I tried to open the roof on my 1998 SLK230 Kompressor last night, but it would not go through the cycle. The windows went down and the trunk section went up, but after that there was a whirring sound and nothing. The roof did not detach from the front. The trunk section goes down and windows go back up if I reverse the procedure.

I read some of the old posts and am wondering if a problem I had several months ago could be affecting the roof. I had an alternator relay switch go bad and the battery was without power until we got the switch replaced. Would this affect the relay switches for the roof? If so, is it very expensive to replace the relay switches that govern the roof retraction? Help, it is starting to get sunny and hot here in Missouri.

I am not that familiar with the SLK, but my SL requires a synchronization procedure before the top will go down. Check your owners manual and then give the dealer a call. The battery being disconnected will reset it, but then you have to re-sync it so the computer knows where everything is, or a place to start. Good luck!
Brian

__________________
Brian W. Heitman

www.MBCA.org/northtexas

Join MBCA!!!

My friend had a 200 SLK with 14,000 miles and the top on his car gave him problems too. The dealer said they took care of it the first, but it kept on happening. He bought a new battery and after going to the dealer a 2nd time they said it was ok. It happened a 3rd time and they said that they replaced some part. It failed again and so he sold the car. I'm not sure what part they replaced, but I do know that it rained on him the last time it wouldn't work and that's why he sold it.

__________________
1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz

I took my 230K to the dealer about a year ago with a roof problem he said that the rubber seals were interferring with the switches and they had to cut them back slightly to allow the switches to work.

Hi everybody this is my first post on this forum.

gary

Hi Gary,

Welcome to the one of the greatest MB boards. Lots of great people here and some very knowledgable too.

__________________
1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz

Welcome Gary! Thanks for your input!

__________________
Brian W. Heitman

www.MBCA.org/northtexas

Join MBCA!!!

First of all, thank you for your replies. Sometimes when I read the posts on this forum I feel so ignorant about my SLK230 (1998). I took the car to a nearby Mercedes dealership this morning and the roof worked fine for them. That was frustrating. I had tried it off and on all weekend, but, naturally, it failed to "not preform" for the mechanic.

They did a diagnosis of the car's system and a code B1493 popped up regarding the "output or lead of component N70h1 (Soft top operation and locking gong) has" etc. I can't type the symbols. The status is "current and stored". They said this is cause for concern, but didn't say why. They were shocked about how many codes popped up--three pages. I will have to leave the car there to have all of them looked at, but couldn't leave it today. Since I only had the roof issue at this time and it apparently is working I paid the $85 diagnostic fee and left. Now I am worried about driving the car out of town.

With all that code printing it's no wonder they have to charge so much for diagnostic time. Three pages of codes sounds to me like the record - at least for one problem.

It was not just the roof code. There were codes for a secondary air injection, fuel level sensor, airbag, voltage, alarm system (four codes), temperature control. Most of them had "Stored" as the status or "not defined". I have no idea what this means. As I said I am wondering if I should drive this car outside a five-mile radius of my home.

Sounds like its the old codes trick - when they get a bit confused they bring out the code pages with a shake of the head and saying "looks like it could be expensive sir". Come back at them with "its the last merc I will buy" that works.

If your roof is intermittent then thinks will get worse, mine played up for about 18 months before enough was enough.

gary