99 SL500 soft top switch blinking light
 

Spring is around the corner so i took my hard top off only to find the soft top operation is broken, the light on the switch is blinking, it worked in the fall when I last used it.

My past experience says the battery voltage may be low for the soft top as this car is not my primary car and is parked in the garage 6 days a week and only driven less than 10 miles a week.

The hard-top popped off fine but not sure what could it be? anybody have any ideas? should I attached another battery (hand held battery car jumper) to see if its a voltage problem?

There are a number of problems it could be, the most likely, however, is that the soft top tonneau cover has got stuck over time - if it can't be raised with a set pressure then the system stops operating. Try opening the cover manually using the tool as mentioned in the manual and raising the roof half way by hand. Do this with the key out of the ignition, then start the car and try closing the roof. It should close and lock properly. It should operate fine after that.

it tried to move but seems like no power..weak
 

i did manually open the cover and it was stuck a bit , so I yanked it out and then manually raised the top, after that i tried to close with the switch and it tried to mechanically close it but with a weak attempt and then the switch blinked again, seems like a voltage or power issue not sure.

I suggest taking a look at the position of the top latches -- the four that secure the hard top. They should all be in the open position.

As Bob said, that's another option - also the window sensors - the roof won't operate if it thinks the windows are up.

I would say definitely give it a good overnight charge. Cycle the windows together all the way down, all the way up and all the way down again. Then try the top.

I usually have my engine running and trans in park when I put the top down or up. The other day, I thought I would be cute. I was stuck in traffic on the Garden Grove Express way. It was nice and warm and I was bored. I know my top will operate with the car stopped even while in gear. Well, I started to put the top down. Just as it settled in the well, traffic started to crawl a little. I let my foot off the brake and..........light started flashing, something started beeping and the top cover stopped all the way up! :eek: Nothing I did would start or stop it. Oh crap, here I am rolling along in four lanes of traffic at 5 mph, with the latch up and nowhere to pull over. I finally did get off to the shoulder after about a mile. Stopped the car, trans to park, key off, then on. The top finished cycling fine. PHEW! :cool:

Where is the little icon for "Dumb****"?

Fixed the issue, it was a fuse
 

took it to the dealer and they say the fuse was the issue. I could have sworn I checked it and it looked okay but oh well.

That's the cheap solution we all like! :D