R230 SL350 Roof Not operating (Closed not opening)

[Nile Griffith]

Hi Kids!!
Hope someone might be able to give me some ideas.

So out with the SL today and the roof failed to open when pulling back on the roof lever switch. The boot separator was in place and there were no warnings on the instruments to say that there was a fault or a "Visit Workshop" warning illuminated. Importantly the roof mechanism didn't make any noise at all. I did press the "Down" button for the "Roll Over" bar and I heard the mechanism engage, although obviously the bar was already down as the roof is shut. But my thought was to check if power was going to the switch cluster (although I'm not familiar with the wiring of the roof and roll over bar. I thought it was worth a try)

Any thoughts????

I would have thought that if there was a problem with any of the micro-switches or limit switches then I would have got the usual "Visit Workshop" indication on the instrument cluster and that if there was a problem with the boot separator I would have had a warning that it was "Open". But the fact that there seems to be no sound at all from the roof mechanism suggests that the roof isn't being powered. My boot battery is fine and all my accessories power up and function properly (again there is no warning to say otherwise).
Could one of you guys tell me where the fuse and or Relay is located for the roof as I guess this would be the first place to check.

Many thanks.

Nile

 

[LostKiwi]

The attached should help.

 

[Nile Griffith]

Hi Lost Kiwi.

Thanks for that. Have already had a look through that document, which was one of the reasons why I was wondering if it might be a power issue as I would have thought that the car would have thrown a wobbler if any of the micro-switches had have been out of sync or faulty. There's no sound from the pump and reading through the Doc. It suggests that the pump primes first and pushes the roof in to relax the tension on the locking mechanisms and then looks to the position of the switches on the roof locks at the windscreen before then energising the solenoids releasing the locks and operating the hydraulic motors. As said in my post, it's just stoney silent. I'd have at least expected to hear the pump run and then the get the "Visit Workshop" display of death.

 

[Nile Griffith]

The attached should help.

Hi Lost Kiwi

Think I've found the culprit.

The O/S boot flap (elephant ear) is hanging down by about 3 inches. There is about a half inch of play in the movement and with that I can hear the micro-switch clicking. but move the flap towards the underside of the boot lid more than a half inch and it's pretty solid. So it feels as if the mechanism has located in the wrong place.

I can't remember if I have sen something online about this problem or not, but it does ring a bell, any thoughts?

my thanks in advance.

 

[LostKiwi]

Last page of the document shows you locations (including relay).
Fuses are under a lift out tray in the cubby box behind the drivers seat.

 

[LostKiwi]

This should help.

 

[Uncle Benz]

If you have a flap out of kilter it’s likely that is the problem. You can buy a repair kit, but often a tooth has been shed from the mechanism. I have repaired these in the past by building up the lost material with the welder and carefully grinding to remake the shed tooth.

 

[Nile Griffith]

This should help.

Thanks Lost Kiwi!!

 

[SL63 Mark]

As above, if your boot lid flaps aren't working properly, this will stop the roof working. The little gearboxes often fail. Mine broke several years ago, I had them replaced by MB, they are quite expensive, so well worth trying the repair mentioned above if you have the skills/patience/workshop equipment.

 

[Nile Griffith]

Thanks Lost Kiwi!!

If you have a flap out of kilter it’s likely that is the problem. You can buy a repair kit, but often a tooth has been shed from the mechanism. I have repaired these in the past by building up the lost material with the welder and carefully grinding to remake the shed tooth.

After a cursory look at the system I'm hoping that what has happened is that wear in the slide has allowed the cog to jump a tooth on the gear and this is what has put it out of alignment.

I've watched a couple of YouBoob video's and the replacement and upgraded slide seems relatively straight forward to do. They only thing I'm a little unsure of is how easy it will be to make sure the gearing is in the right place. I guess I'll have a better idea when I come to take it apart. Hopefully I won't be missing a tooth on either of the gears. Otherwise it will be back to the spares department.

Many thanks

 

[Uncle Benz]

It’s easy to clock the gear in the right place on the rack. All will become obvious when you get it apart. A tooth off the cog is equally obvious

 

[Nile Griffith]

Hi all!!

Just a bit of a follow up in case anybody comes across this looking to deal with the same fault.

Have attached a couple of pic's of the the offending "slide" positioned against the new replacement one. The newer part is significantly different in size and weight.

All up the job took about ten minutes to complete. If I have a piece of advice it's to make sure that the arm holding the "Elephants Ear" is positioned correctly in relation to the slide block and mounting plate before tightening both up together. There is a degree of adjustment afterwards but it's not difficult to get the position set correctly before refitting the mounting plate and arm back to the underside of the boot. Some of the online video's show the "Elephants Ear" having being removed from the arm. It's certainly not a problem to leave it attached and probably saves the risk of breaking any fragile plastic tags on an undoubtedly expensive trim panel, but if you can, having someone to give you a hand holding things in place while you set up and re-fix would be an advantage.

The two slides came in at £40. A tad expensive for a couple of Bits of cast Ali, but it's a very do'able job for anyone with a bit of common sense and some fairly basic tools. Best of all the roof is back to working correctly and I didn't need to leave any vital organs with the local MB dealership as payment.

So sun's out and roof's down......... what's not to enjoy.

P.S. Should add that the more eagle eyed of you will notice on the MB invoice it says "Quantity 1". It's one kit of two slides for both left and right flaps.

 

[00slk]

Glad you got it sorted, I had the same problem with my 55 a few years ago, though the roof still worked, I just slammed the flap up against the boot lid for the roof to work until I got tidied of doing that and bought the up graded parts as you have done.

 

[Uncle Benz]

Well done! I told you it would become obvious when you had it apart
You can probably understand now how it can shed a tooth easily if you aren’t quick to get it sorted.