Let me start out by saying this is a fantastic forum, I have read numerous threads on the top not working properly and have yet to figure out my next step. The car is a 2003 SL55 AMG have only operated the top 5 or 6 times and a few times I had to monkey with the roll bar switch before the top would close, Made me think I may have a bad sensor on the roll bar. Following are the steps leading up to the current problem, sorry if some are irrelevant but since I dont know will describe in order. I read where you could operate the top with the key fob by pressing and holding the lock or unlock button and thought I would try that, did I inadvertently hit the trunk open button in the process don't know. Either way it didn't work it made some noise but nothing happened. Got in the car and lowered the top with the button on the console worked fine. Drove around a little and didn't notice any alarms that may indicate a problem with the top. When I attempted to raise the top it came up about a third of the way but acted like it was low on power, real slow tried revving the engine a little with no affect.It was stuck in that position and would not raise or lower. The display would show top operating but nothing happening. Reading the manual stated the hyd PSI would bleed off in a few minutes and you would be able to push it back into the trunk.It did and I was able to get the top back in the trunk with little force. The trunk lid lacks about 3 inches from closing all the way. Was able to drive home like that praying the whole time we would beat the rain, we did by about 30 minutes.
The posts I have read informed me of some things that I didn't even know I had on the car. The soft close or close assist doesn't work, Great post by the way on the fix for that, can hear air leak when disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it. Could that be the problem with the top? Until now it worked fine with slamming the trunk and I don.t mean having to get violent with it. I have checked the fuses and all are fine. I hope I didn't create another problem by pulling the fuses at the time I had not found the fuse chart that was posted on your site and could not get the Ohm meter leads on them so I pulled them to visually check. My next step is to try and manually close the top so I can have better access to the pump. The easy pack feature, button in the trunk, doesn't work either so it is a tight fit. With the top attempting to close real slow it made me think I had low PSI. I don't ever hear the pump come on is this a pump issue or some sensor issue, any suggestions on how to check.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

I'll guess the the Easy Pack feature does not work because you have not locked down the tubular frame at both its left and right locks.

Closing the roof manually seems like a good idea. If you don't have Star Diagnosis, then retracting the side flaps to allow the tubular frame to close with the trunk lid closed is going to be a challenge.

 

I see a lot of star diagnosis systems for sale on ebay ranging in price from $500 to $1700 do you know if any of these would work? Would a universal scanner you can buy at Autozone help in identifying any sensors that are bad? I know you wouldn't be able to control the side flaps etc...but would it be able to read any codes that would help in diagnosing the top problem?

 

Star Diagnosis would be helpful to have, but it is not necessary. A generic scan tool is useless for this problem.

You should be able to put together a system comprising a C3 multiplexer from Aliexpress and a Dell D630 laptop from eBay for about $350.

 

I closed the top manually to about an inch from the windshield. I had turned the locks with an allen wrench but they still hit the latch and won't allow the top to contact the windshield. Not sure why I can't turn the lock far enough but during all this I did find the problem with the top. On my first post we were caught in a rain storm and sometime after closing the top what I thought was water running into the passenger side was actually the top lock cylinder leaking. There were several indications I should have recognized one being the waffle affect of the top seal, I'll try to attach a picture. The other was the slow operation of the top when attempting to close just before it locked and wouldn't do anything. I had attempted to look at the pump reservoir and thought it had oil. It wasn't until I got the top out of the trunk and could really get a good look at the pump that I discovered it was out of oil.
Do any of you think I have damaged the pump? The fuse wasn't blown so I assume it is not locked up. Is there some logic that shuts the pump down when it doesn't complete an operation in a given time? Unless someone advises me different I plan on rebuilding the cylinder and getting the top into the closed position and then seeing if it will work.
I also pulled the trunk close assist assembly and as described it has a crack in one of the ports, will epoxy this and all the other ports. I count a total of 6 ports.

 

I replaced the seal in the lock cylinder with a urethane cup seal I found on ebay. Thanks to the post that called out the size 16 x 9 x 4mm. I was able to drill out the indents in the collar with the correct size bit for an 8-32 screw. Tapped the collar and used 2 set screws and loctite when reassembling. Now on to the next problem does anyone have suggestions on how to clean and get the oil off of the headliner? Also the little plastic fasteners that are along the side of the headliner broke off instead of pulling out. Did not pull down very hard at all when these broke. I am planning on gluing these back on in place as I reinstall the headliner as I don't think I would ever get them lined up correctly.
Any suggestions on the glue to use?