Hello everyone,

I did a dumb thing last week and left the key in the ignition (on position). The battery in my 2001 CLK320 conv drained all the way down. This battery is an OEM battery, that I put in the car 7 years and 7,000 miles ago.

I opened the trunk with the laser cut key. I called the dealer and asked them their best advice. They said I could jump start it with no concerns. I explained that I didn't see a good bare metal spot in the trunk to ground the negative, and they told me that going direct to the post was no problem. I then asked about what I believe is a positive charge post in the engine bay (driver side, under a square black plastic flap/cover with an "X"), and they said this was not a positive charge post, but rather was a "junction".

I did attempt the jump start, connecting directly to both battery pos/neg posts, and being very careful about the connection order. I also made sure the cables didn't touch anything other than the battery posts. The donor car was running. Once connected, the CLK had lights, stereo, etc...but the engine would not turn over. I only received a click. I left the donor car running for about 10 more minutes and tried again, with the same result. Only a click.

I then decided to use a trickle charger. I connected directly to both battery posts, and set the charger to 12V and 2 Amps. I left it charging for 15 hours, and then disconnected and tried to start. The CLK320 did start, but I could tell the battery was still not at 100% so I am continuing to charge.

All that said, here are my questions:
1. Does this car have a positive charging post in the engine bay, under the black flap/cover marked wiht an "X"? Can this be used to jump the car? Or, as the dealer service gal says, is this a "junction", and should NOT be used to jump the car?
2. Is is "OK" to jump start the car by connecting the negative cable on the CLK320 directly to the negative post? I have always heard this is a non-non due to potential gas build-up. If this is not recommended, does anyone know where the negative can be grounded in the trunk area? I didn't see any promising spots.
3. Does anyone have any advice/recommendations/concerns re: using trickle chargers on our cars?
4. Now that the car is coming back to life, I of course have the ABS and BAS malfunction messgaes on the dash. Also, the driver window refuses to stay all the way up. It goes to the top, and then goes back down a few inches. Can anyone point me to the correct reset procedures for these issues? (NOTE: Never mind on this one...I found the steering wheel left/right/center procedure to get the ABS/BAS lights off, and the window reset procedure to get the window to operate normally. I am in good shape on this one.)
5. Is there a MB online service manual for this car? I have looked but did not find it. If anyone can share a link, I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance. I hate to be paranoid, but I can't stomach the thought of causing electrical gremlins in this car. I wasn't convinced I was getting good advice from the dealer, so I wanted to see what advice I could find here.

Thanks! Jeff