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The soft top in my 99 CLK230 works great, except it doesn't seem to register it being fully closed. I have narrowed it down to a dead rear bow lock microswitch (picture).
It turns out it's not possible to buy just the switch. You have to buy the whole lock and cylinder (used on Ebay for 2-300 EUR).
My question: is it possible to simply remove the microswitch and short the connector back to the control unit? I know it's a bit of a hack and I am to scared to just try it :-) What do you think?
(my trunk struts are pretty worn, so accidentally releasing the trunk lock will not cause my trunk to flip open. It just unlocks)
The best source of parts I’ve found for my 2003 CLK430 is U-pull yards. I’ve got probably 10 yards locally and one specific that has a couple CLKs with soft tops. I can go pull that wire and it’d probably cost less than $10 including gas. Do you have a local yard like this?
I spoke to a Mercedes mechanic yesterday who also advised against shorting the connector. He meant that the this would cause the soft top to not open because the control unit would think the fabric was still locked to the rear bow.
U-pull yards are unfortunately not a thing here (Denmark). But I found a very similar looking switch on Ebay (part no 1708200910). I got it cheap, so I'll give it a shot. I'll report back with the result.
06-08-2024, 03:41 AM
