Hi, I need help in two areas for my 2003 sl500. First after going through a car wash, I know but it is pretty old, the passenger front jack port cover on the rocker panel went missing. I cannot for the life of me find what it is actually called to replace it. Second, I had it serviced at a non MB place who has a great reputation and they talked me into replacing the third brake light because it was disintegrating. I said OK, it was a few hundred bucks, but when I got the car back the hardtop does not activate to retract. Any ideas? 2003 with 80K but has turned into a garage queen with the pandemic.

 

Front right jack plug is 230 698 10 30 + color suffix (not all available) without AMG sport package, 230 698 38 30 9999 with AMG sport, no colors available. There is also a 230 698 68 30 9999 for AMG, but it must be for later years. If you want me to be more exact, send me your VIN.

As far as the roof, do you have the trunk partition closed? Just thinking that you might never use the trunk and they opened it when they replaced the brake light. The other possibility is that the trunk is out of adjustment and not latching properly, or that the switch wire did not get reconnected (I believe that the latch gets removed to access the brake light). Of course, it could be unrelated, but those are the things that would get messed with for that repair.

 

Thanks so much!
No dash messages about the top.
The latch being disconnected makes the most sense. That is where I will start

Thanks again.

 

Good Morning!
I have worked through several issues regarding the top on the 4 SL class vehicles I own. Many times has ZERO to do with the top but ALL to do with other systems.
I would suggest check a few things;
* Is the vacuum system working properly mainly the truck latch. Folks will tell you this part has a 100% failure rate. Usually you will get a truck not latched light. If the vacuum pump is running the system will lock out the trunk latch portion of the pump. So.... the door lock system will function but the trunk latch wont. the fuse is blown, it is usually the impeller in the pump is broken. Easy repair.... but VERY touchy when putting back together and setting the pressure. I built a little test stand that measures Pressure/ vacuum and amp draw.
* Is the fluid level correct or is it leaking. The front latch cylinder seems to be the biggest point of failure. These can usually be repaired for less that one dollar (USD) and a few hours of time if you are a DIY person.
* Are all the speed sensors on the wheels working properly. If the vehicle "thinks" it is moving the top will not function. This could be the wheel sensor or (like one of my cases) the tome ring on the wheel.
* Is the trunk partition in place properly and are the switches reporting properly to the ECM? Sometimes the switch is "made" but the internal portion of the switch is bad or work intermittent. You can check this with a multimeter.
I all my cases it has always been system other than the truck retract system that has cased the problem. Vehicle that sit and are not "exercised" tend to develop issues.

I will help anyway I can to get you fuctional. Not that I know it all. Just offering a few things to consider.
Best Regards
Mark

 

A few things to add to Mark's excellent advice:

1) The trunk partition switch is read by the PSE (pump for the door/trunk locks) module. If the pump goes bad and blows a fuse this module is dead and the top module will not get the partition closed message and will give you a 'trunk partition open' message even if it is closed and the switch is working.
2) If the trunk soft close is not working, you can still close the trunk hard enough to latch it completely. If the trunk lid is slightly above the rear quarters, it is not completely latched and the top will not work.
3) Try raising and lowering the roll bar. This uses the top hydraulic pump and shares the same module, so if it doesn't work you probably have a pump issue or a problem with the top/roll bar control. The roll bar does not have all of the speed, prox switch, and window position requirements that the top has.
4) All four windows have to work for the top to lower. The front windows are opened slightly and the rears completely. If this doesn't happen, the top won't move.