R129 Roof Hydraulic Cylinder Rebuild

[Zonergem]

Late last year I bought my R129 - a nice clean 74000 mile 1992-registered 500SL - which is about to receive a stem-to-stern refresh - fluids, filters, bushes, shocks, steering, mounts, HT system, the lot.

My roof is in good working order but I know I need to flush and replace my hydraulic fluid. Two litres of Febi 02615 turned up the other day. The car was actually built in July 1991 and first registered in May 1992, so the seals and cylinders are closing in on their 26th birthday. I'm a little worried the new fluid might cause the seals to let go sooner rather than later.

Since I'm about to try and make the car good for the next ten years at least do you think it's worth pre-emptively having the cylinders taken out and shipped off to Top Hydraulics in the USA for a rebuild? The cost would be at least 500 GBP plus postage and labour to remove the cylinders, but then at least the job would be done.

The Top Hydraulics website warns "The original seals in the hydraulic cylinders, aka rams or actuators, will eventually fail in every R129" which may be true (the heat death of the universe will *eventually* take care of things) but what would you do? Put it on the back-burner and deal with the problem if it happens, or swallow the cost for the sake of peace of mind?

 

[Doodle]

Deal with it when it happens. That message is just on the wrong side of scaremongering business generation.

 

[AndyRan]

If its not a daily then i would just leave it until you have a problem

You can always wind the roof up or down for storage while you get them repaired if they never need it

 

[219]

Deal with it when it happens. That message is just on the wrong side of scaremongering business generation.

I agree - my car is well beyond double the mileage of yours and on the road every day , with the hood up and down often more than once a day ( including this morning ) .

I syringed out as much of the old fluid as I could last year , then refilled with MB ZHM fluid , of which which I had several unopened bottles in my shed , left over from serial ownership of W123/124 estates , never a problem with my hydraulics ; mine has been up and down hundreds , if not thousands of times since changing the fluid .

My soft top is tatty and will be replaced in the not too distant future ( possibly with a good used one ) but I won't fret about the hydraulics - as already said the roof can be manually raised or lowered in emergency and I do have the tool , which is only a tenner from MB .