck.

Had my top notch independent (MBWorld ID nknauz) look at this today. He read the fault codes and the side flaps were not working. He did some code punching and it now works fine. I think a connector may have come loose in the back.

Yeah.....so......

Worked great for 2 days and then while it started to rain, I tried to put my top up and it stopped about 85% of the way closed. The rollbar stopped working, too. Took it into dealer.....one of the side flaps was broke, $1,000 out of pocket.

Wow, hope that;s the last of your top problems! Good Luck!

I recently had my top stop opening 1/2 way open. I called MB service. The teck was in the middle of another call so he called another teck who lived close to me and arrived in under 5 minutes (true). here is how the problem was resolved:
Shut down the car and wait for the pressure in the hydraulics to lessen (min or two). One person on each side lift the roof together back up towards the front. Stop about 1.5 feet from closed. At exactly the same time you both let go and the top will drop down evenly. If you try to lower it and are not exactly in unison it will jam. This at least gets the top closed mostly and will keep the rain out. Now I had the trunk lid up. It will usually be a limit switch of which there are many. It was obvious that the side flaps were out of sink meaning it was one of those switches. He used the key to open the trunk lid, which popped up on the sissor hinges, and then pushed the limit switch with his finger. Then when I pushed the close roof switch the top locked and the trunk shut. This got me on the road again.
This may not help everyone but at least it may get the top (mostly) closed in the rain

Turned out that the rack teeth on one flap actuator was stripped. Took a day to get the part in from Toronto and was replaced under warranty, luckily at the same time I had new brake lights installed saving me a few hours of labor charges.

If your top won't go up, call the dealer, don't screw around with it yourself regardless of what anyone on here says.

I had the same problem happen on sl500 03 this top like the cadillac xlr and the lexus sc430 all rely on a bunch of switches to be in the right place at the right time. Im my case if you opened the deck lid and looked up at the flaps at the top were not tight up against the carpet. Nothing will happen until they are. I took a piece of duct tape and taped them up against the carpet. I shut the deck lid and the top worked. It then automatically put them in the right position . the duct tape will break loose whenit needs to dont use anything stronger. works fine now just got out of sync.

Try looking behind passenger's seat! Mice like to munch on wires.

Sorry duplicated message.

Mercedes Benz has worked on the retractable top 3 times each time I got the car back it still fails to work properly, now they tell me the frame is bent and it cannot be fixed unless the frame is replaced at a cost of $34,000. I'm at a loss

Don't worry, I'll do it for $10,000.

Seriously, I think that is just Mercedes code for 'my techs can't figure it out and we don't want you to come back'. You need to find an indy familiar with R230's ASAP. What is it doing exactly?

Thank you Mike, they've had my car for almost 4 months so I wrote a letter to the new MB VP of Customer service and I think it pissed off the dealer. I love the car and don't want to sell it for scrap