R129 roof and central locking woes

[village idiot]

My poor old R129 has been a bit left out recently, what with my recent purchase of a CLS500 and then further purchase of a Porsche 997. Having served me well over the summer (where it was lavished with a full engine and gearbox service, along with new front latch hydraulic seals), it hasn't been used much recently.

After a trip out to the US, I came home to find the battery flat. A quick jump (yes I know, in hindsight, not a good thing to do to a SL), and I was back on my way to the garage for a fresh MOT (amazingly, the car flew through).

Got back to the car this morning and the battery was flat again, so have bought a shiny new 95ah battery and fitted it. Car starts perfectly now. There are however a few issues:-

1.) The car has the hardtop fitted at the moment. When I try to unlatch it, I would normally expect the windows to wind down and the top to be unlatched. There are motor noises coming from the back for around 15 seconds, but the windows don't move and the latches don't disengage.

The roll-hoop works and the windows drop as they should when the doors are opened.

2.) An issue that I had before is that I have two keys. One will not unlock the car (I did put new batteries in the remote), but will start it fine, whereas the other will lock and unlock the car, but it will not start it (the engine turns over, fires and then dies immediately). I would really prefer to have at least one key that starts the car and locks it (the keys are the single button flip-out jobbies).

The car is a 1997 SL280.

I am planning to sell the car now that I have the 997, but obviously, if the car still has these faults, I'm going to have to take a view on the price.

Any thoughts?

cheers

 

[jaymanek]

What you need to do first of all is teach the windows their limits. Ignition on, closed doors, up with window hold switch at top window position for 5 seconds then come down and hold in down position for 5 seconds. Do this 3 times.
The windows will learn their position.
That should cure the issue with roof.

Sounds like the immobiliser is not recognising the second key. MB have recently stopped supplying these so you need a key specialist to repair it.
we use Mercedes key specialists- Need new Mercedes keys? Replacementmercedeskeys.co.uk

Thanks

Jay

 

[village idiot]

What you need to do first of all is teach the windows their limits. Ignition on, closed doors, up with window hold switch at top window position for 5 seconds then come down and hold in down position for 5 seconds. Do this 3 times.
The windows will learn their position.
That should cure the issue with roof.

Sounds like the immobiliser is not recognising the second key. MB have recently stopped supplying these so you need a key specialist to repair it.
we use Mercedes key specialists- Need new Mercedes keys? Replacementmercedeskeys.co.uk

Thanks

Jay

Thanks Jay. i will try this and report back.

best

 

[swithin]

I'm also having problems with my roof, have also had to jump start my 1999 sl500 a couple of times, and live in a village.

I grugingly put the hardtop on in December with no problems but a few days later I started getting a loud clicking noise from the boot and the roof button would flash red as would the roll bar switch. If I pulled back on the roof button the noise would stop but both switches would stay lit. I have a SmartTOP roof module fitted which I have used without a problem now for over 4 years but you are supposed to put it back into factory mode before installing the hardtop which I forgot to do.
At the weekend the hardtop was removed and I tried to get the soft top to go up to no avail. Tied to refit the hardtop and that has also failed. It is currently resting on the car but won't lock into place.
When I push forward on the roof switch with key at position 2 nothing happens but the roll bar switch lights up as does the roof switch. If I try and pull back on the roof switch the windows rolls down halfway then stop and then nothing, the windows won't work or the roll bar. I then have to remove the key and start again but can only move the windows.
Any ideas before I limp over to my specialist?