SL350 R230 Vario Roof Problematic.

[Mike350]

Hi Nile

Not sure how you guarantee a sunny day- do let me know!

Mike

 

[LostKiwi]

Hi Nile

Not sure how you guarantee a sunny day- do let me know!

Mike

By not washing it or planning a BBQ.

 

[Nile Griffith]

Nile, I've just bought a 2004 350 SL, and have had slightly similar issues to yours. Sometimes the roof opens, and sometimes it doesn't (when it's hot and sunny!) the dashboard indicator saying that the consumables are off line, after a run of about 30 mins all works normally. So I took it to an independent specialist in the Club handbooks list, and also emailed the SL Marque Captain of the Club who advised that you need to get a CTech battery conditioner to keep the aux batt fully topped up, as if the system detects a voltage drop then it all shuts down apparently.

When I took the car to the indy specialist, he advised that the aux battery was inadequate as it was just a normal starter batt, the aux needing to be a deep cycling heavy duty AGM type (which I ordered and he installed) to cope with raising the roof. moving the seats etc., which seems to have cured my woes, so far as the roof opened immediately today, having had the battery on charge overnight.

Good luck, they're really great cars but so complex!

Hi Mike!

Think your diagnosis might have hit the mark. The car went in for it's MOT and 'B' service last week. Brought the car back home from my tame mechanic (about thirty miles) and noticed that the passenger seat had suffered a little "Overall Rash" (they aren't called grease monkeys for nothing I suppose). So I thought it a good opportunity to give the interior a bit of a clean. Now being a tall chap, one of the joys of owning a convertible is the ease of access to the interior with the roof down. So imagine my dismay when my convertible wouldn't........ well.............. convert. No indications on the dash as to what the issue might be and everything else appearing to work as expected. So my first consideration was a call to the spanner spinners and ask if maybe they might have dislodged something while servicing the car.

Then your post came to mind. I had bought a trickle charger some time ago, but hadn't needed to use it. Any old how, hooked the charger up to the accessory battery in the boot and the charger indicated that it was charging. The battery is Yuasa AGM battery and as far as I can tell, the correct type and specification for the car. However after about three hours the charger showed fully charged. So once disconnected and the boot put straight, time to check the roof. Hey presto! silky smooth faultless operation.

Conclusions. It's probably likely that while receiving it's service that interior lights, etc, etc, may well have drained the accessory battery and despite the drive home, dropped to a charge level where the car would not operate the vario-roof. It may well have been that at the time of my original posting, that the frequent use of the roof within a fairly short period of time and other equipment like the heated seats and air-scarf operated during the trip. That the accessory battery charge might well have dropped to a particular level that the roof failed to operate correctly, rather than a more sinister electro mechanical problem.

So the next job on the list is to get the accessory battery properly checked out!!

So thanks for the advice Mike and hopefully this might enlighten others following this post.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Hi Mike!

Think your diagnosis might have hit the mark. The car went in for it's MOT and 'B' service last week. Brought the car back home from my tame mechanic (about thirty miles) and noticed that the passenger seat had suffered a little "Overall Rash" (they aren't called grease monkeys for nothing I suppose). So I thought it a good opportunity to give the interior a bit of a clean. Now being a tall chap, one of the joys of owning a convertible is the ease of access to the interior with the roof down. So imagine my dismay when my convertible wouldn't........ well.............. convert. No indications on the dash as to what the issue might be and everything else appearing to work as expected. So my first consideration was a call to the spanner spinners and ask if maybe they might have dislodged something while servicing the car.

Then your post came to mind. I had bought a trickle charger some time ago, but hadn't needed to use it. Any old how, hooked the charger up to the accessory battery in the boot and the charger indicated that it was charging. The battery is Yuasa AGM battery and as far as I can tell, the correct type and specification for the car. However after about three hours the charger showed fully charged. So once disconnected and the boot put straight, time to check the roof. Hey presto! silky smooth faultless operation.

Conclusions. It's probably likely that while receiving it's service that interior lights, etc, etc, may well have drained the accessory battery and despite the drive home, dropped to a charge level where the car would not operate the vario-roof. It may well have been that at the time of my original posting, that the frequent use of the roof within a fairly short period of time and other equipment like the heated seats and air-scarf operated during the trip. That the accessory battery charge might well have dropped to a particular level that the roof failed to operate correctly, rather than a more sinister electro mechanical problem.

So the next job on the list is to get the accessory battery properly checked out!!

So thanks for the advice Mike and hopefully this might enlighten others following this post.

Nice one..
Lessons:-
Use trickle charger as often as you can (I used to plug mine in every night)
If the consumer battery is at all suspect- replace it immediately
Always have the engine running whilst operating the roof
There is a way to check the consumer battery level through the dash computer , just can’t remember exactly but I think you set your dash display onto trip, then press the trip reset 3 times?
IIRC the key needs to be in position 2
Hope that helps somehow...

 

[Nile Griffith]

Just to finalise. Today finally got around to fitting a new accessory battery.

It would seem that the battery itself was past it. Trickle charging wasn't really helping and a check of the old battery now that it's out of the car with some proper diagnostics kit has shown that the battery cells are just barely capable of delivering the current that the car requires.

Interestingly this morning before the new battery arrived I had popped out to do a bit of shopping. Our nearest Tesco is about eight miles away so it's a reasonable jaunt along the 'A' roads to get there. The roof had packed up fine at the start of the trip but arriving at the store I decided to leave the roof down (unusually for me). Half hour blitz around the aisles later I was back by the car ready to load the shopping in. On pressing the load assist button, the roof panels did their usual nimble trick of getting out of the way so as I can chuck this weeks supply of tea bags in the back. However, on pressing the button again for the roof cassette to return to its packed position...... No go....... (B U G G E R thinks I). It was only after jumping in the car and letting the engine run for a couple of minutes and obviously giving the tired out accessory battery a bit of a nudge that the load assist finished the job.....
Phewwwwww!

Any old how, new battery is in and normal service seems to have been resumed! The new battery was a direct replacement for the old one, a Yuasa 900 AGM battery 70 Ah. 128 quid with free delivery via that well known online market place and it arrived in less than twenty four hours too!

Thanks again to all those who took the time to reply and share their knowledge.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Nice one Nile- just a note on your trip (8 miles), I seem to remember our dear friend on here used to tell me that you’d need at least 20 miles to get the charge to take any effect ( I think it was 20, certainly more than 8!)...now enjoy!

 

[sl500amgsport]

Smart top being fitted Friday, this exchange now has me thinking to use they key fob (A major reason for the module as the existing infra red is next to useless) the engine will not be running .

Maybe the R231 battery can handle it as I guess it will be newer and my car is a daily driver but I do not own a trickle charger or empty enough garage to use one if I'm wrong.

I wonder if I can find an Auto start module for the car?

Mercedes SL500 R231

 

[John Laidlaw]

Smart top being fitted Friday, this exchange now has me thinking to use they key fob (A major reason for the module as the existing infra red is next to useless) the engine will not be running .

Maybe the R231 battery can handle it as I guess it will be newer and my car is a daily driver but I do not own a trickle charger or empty enough garage to use one if I'm wrong.

I wonder if I can find an Auto start module for the car?

Mercedes SL500 R231

My 230 handled it ok but I only used it occasionally to be honest as a gimmick or on those odd occasions when I was looking out my office window at the 230 melting so opened it up before I went out.
Otherwise I ran the engine.....
Mind you I trickled it nightly by running a cable out of my (too small for a car) garage to a custom made (by Malcolm TV) plug and socket in the book.
Still worth having the smart top in my opinion

 

[00slk]

I noticed this weekend that the 500 has to be completely stopped before the roof will activate, on the 55 the roof will operate at slow walking speed...Cool.

 

[Mike350]

One other accidentally discovered tip, which may have nothing to do with recalcitrant vario roofs was to press the reset button twixt the speedo and rev counter when the display said “restore to factory settings”, as previous owners may have set up various programs which could cause a drain on the battery after the car is turned off, such as self locking etc. Maybe a coincidence but not had an electrical issue since

Mike

 

[Johnny Samerthrace]

Hello all,
My 2003 SL350...a loveley car that it is , is just starting to over stay its welcome.
I can get the roof to go up and down perfectly but its that final touch where the windows go back up the last 5mm . I can drive the car but it thinks the roof is still closing and an alarm sounds.
When I lock it and walk away they should go up a few mm but nothing happens. Any idea out there in MB land??...I cant be doing with it and its going back on ebay when its fixed. I did happen to let the boot battery go flat...I wonderedn if that was the problem.
John

 

[Alastairp]

You can often reset this window issue by fully opening each window by holding down the switch and then closing the window by holding the switch and then continuing to hold the switch in the upward/ closing position for 5 or 10 seconds or so.

Windows will then drop slightly when opening doors and raise the last 5mm when you close the doors.

There may well be something in your manual to this effect if you check.

I have done this on my CLK, but not on my SL.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[alexanderfoti]

Does the roof fully latch at the front?

If yes, its probably the microswitch in the latch at the top of the windscreen.

 

[ajlsl600]

Hi there Flowrider!

Not as yet. The car is booked in with a local Benz specialist for an hour on their Star diagnostics kit tomorrow as it happens.

Interestingly the other day I gave the roof another go (sun was out and it looked as if it was going to be a dry day.........just in case!!!!). Opening the roof did the same trick again. Stopped at about two or three inches. So closed it up and tried again. This time the boot opened fully, roof panels packed away, but then the boot lid stops half way to closing. However, another pull back on the switch to "open" the roof rather than close it all back up saw the whole roof stowage process completed and no worrying messages on the dash.

So not looking to waste a bit of sunshine and the opportunity of some open top motoring, I took the car out for a run (local'ish you understand........ Just in case). On getting home about an hour later, parked the car up on the drive, pressed down on the roof switch and about ten or so seconds later, roofs up all snug and secure.

I am wondering, if as suggested, it is either a micro switch fault or as I can feel in my water, more likely an ECU fault. Hopefully being plugged into the correct diagnostics might help.

Thinks it's sticky m switch as said. Or one damaged s./ How when getting stuff in out of boot

 

[ajlsl600]

Hello all,
My 2003 SL350...a loveley car that it is , is just starting to over stay its welcome.
I can get the roof to go up and down perfectly but its that final touch where the windows go back up the last 5mm . I can drive the car but it thinks the roof is still closing and an alarm sounds.
When I lock it and walk away they should go up a few mm but nothing happens. Any idea out there in MB land??...I cant be doing with it and its going back on ebay when its fixed. I did happen to let the boot battery go flat...I wonderedn if that was the problem.
John

There is a switch in the door lartch that tells system u have closed door. I had that on v doz a little fiddling with it and my similar issue ref windows resolved.