560SL Convertable Top won't go DOWN !!! Bad Microprocessor?
 

1986 560SL... convertable top won't go down automatically -- I hold the red button on the console -- get this, the trunk doesn't even open! I've had the car into the dealer 7 times and they've replaced all 11 microprocessors and changed the hydraulic fluid... it's really burning me up.

Then all of the sudden, after ten minutes, it will work! Sometimes, if it's really cool, it won't work, sometimes when it's really hot it won't work... I can't stand sitting in the parking lot at work in the morning when it has started to rain and I can't get the top to go up !!!

Ok, I'm just joshing -- I've been reading all the posts here and on other boards about the Vario roof on the SLK. I find it a tad scary... the thought of driving around in a car whose prime feature can give up the ghost so... er... easily.

I have a good friend who has an SLK 320 and I've been able to cream him in informal stoplight drag races -- but he wins hands down in the TOP UP or TOP DOWN races. So far, he hasn't had any VARIO problems...
My 560SL is seventeen years old. I have the occasional problem removing the hard top with the center post snagging and I'll have to eventually replace the soft top -- but I've never been unable to put the soft top up or down: what a concept.

My question:

What is a retractable hard top going to be like to live with on a seventeen year old car... or for that matter what will a 129's automatic soft top be like to live with when it's twenty-five years old? Don't get me wrong... I love the SLK's and the SL500's etc... I just really, really wonder what the cars will be like to live with as they age?

Did they really have microprocessors in 1986? Dumb question, but did you check the actuator switch? The switch you press to activate the top mechanism. The mechanical switch is a moving part and it is far more likely to fail intermittently than a none-moving "solid state" part. I have a 1991 300sl and the top contoller has a pair of relays which carry most of the current and "interlock" with the window up/down contoller. Solid state devices don't fail intermittently. You most probably have a bad switch, bad or corroded connector, or a bad relay. It's a complex system, but a a logical trouble shooting approach is more effective than just throwing new part$ at the car until it works again. Tod

I don't know about the SLK, but the R129's automatic top can be raised or lowered manually fairly easily. In fact, it is not much more difficult or time consuming an operation than working the top of a W107 like the 560SL. But this is a moot point, because the R129's top is remarkably reliable. And if you are so very unlucky as to have something go wrong, the built-in diagnostics of the top's controller make troubleshooting easy.

On my 560SL, I find that the CPU governing all operation of the top mechanism isn't quite as reliable as it used to be. Of course, it's 52 years old, and the related mechanicals operated by the CPU and its immediate operating apparatus are only 14.:D

I lost all my fluids for 1991 300sl roof, it came from top cylander from right front and back, does any one knows how to fix it?

SL 500 Soft Top
 

I had problems with my pump and the dealer wanted to replace it for over $2,500. If you do not get any codes that tell you what the problem is you may want to try taking it to a hydraulic shop to check the motor and see if it is running properly.

TK

I have never seen or heard of a any R107 having any sort of powered top. There isn't even a place to put top motors. The gas tank is right below where the soft top is stored.

Rick -- so, you've never seen a powered top 107 -- you'll get a kick out of this:

http://www.autotop.uk.mcmail.com/yourpag3.htm

Don't most of the new cars have manual over ride? I know my Jag does.

How Interesting!

That is a first for me, but it's not factory. I didn't go throught the whole site, but it appears to be out dated. What was the cost?