Does anyone know of a step by step or video on how to replace the front locking cylinder on the R230? I tried searching here and on YouTube but to no avail.

Thanks,

 

I have found this link:

http://benzbits.com/R230/RemoveRoofPaneling.pdf

Also see where there are recommendations to do it two other ways rather than tracing lines back to the pump and sending everything to be rebuilt.

1. cut the lines and use these when reinstalling for however you repair the seals. http://www.cabriolethydraulics.com/hose-couplers.php

2. loosen the cylinder and repair the o-rings while lines are still attached.

Any on here that have don this?

Some other questions to do this job:

1. how do you depressurize the system?

2. how do you add fluid once the repair is made?

Thanks,

 

I used this o-ring kit on ebay. Came with very good instructions. You can get the cylinder to hang out of the driver window so you can work on it.
You just need to drill a small hole in the top of the cylinder so you can get the retaining ring out. Then you change the o-ring, put it back together and reinstall the cylinder. No cutting of the hydraulic lines needed. Did this about 8 months ago and it's still good.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/03-11-Merce...item419ed7fb00

 

Tophydraulicsinc.com has good info and diagrams, but if you want to remove the lines, it's not a fun job.

To the above questions, there's no pressure retained in the system after the car shuts off, it releases the valves in the pump if the top is in motion after about a minute, and the top will fall down under it's own weight.

To refill, there's an adapter that screws into the pump, or you can use a small hose and funnel or any sort of fluid transfer pump, i use a Mityvac MVA6851

 

Did you have any trouble removing the roof liner? any broken clips?

 

The clips are normally unglued at this point anyway. The plastic bracket will stay on the clip on the roof frame, you will have to remove it, and superglue it back onto the headliner to re-install. Same with the C pillar trims.

 

How did this work out for you
Peter

 

I ended up do in the O ring replacement repair. The clips were separated and I re-glued them. I posted a thread with photos on this forum.

 

YEP found that thread...great job !!

 

Folks
So if I have had a leak will I be able to pop the top to get the timber spacers in there to keep it open or perform a manual open...which I would not know how to do
Or should I top it up if required and try and pop the top
Peter

 

This video from Mercedes shows how to close the roof manually, Opening it would be the reverse:

 

Damn shame I don't have Star

 

Anybody repair/replace the wavy trim piece? How?

 

Tomcat, mine had the same issue due to the leaking oil from the upper cylinder.....I did cutouts on the wavy area and use rubber cement to glue an strip of canvas. You could use an strip of 1/16" rubber too.! It look better but not perfect!
For all other repairs, I used a Cup seal not an O'ring. Didn.t separate the cylinder lines. Just did it in place.

 

Thanks on wavey trim and cylinder repairs.
I did not want to try drilling (or dremeling) and I have successfully used Cabriolet Hydraulics splice in the past (about two years ago)...so they are rebuilding/splicing.
Did you have any issues with syncronizing after moving the linkages around and re-pressurizing the cylinder? Any secrets/findings?
THANKS!

 

I recently did my front cylinder, had it rebuilt by Cabriolet Hydraulics, used their splice kits. Didn't have to do any kind of synchronizing. After the rebuilt cylinder was in place, with the depressurization port at the pump open, I just let the top descend into the closed position (careful - it'll come down hard if you let it, and it is pretty heavy). Left the headliner out so I could observe operation of the cylinder and linkages. Closed the depressurization port, then topped off the reservoir, then started the car and pressed down on the convertible top switch to complete the close cycle, then opened and closed it a few times to confirm all was good.

I bought a new part to replace the wavy passenger side weatherstrip. Kinda expensive, best price I found was $155 from AutohausAZ, but the rest of the car is pretty much perfect so I can't bring myself to skimp on it. It's a little tricky to get the new part completely in place, getting the rubber all pushed completely into the receiving channel, etc., but not terribly hard. Used the driver side as a reference for how the weatherstrip should look when completely properly seated.

My headliner was soaked in fluid throughout the passenger side front corner area. My car's got the exclusive leather/alcantara trim option, and the panoramic roof, so my headliner is alcantara and a replacement is ~$1200. Decided I had nothing to lose and set out to clean it. Started with mildest stuff, then worked my way up - plain dishwashing liquid, then Dawn Powerwash, then Simple Green, none of these seemed to affect that hydraulic fluid at all. So I went next step up - I knew brake cleaner would dissolve the hydraulic fluid, but I didn't know if it would affect the alcantara, or the glue holding it to the headliner panel, or the headliner panel itself, which seems to be some kind of super-lightweight composite material, not just average plastic. Thankfully it all came out fine. I did follow up after the brake clean with 2 or 3 rounds of Dawn Powerwash to be completely rid of the brake cleaner smell.

 

Thanks for the description...
My pump seems to look a little different from what most 2004 SLs have? Is the "depressurization port" on the front of the reservoir (where you refill the fluid)? (See picture of my pump).
The top will just fall forward (or backwards depending on the center of gravity) with the ignition off and the "fill port" closed (or open).

 

Lessons learned by Tomcat SL Post #96 27 April 2024:
https://mbworld.org/forums/sl-class-...ispreloading=1

 

I used a drop of Superglue gel in each dip/droop (one at a time) and lightly pushed and held the droop in place for ~30 seconds. If I put too much pressure on the droop it tended to just move left or right...so a delicate touch worked.