Hi everyone need some advice to rectify some issues I’ve had after a leaking roof issue. Car is a 2005 SL350, I had the usual boot leaks when I bought the car, but not major. During this summer I cleaned and restored all the seals and that seemed to sort out all the leaks.

Fast forward to present day, I noticed a recent couple of occasions where the dash lights would suddenly flash, suspension would go to Sport mode and ride height go up, but using the manual selectors I could reset everything so I put it down to a temporary glitch.

Then I suddenly noticed that the carpet behind the passenger seat is like a lake (UK car so left side of car). On investigation I have a major leak at the base of the roof panel where it joins the top of the rear windscreen. If I tip water over it I can see water running down the inside of the car. The boot however is still bone dry.

At the same time, I discovered more faults. Firstly The central locking and boot release stopped working. Also the boot divider was in the open position so I couldn’t drop the roof to investigate the leak.

On investigation the PSE pump fuse was blown, but when I replaced it the system didn’t restore and about 5 mins later the replacement fuse blew. On further investigating the fuse is getting red hot to the point it’s difficult to hold, after a minute or so and I’m guessing this is blowing the fuse.

Additionally I opened the boot manually using the key blade, put the boot divider into the closed position, closed the boot again and tried to open the roof. I get the “Partition Divider Still Open” message on the dash and the roof won’t open.

So..... I could do with some help on the following queries to try and start fixing.......

1) What lies in the floor region (if anything) behind the passenger seat (left hand side of UK car) that could be affected by water?

2) I’ve probably got a short circuit going through the PSE pump fuse in the fuse box, which is causing the fuse to heat up and blow, any ideas where to start on this one?

3) As the central locking is currently not working when I manually opened the boot and then closed after, the boot lid latches shut but does not “vacuum pull” the final motion. Would this prevent the roof lowering and explain the error message I get when I try to open the roof?

4) If the answer to my question 3 is no, what do I need to check to see how the car is sensing the position of the boot divider.

I’d be extremely grateful for any advice or steers anyone can give me on this? I’m not asking about the roof leak at this stage, until I can get the roof open to investigate further.

 

Your problem is water damage / corrosion in the PSE pump, very, very common problem on R230s, Google it and you will find plenty info.
The PSE controls door locking, boot opening and “soft close”, boot divider sensing, glove and storage compartment locking and fuel flap locking.

https://www.benzworld.org/threads/me...#post-17909876
My eBay will be available soon, out of the country at the moment
Obviously you want to cure the leak to avoid a repeat.
The switch to sense the divider being closed is connected directly to the PSE.

On the left side is the radio tuner, the CD drive Bose amplifier, if you have that option.
if you need more technical info, just ask

 

I’m sure we all dearly want to know what caused the roof to leak, back there. Do chime in, once you find out. Something like a leaf, caught in between, perhaps?

 

I most certainly will. All the advice is pointing at the PSE pump so I’ll have to remove that first and see if I can revive it or replace. I can’t wait get the roof open till I’ve done that so the leak investigation will have to come second.

Its a weekend car and currently under a car cover so it’s not going to get worse, I’ll tackle it when I have a bit more time and of course, I’ll report back.

 

OK a reference to roof water leaks prompted me to close off this thread.

I finally narrowed down the leak to a blocked drain channel inside the B Pillar rubber. The top entrance to the drain is really small and very difficult to see and I didn’t see it straight away. Ran lawnmower strimmer cable down it and all good since.

All the other problems were caused by a combination of broken PSE pump impeller and a weak Convenience Battery. Once I sorted those out and cleared all codes I’ve not had a single record-occurrence and everything working fine.