Well, I decided to purchase a used 99 SLK230 Sport. This car just came into our dealership as a trade-in, checked the vehicle warranty history, no real problems ever noted, just minor cosmetic things. Well, the dealership had the top down today when I looked at it, the sales personnel had stated that the top has been going up and down without any problems. SO I signed up for the car, did all the paper work, got the keys, went outside, began to raise the top.

Turn the key to the number 2 position
set the parking brake
push the top button forward

Trunk opens up to the fully open position
Nothing else happens, pump is running, lighted switch is fully on.

Tried to reverse the procedure, and nothing happens.
Now the trunk is stuck in the open position, and the top will not go up or down.

Well, the car is still at the dealership, had to drive my old car home.
Any suggestions?

Ted

I wouldn't worry much yet about how to fix it. I would worry about two related questions "is the dealer going to pay for the repair?" and "do I yet own the car?". If the dealer is going to fix it - let them worry about it. If they're not going to fix it I'd be checking state laws in your state - mandatory used car warranty periods, purchase cooling off periods, etc. It could be a simple repair and it could be an expensive repair.

I appreciate the input on that. I am the parts manager for the dealership, and I am sure we can work this out. My thought here is that all of a sudden this happened, more than likely, I am hoping, something minor. If we have to, we can tear up the contract, but I would like to salvage this purchase. The car has only 44000 miles on it, and it has been well maintained at the Mercedes dealership. We are not a Mercedes dealer, so we are kinda lost on the repair at this point. I am hoping that someone on this board could at least point me in the right direction to get the trunk lid closed so we could drive it to the proper dealership for repair.

Are the latches at the front of the hard top (top of windscreen) releasing?? or does the trunk just open and thats it??

I have been to other websites in regards to the SLK problems and a common one are the limit switches failing prematurely (I think there are about 13 of them on the SLK).

If you don't believe me, check out www.lemonmb.com which lets you select your exact model and see the problems that other countless people have had with their cars.

Good luck.

__________________
'94 SL500 Tourmaline Green, 120K miles as of February 27, 2005.

http://home.earthlink.net/~boudreaux...ictures/17.jpg
Updated photo September 2004

Well, the Used Car manager just called. They got the top up now. He said someone didn't put it down properly and got it bound. (This is making me wonder what else they did) We are going to go pick up the car and he is going to show us what he did and how to put it down/up properly. Thanks for the advisements. Guess I need to start purchasing microswitches for when they begin to fail.