Mercedes A208 CLK Top Hydraulics - Chapter 3 - Manual Top Operation

[@bacoman9545]

Shout out to Klaus! And the TopHydraulics team. Super educating movies.

[@majabdou31]

Klaus (sp?) I am a mercedes benz technician, and your videos for the convertible tops are invaluable for diagnosis. Thank you guys so much. (have purchased many parts for customers via Top Hydraulics)

[@TopHydraulics]

Thanks for the kind words, we appreciate your business!

[@T0mmyTune]

New Customer here. I am so grateful that you offer all these parts that are rebuilt by you and your service technicians. I have to admit though. If it were me and I was designing this system from the ground up/clean slate. I'd be inclined to use linear actuators. I personally like hydraulic motors and systems, but with all these cylinders hidden and not easily accessible, seems to me linear actuators would be an advantage. I could be wrong.

[@TopHydraulics]

All the actuators in the CLK top are linear actuators. I assume that you are referring to linear actuators with electric motors in them. It would be challenging to fit linear electric actuators into a package small enough to fit into the top without making the top's frame a lot more bulky. There are some car models that use electric rotary actuators and those tend to have more problems yet than the hydraulic ones.

[@its.jake2828]

Used this and fixed my top - thank you

[@Nobody14576]

Very interesting and informative. Thank you

[@mohamadel-saghir1970]

How realistic is it to only operate the top manually regularly? Will manual operation harm any components? Looking at buying one of these where one cylinder has a small leak. Wondering if i can just avoid spending money on fixing things with the top and just do it manually.

[@spyno1]

When I try to put the top back up, the soft top gets stuck as if it were latched down to the floor. Any solutions?

[@porquemudamosparaorlandofr3016]

Hi Sir, good night, how are you? Well, I live in Winter Garden/FL and my son (15) bought your 1st car: Mercedes clk320 cabriolet; first, the top was working; but today, I saw oil in trunk; and I Will take out every parts to arrive in pump;;;;;;can you have a video to me and my son fixer it? Thanks Sir and God Bless you!

[@TopHydraulics]

Congratulations to your son for having a Mercedes convertible as his first car! Typically, the first cylinders to leak are the rear bow lock cylinder and the case cover lock cylinder. Here is the playlist of our CLK videos: kzbin.info/aero/PLly4CMbpk7oxzBZ8FtJqcAAKBzx0dxgB8 If your son pays attention to them, then he will be able to locate the leak and fix it.

[@porquemudamosparaorlandofr3016]

@@TopHydraulics hi Sir, good morning. Thanks for the help. yesterday we took off all the cover to get to the engine; today, I'm going to take the engine out of the back of the trunk; and a project of a son with a father!!!! He paid $500 off the car!!!!

[@porquemudamosparaorlandofr3016]

The “car” AC/Radio/alarme, don’t work,,, yet……..we would have many time together I believe!!!!!😆😆🫣

[@porquemudamosparaorlandofr3016]

Vai vendo kzbin.infox-emL6H7F00?feature=share

[@porquemudamosparaorlandofr3016]

@@TopHydraulics hi Sir, good morning. yesterday my children and I disassembled the hydraulic pump and now we need to change all the orings; i saw many different boxes of orings for sale on amazon; is there any special type of orings to buy or can i buy any box and i just get the specific size orings? I think the size would be metric, correct? and not a box with inches

[@lentaylor99]

Very helpful when my hydraulics went out. One question which I can’t find the answer. Rear headrests also popped up and won’t reset. I believe there is a way to manually reset them? Is there a video or can you explain? I would like to run my top manually until it can be repaired but difficult to get the rear window over it to,open and close. Can the rear headrests be reset and now please?

[@TopHydraulics]

Thanks for asking. To answer your questions first, manually resetting the headrests/roll bar is a lot harder than manually operating the top, it may not work out for you, and I am not aware of a video for it. Theoretically, the roll bar will stay down once manually forced into the retracted position, but it does not always work out that way. There are differences between model years: on some CLKs, you can insert a tool near the headrest that will release the lock pawls and enable you to push down the headrest, on others you need to take out the rear seat and release the lock pawl (I believe it's the one on the right side for releasing from the upper position) after you have figured out how the small lock pawl cylinder releases the lock pawl mechanism and you imitate that motion. You want to search MBWorld.org for more info on that subject. The underlying problem is likely that failing hydraulics introduced air into the system, which allowed the top to slam towards the front windshield. (This may well have been amplified by one or both tension cables failing that run between the canvas and the headliner. The latter is a fairly cheap fix, see our videos about tension cables.) If the top button was let go of shortly before the top slammed onto the front windshield, then that created a pressure spike in the system, which likely damaged the roll bar valve. The roll bar valve in turn is instrumental in keeping the roll bar down. The good nes is, we rebuild the roll bar valves, as well.

[@lentaylor99]

@@TopHydraulics thanks for your quick response. I should have been more specific. I have a 2001 CLK 430.

[@klsrecords]

I've used your company for 2002 CLKS, Now my 2006 CLK 500 needs some attention, Passenger side main cylinder has completely blown out. I need a replacement for that. Is this something you guys carry? Plastic pieces that attach straps for manual operation are broken inside of trunk also. Hoping there is not an underlying problem but I need to replace that cylinder to start... Any advice is greatly appreciated

[@TopHydraulics]

Hello Kyle, Your 2002 CLK was an A208 chassis, whereas model year 2006 is an A209 chassis. On the A209s, the hydraulic cylinders actually fail sooner, comparatively speaking. We currently have all of them in stock, see the A209 section on our website: www.tophydraulics.com/24-w209-clk

[@capan.m]

Hello. How much force should be used to raise the top manually? We are stuck at the moment. Case cover is unlocked and roof is folded down we are not able to pull it up. It's just stuck. We followed owners manual for emergency operation but part of raising the roof we cannot do.

[@TopHydraulics]

That’s odd, it should be terribly hard to lift. Be sure to have the ignition off and open the pressure relief valve on the pump.

[@capan.m]

@@TopHydraulics The valve was opened, almost oil started to leak. So it should be terribly hard to lift?

[@capan.m]

@@TopHydraulics it is solved. We have not released the valve enough. Now the roof goes up and down very easy. Thanks

[@bacoman9545]

@@TopHydraulics I throw up a "not" . my guess what you meant is "it should NOT be hard to lift.

[@necatidemirbas]

I have the same problem I cannot raise the top. Can you tell me how did you fix it?

[@StevenBenjamin]

where is the pressure release valve? thanks

[@TopHydraulics]

Good question. We show the pressure relief valve in the pump video, about here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5ysc4B-a7aKnck

[@StevenBenjamin]

Thank you.

[@walphi.]

Can you share more how to find this please? 1:00.

[@TopHydraulics]

Are you referring to the soft top tool? Part number A208899008064, easily found on eBay.

[@LibTard100]

Is there a need to bleed the hydraulic system after manual operation?

[@TopHydraulics]

Thanks for asking. There is no need to bleed the system after manual operation. The system is self bleeding as long as there is enough fluid in the pump's reservoir (between min and max mark). If the fluid level is low, then you have a leak that needs to be taken care of if you want it to operate it with the pump.

[@paulattree4171]

Good video. Thks

[@paulattree4171]

You didnt show locking the whole procedure. I would like to see how you close the boot lid latch on your own. That why you didnt show it.

[@TopHydraulics]

Thanks for asking. By boot lid, are you referring to the case cover lid? We are showing how to lock it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hKG0iYCXmbuAndE