E430_4MATIC

I am not having any success removing the rear license plate screws. After using some WD40, all four just turn continuously. I peeled back the trunk liner and see a female end which keeps turning and I'm unable to free the two.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

E430-2001

on the inside , that you described it spining, is it a nut or plastic insert? Can you get a pair of pliers on it? maybe needle nose pliers ?

MARK CUMMINS

Its a Metal Nut Cert...Just grab it with vise grips

One will need to replace the Nut Certs...

E430_4MATIC

It's about a half an inch long and the two feel fused together.

ohlord

Grasp the head of the screw with a pair of needle nose pliers and gently pull towards you, while doing this use the screw driver to turn out the screw.Use enough pressure on the screw to pull it, but not so much that you can't turn it.Should work
Ohlord

E430_4MATIC

Thanks to the speedy and helpful replies here, we went to the dealer and bought 4 nut certs and screws, fifteen minutes before they closed for a 3 day holiday weekend

All's been soaking overnight with WD40. If that doesn't work, they'll be drilled out!

Thanks Mercedes, what a LOUSY design just to change a license plate.

OldNate

That happened to me before as well. Inside the trunk, there are nuts that the screws screw into. Once you take out the screw, the nuts will drop inside the body inside the lining of the trunk. You must take off the lining, find the nuts, and then screw the screws back into the nuts while looking at both sides. It is a really bad design.

Lancelot

On my car one of them was totally stuck, so after removing the inner lining I just sawed it off using a fresh loose metal saw blade...

Mrhappy71

How do i remove the liner. Cant seem to get the plastic pieces holding the liner off.
Thanks

PS
i asked the dealer to do it and all they did was saw off the head of the top bolt.
Now i must figure out how to get this S^%T off so i can replace my license plate cover.(which only uses the top 2 bolts)
DEALERSHIP 1 hour away

lkchris

Screws to use are M5, i.e. 5 mm metric.

Problem probably caused by use of something "close."

vinceC

The sockets are designed like a pop-rivet. They are inserted through the body and the inner part is compressed from the outside (like a pop-rivet), locking the socket to the body. The sockets have a hex where they fit through the body, so they should not turn. Obviously, the hex area is stripped out if the whole thing turns. Grabbing them from the inside should work.

If there are nuts or some other arrangement, they are not original. I had to make some on my 2000 C280SE after some ham fisted type screwed mine up completely.

vinsuz

This is what I love about this forum: no matter how esoteric my issue, someone else not only had the same problem, but posted it and had others with the same problem reply!

Anyway, I was able to get only one screw out with the vice grips -- the other screws broke off, so I had to drill out the remaining screws and pry out the rivets.

Here are a couple of tips: You only need to remove the Torx screw on the left of the plastic cover near the latch because the liner does have a hole for the one on the right (although you may have to loosen the one on the right a little to slide the liner out).

The plastic caps holding the liner in place are two parts. When you look at then top-down there are two concentric circles; using your fingernails pull up on the inner circle to extend it and the whole thing should pop right out.

Once I drilled into the broken screws I was able to pry up on the outer sides of the rivet in order to pull it through the hole.

From now on its nylon screws for me"

livetodrive

Yup, I had the same problem when I sold my W210 last fall. I ended up drilling out the bolts. The buyer watched all this, and was very patient.