SL Soft Top Alarm

[airtrafficguy]

A few days ago i took the hard top off and while putting up the soft top it stopped half way. I drove to work with the top down and proceeded to struggle with it throughout the day when it suddenly went up but now, whille it appears to be fully locked and secured, the alarm saying it is not keeps going off. Any suggestions?

[bobterry99]

There are several approaches to troubleshooting this. The following involves no tools or disassembly.

When you close the convertible top, continue pushing on the button even after motion finishes. Within 80 seconds you should hear the hydraulic pump stop and the lamp in the switch will begin to flash indicating a diagnostic code is stored. Then retrieve the code as explained here and report what you find.

[FirstMerc]

I was having the same problem so I read the codes and received codes 18 and 29. I managed to successfuly erase them by getting a single flash to confirm success.

Can anyone tell me what these codes stand for?

I searched and found references to code 29 as being the speed sensor although I don't know what that is actually refering to but I haven't been able to find code 18.

I want to know in case I have the same problem again with the alarm going off so I know what I need to fix.

Thanks a whole a bunch.

[bobterry99]

Code 18 is in regard to the right-side door limit switch which detects that the window is completely lowered. My interpretation of the code is that the controller turned-on the motor to lower the window but did not get feedback from the switch within a set period of time. A top opening/closing operation, will halt in the middle of the sequence without this signal.

Code 29 refers to one of the two speed signals the soft top controller uses to disable operations while the car is in motion. This code is set when it receives a signal from the speedometer but not from the ABS controller, if I recall.

By the way, in a deleted scene from the movie "Heartbreakers" Sigourney Weaver is driving an SL and Jennifer Love-Hewitt accidentally hits the top button and lowers the top while they are driving across a bridge. I watched this with a friend who had bought the DVD, and the director commented how they had specially modified the car to allow that to happen.

[FirstMerc]

Thanks for the info bobterry. By the way, how many times do you see movies where they do just that, bring the top down while moving, expecially on a newer vehicle. I keep thinking that car would not let you do that now that most convertibles have a special mechanism to stop it. With most you have to have the hand brake on! By the way, I never try and do that so that code 29 must've been there from before. I've only had the car for two months now.

I never had any problems with the top or the windows. They always work fine except that when the top is up and I'm driving, the odd time the alarm would start to sound (usually when I hit a bump) and then I have to push the button forward once or twice for it to stop. As if the top is not secured.

The other day it kept on doing it over and over again to I decided to check out the codes. Odd thing happened though. I was following your advice about keeping the button pushed for 80 secs to store a code after putting the top up. After about 30 sec or so, the passenger side window suddenly dropped about 2 inches but I kept the button pushed forward. Then every 2 secs or so, the window would creep up a bit and then again a bit more until it was all the way up again. The light never did come on to show that a code was stored but I was still able to retrieve the codes mentioned earlier so I'm assuming they must have been stored from before. I should mention that my passenger side window comes up fine usually until about two inches from the top and then it slows down like it's hitting some resistance until it reaches the top. I don't know if that's related to the odd thing that happened. The driver's side window has no issues at all.

I was expecting the codes to indicate a latch problem so I will wait for it and see if the alarm goes off again sometime and I'll check the codes right after to see what's up since I think codes 18 and 29 might have been stored from way before.

[Odiedawg]

My 94 sl600 soft top is stuck in the up position and the swith is flashing red. I bought and emergency manual cranking tool but don't know how or where to use it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[bobterry99]

The top operation probably quit because the controller did not detect that both windows were completely lowered. On a car built up to 12/93 this could be a faulty limit switch in the bottom of a door. From 1/94 on windows must be "synchronized", and to do this you close the window and continue holding the switch for a couple of seconds after the window is fully raised.

Regarding the use of the tool, from other posts carson356 is apparently willing and able to email owner's manuals. I would try contatcting him.