SL500 Leaky Hardtop

[Tibet]

Hi

I have just joined and hope that someone can help on this.

When parked in the rain, the hardtop on my 1994 SL lets in water at the top of the A pillars - which makes nice puddles to sit in.

The top doesn't seem to leak at all when moving - and the soft top didn't leak at all during the long wet summer.

A mechanic at the dealership said they all leak - but I also read somewhere that there is a fix (but it didn't say what)!

Any suggestions please?

Merry Christmas

 

[ant500sl]

Try smearing a bit of vaseline into the rubber seals. It lubricates and makes the seal pliable again as they can harden with age.
Did the trick on mine which is quite a bit older.

 

[Tibet]

SL 500 Leaky Hardtop

Thanks for the tip - it's simple and cheap, so I'll do it straight away!

 

[peterchurch]

Spoke to Merc about mine, and they said that I needed to change the seal around the top of the roof and the A pillars £500 for the seal plus labour to fit it mine is not too bad at the moment so it can wait till the summer

 

[ant500sl]

As far as I am aware Mercedes dealers have a special dictionary with words such as repair crossed out while replacement is underlined in bold.

Its amazing what you can do with a two quid tube of silicone.

 

[peterchurch]

Repairing something takes effort and some skill...

 

[Tibet]

£500 is steep for a seal - unless it can balance a ball on its nose .

I suppose the prices for the side window surrounds are equally crazy?

Are there any aftermarket suppliers for the 129 range - or can they only supply the older models (under MB agreements)?

 

[joe bloggs]

Try removing a shim or 2 from under the catches, if not done prev. Make sure you mark the catch before removing the two torx bolts. this should pull the roof down a bit harder. also are the side windows adjusted correctly, if upper stops ar wrong the window can push the roof up when closed letting water in.

 

[ant500sl]

Joe Bloggs

I shall take back my general anti DC UK comments as you seem to know your subject very well. Were you by any chance dismissed from a dealership for being too knowledgeable or helpful?

All my nearby dealers are still useless though.

 

[peterchurch]

£500 is steep for a seal - unless it can balance a ball on its nose .

I suppose the prices for the side window surrounds are equally crazy?

Are there any aftermarket suppliers for the 129 range - or can they only supply the older models (under MB agreements)?

The dealership said that the Hardtop seal is one long unit that goes from the bottom of the window on one side all the way round to the bottom of the other side. It has a matching unit for the top of the windscreen and A pillar

Cheers for the tip about the shims Joe

I am going to look into getting a set from europe and fitting them over the summer... should be very much cheaper

 

[Tibet]

Thanks for the shim tip and other points, Joe.

If you manage to source a cheaper seal set, can you let us all know, Peterchurch :?:

Cheers

 

[peterchurch]

Thanks for the shim tip and other points, Joe.

If you manage to source a cheaper seal set, can you let us all know, Peterchurch :?:

Cheers

OK maybe we can get a group buy going on and then have a meet to fit them it seems easy enough to do ...

Joe I seem to have a slightly different problem as the underside of my carpets are damp but the carpet top and cabin are dry. Are there any drains or leak points that might do this or could it just be as a result of condensation?

Cheers

Peter

 

[ant500sl]

Are the seals on your hardtops actually chewed up or crumbling? The one on mine appears to be original (I have every bill from new) and still in good order after 15 years.

The reason I ask is that I have some involvement with a company that designs and makes rubber seals for such things as aircraft canopies, one of their technical guys has suggested that there are chemicals available that will expand the rubber and give an almost new finish to the seal.

The vaseline idea does this on a very small scale but apparently some of the materials they use can expand a seal significantly.

Thought I'd ask before anyone shells out 500 quid or more.