A 1997 SL320’s electrical faults and leaking soft-top system
An owner’s fuse checks, immediate hydraulic-fluid loss and later hardtop correction, alongside a supplier’s cylinder-location diagram.
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A recently purchased 1997 SL320
luiml73 introduces a 1997 SL320 that had stood for seven months with a flat battery. The owner reports that checking fuse 14 restored the odometer, tachometer and turn signals, while replacing fuse 21 for the seats made it blow immediately. The soft top made a noise but did not move. These are separate observations, not proof of one shared electrical cause; the seat fault remains unresolved in the account.
The later update reports an empty reservoir and fluid loss
Top Hydraulics initially suggested checking the seat controllers and, conditionally, window synchronization after the flat battery. The owner then reported that the windows already dropped when the doors opened. More significantly, the hydraulic reservoir beneath the spare wheel was empty, and newly added fluid ran out underneath the car. The top barely moved, although the roll bar lowered before the fluid escaped. This update does not establish the leaking component or confirm that a window reset repaired the roof. In the final owner update, contacting Top Hydraulics and tackling the soft-top problem were still plans.
The owner later found the hardtop locking pins
The owner also described a replacement tail lamp and a second-hand hardtop, initially thinking the hardtop’s rear locking parts had been lost in transit. A later reply explicitly corrects that: the locking pins were found, and the owner had been looking in the wrong place in the dark. The earlier suspicion should not be treated as confirmed missing hardware. Radio-volume and antenna problems were discussed separately, without an owner-confirmed repair result.
The supplier’s cylinder-location reference
Top Hydraulics shared this cylinder-location drawing while suggesting hydraulic-cylinder leaks as a likely explanation. The vendor describes twelve soft-top cylinders and two roll-bar cylinders, and links separate removal documents. The drawing is a location reference, not evidence identifying which component leaked on this car. The vendor’s claims about eventual leakage, rebuilding costs and seal life are not an independently verified diagnosis, service interval or durability guarantee. The external documents are separate from the steps actually described in this discussion.
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