I too, have written about it extensively on this forum and the other popular MB forum. The first diagnosis showed a loss of hydraulic fluid and one of the left roof pistons had a seal cracked (probably from the car not being used much; I bought it from someone who kept it in a garage and didn't drive it - a 2003 with 7800 miles on it). That piston was replaced, and I thought all was well. It's back at the Dealers now because the top opens or closes very, very slowly ONLY the first time it's activated on a given day. After that, it works perfectly (16 secs to open or close) the rest of the day! The dealer can't figure out what's wrong. There is NO loss of hydraulic fluid. Perhaps the main pump is failing, but before replacing that, the dealer has to be sure since the pump costs well over $1000.00. Thank God I bought an extended warranty. We'll see.
Good luck with your issue...it is very difficult and labor-intensive to diagnose properly. I think the car has 8 pistons and a hydrauic pump in the trunk. Lots of dis-assembly and re-assembly, I understand.
Well its very hard to say what the problem with the top is. But the start is definaly to check you fluid level, there should be posts on here how to do that. If you fluid level is correct then post on here again with the exact place that everything is when the top stops working and I can help you figure out if a switch is bad.
My dealer found (after 2 days there) that there were "a lot of air bubbles" in the system. So they took out the pump in the trunk, and moved it into a vertical position from it's horizontal bolted down position and followed a recommended service to bleed all of the air out of it...so they said. I picked up the car today and they claimed that they "believe" that should fix it. We'll see. Time will tell of course.
Stan
Guess what...my last "fix" at the Dealer didn't work either. I thought when they bled the air out of the system that it was fixed. However, the symptom returned. Very slow top movement on initial operation, and better, although not perfect after that. Within one day or so, the symptom returned.
Back to the Dealer, and they finally determined that the PUMP was malfunctioning. When they compared the SOUND of the pump in my car next to a brand new SL, my pump sounded like it was "laboring". The Warranty company approved a new pump for my car which will be installed on Monday. Thank God I purchased a bumper to bumper warranty for my car. It cost $1620.00 for 5 years or 36,000 miles. That was 9 months ago. The Dealer installed a new left roof piston in the roof 2 weeks ago (hoping that would cure my problem) and the cost to the Warranty Co. was over $750.00. The Hydraulic pump will cost $1940.00 installed. That's over $2600.00! WOW...was that warranty a great idea!
I'm pretty confident, as is the Dealer, that my roof will finally be fixed right after this new pump is installed.
This has been some ordeal for me. But I will compliment my Dealer for his persistence in wanting to get this problem solved. This SL convertible roof is truly a marvel of engineering.
Stan
I will get that for you. Great company. My top is NOW finally fixed. It WAS the pump. The new pump that was installed is smaller and much more efficient. My Dealer said that the OLD pump did indeed have issues, so that when the new pump was delivered to the Dealer, it was quite a surprise. It's the same pump used on the 2008 SLs. It works great. 16 secs from open to close! That's the way it should be. I called my Dealer today, and told my Service Writer that all is well....and this was the perfect fix.
I got my money out of the Warranty IMMEDIATELY, and I still have 4 years to go!
Linear Mode
