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I'm posting on behalf of my dad, who owns a 2006 C350. We have a slight issue with the glove box and I'd prefer not to send the car to the dealer because in Argentina they will literally charge you a full day of labor to fix the smallest thing.
Our glove box somehow fell out when we opened it, and now we are having some trouble after putting it back on its rails. I am not sure how the thing fell out in the first place, but it looked like the way to put it back was to place the glove box lid as if it was fully open and rotate even a little more, and then you can raise the back to align the axis again, and rotate it as if you were closing it to have it fit into the circular "rails" around the axis. I apologize for the lack of photos, but the glove box is now in a state where I cannot show this
After we put the glove box lid back into place, now we have noticed that we cannot open it fully. The movement seems to be fine and it closes normally. Problem is that it will only rotate open a little bit, not going down all the way to gain full access, as you can see in the photos. I've tried applying a little bit of force to try make it go down but it just seems like I'm gonna break it if I put more force.
Anyone has any idea what might be wrong? Any way to remove some specific panel to be able to remove the lid and replace it correctly (if that is the problem).
Underside of the glove box This is as much as it will open (view from the top) This is as much as it will open (view from passenger) Closed glove box
Only way to fix this really is to remove the glove box then fiddle with the mechanism to see what's wrong. Glad you didn't try to force it open. That's how plastic parts break. And I am sure the dealer only sells the entire glove box and not one of the gears or springs separately.
The glove box can be fully removed from the car. Assuming your glove box (facelift 2005-2007) is the same as my pre-facelift version, it's held in place by 6 screws, not including the 1 holding the CD changer bracket in place. 3 at the top in front of the CD changer, 2 on the R side (one high, one low), and one on the L side (low). It is the last screw that really sucks, because to get to it you need to remove the centre console and radio assembly. I am assuming your car is LHD. The 2 screws on the R side can be accessed by removing the plastic panel that goes right against the passenger door. (exact opposite of where the fuse box is on the driver's side).
To remove the centre console and radio, search the W203 forum for instructions regarding HVAC stepper motor replacement. There are instructions here on MBW as well as some YouTube videos. I'd post the link except I can't seem to find it for the life of me. Since you're dealing with the glove box only, there is no need to remove anything on the driver's side of the car. Good luck.
Last edited by slammer111; 09-20-2018 at 03:04 AM.
I realise it's been a little while since you posted this, but I have just encountered the exact same problem today and was wondering if you ever got this sorted?
I tried just pushing the sidewalls of the glovebox inwards in order to get it to go past any clips or whatever but so far nothing has worked and as OP here I'd rather not push my luck with old plastic from 2002.
If anyone else has done this procedure before, I'd love to know if there's a way around having to entirely dismantle it, if not I would certainly appreciate any tips or tricks. (Also thanks to slammer111, will follow your instructions here if there's no other way around it)
As a follow up to this I decided to just take everything apart and basically had to bend the sidewalls completely off of the hinges themselves after removing the entire assembly out of the car. It looks like I didn't manage to install the damper mechanism correctly when I put the glovebox back in the last time.
The disassembly was a major PITA since I couldn't get the glovebox opened up enough to get to the screws inside at the top. You'll just have to bend it open enough to get a screwdriver in there and hope you won't break any plastic.
DO NOT attempt to do this without taking it completely out of the car as I can almost guarantee you'll break the plastic. When it's in the car the whole box is stiffened up by the screws around it so just bite the bullet and remove it instead of calling the stealership later for a brand new assembly.
09-17-2018, 06:38 PM
Glove Box won't open completely
