1995 SL500 soft top will not go donw

check relay behind fuse box

Find the two plastic caps sitting behind the sun visor on either side of the car. Gently prise them out, be careful as years of sun may have made them brittle. Behind the caps you should see a hexagonal head that the manual roof tool fits into (failing that use an allen key). Turning these hex heads will unlock the front soft top locks. (can't recall if it was clockwise or anti-clockwise, so be careful!). I found that you need to start one side, then unlock the other side, then come back to the first side and finish the job off. At this stage you should be able to lift the top up slightly to see it's no longer engaged in the front locks. Now move to the boot.

In the back of the boot you should see two small pieces of the trim that will lift out. These will be located on each side near the boot hinge mechanisms. Lift the trim peices out and you should see a lever (mine is made from cad plated something or other, ie it's a gold colour) and it will have red paint on it.

Fit the spanner/wrench end of the manual roof tool, or otherwise a 10mm open ended spanner, onto the small nut welded into the end of that red lever. I started on the left side(passenger side), levering gently down will unlock, and gently up will lock). You may need to alternate between each side, undoing a little and then swapping. NOTE: I found the levers won't budge unless the soft or hard top 'pins' are physically sitting in the lock holes. Don't force the levers as they should move quite easily.

Now that you have both the front and back locks undone, the last part is to unlock the tonneau or rear deck (soft top roof compartment). To do this you need the 10mm spanner/wrench again. You will find two hex heads tucked down in between the roll bar and the side of the interior trim (about 6-8 inches from the door frames), fit the spanner onto the head and turn until the tonneau cover releases. You should now be able to fold the soft top down by first raising the rear section of the soft top until the back lip is pointing to the sky, then lift the front section along with the rear section down into the compartment. I guess getting it back out is a reverse of the procedure above. Hoepfully I've got it all right as I've done it from memory.

Duplicate question.

Seat, check the 4 way switch. Top ?????

Wing widows should go down on thier own after you release the winshield locks and rear defroster wire and pull the top down switch back. If it doesnt work the button will flash that means something is wrong. Car running is usally a good idea when doing this to speed it up.

No doubt your soft top issue has long been resolved but just in case someone has a similar issue:
I started to open my A4 Soft top externally using the door key method and like an idiot I must have disengaged the key before the soft top was fully down. I was unable to activate the opening or closing of the soft top automatically using either the key or soft top switch inside. I then manually closed the soft top using the users handbook and manual tool supplied. Soft top would still Not open automatically and the soft top alarm would activate. I solved the issue by manually opening the soft top fully and then manually closing the soft top fully. This seemed to have reset whatever had gone askew.

the soft top module is receiving an illogical switch input. try retracting the top untill all the locks are secure. Make sure your roll bar operates o.k.. also only operate this top with the car running and the windows up. If it still won't work I would suggest having the car scanned for codes. You can try disconnecting the negative cable on the battery and secring the top manually and see if reconnecting neg. will clear the memmory.

It depends how much hydraulic pressure you have in the system. Take your softop tool and unlock the rear locks via trunk. see if you can raise the rear of the top (do not force because you will damage a ram). Next unlock your compartment lid and then the front of the top. You may be able to then retract it into it's storage compartment. The manual should also tell you how to release the hydraulic pressure via your pump in the trunk by your spare. hopefully I have been helpful

The window position is monitered by the softop control module. It sounds like the glass is very dirty and drawing too much amperage during window operation. The soft top is electro hydraulic. The roll bar is operated normally with hydraulics but it is mechanically released in an emergency situation. 1st make sure your windows are clean and the express(one touch operation) is working-the soft top will not function properly if the windows are not synchronized. Next be sure your roll bar works-hold swith in up position to lock roll bar rams in if they have been deployed. next put your top all the way up. untill windows roll up and try it with the engine running and trans in nuetral- if it still does not work mechanically secre rear of top with tool provided in your tool kit the owner's manual will tell you how to do this. good luck

I suspecft this is a security programming situation. I have something similar going on with my '95. I have to get an owners manual to find the sequences. I stumbled into this by manually locking the front door and turning on the key with the door open.
re: the dash lights. I find if I have the interior light dimmer all the way to the right it locks out some things but moving it back to the middle puts it back in operational mode. aside from the flashing, non playing stero. At least I can drive it and powerlock the doors IF the doors are closed.