Strange difference as in my car the hood lock sensor is in driver side only and that is where the hood lock is exactly like yours. The lock is tamper proof with that plastic cover that houses the lock sensor like in your lock and also provides means for the cable not to be able to fall down. On the passenger side my lock is open from the other side as the cover is not needed due to no lock sensor. It would be nice to have that cover just to keep cable from falling.

Your car may have the lock sensor on both sides?

 

2014 is the first year facelifted 212, while 2013 or 2011 is the original. they made a LOT of changes with that facelift, it probably should be called a 212.5 or something. 212A ?

 

Same version for mine, for LEFT hood lock assy.

 

Thank you Surya for putting on your thinking cap over these engineered... locks.

Every Benz mechanism I have seen had a built-in weakness to rope in troubles as soon as the amazin' grease formula gets evaporated.

Starting with my dry front caliper slides at 10kMi... dealer kept on expecting my complete my brake job that never came.

Knowing this... if you provide proper lubrication to the locks friction surfaces, the efforts exerted on the underdized plastics ears are kept in check.

These hood latches exemplify what engineered for high maintenance means. Every system lubricated ​​​​​with grease in this car is subject to this milking game:

1. doors hinges,
2. jamed rollup blinds,
3. brakes caliper sliders,
4. trunk/door/hood latches,
5. sunroof track/motor,
6. WIPERS gearbox,
7. trunk lid puller,
8. Pkg brakes pedal... LoL!
9. electric steering rack,
10. seats motorized screw tracks...
11. clunky reverse mirror...
12. windows track pivots
13. famous cup-holder sliding cover
14. dry swaybar bushings
15. "Could not reproduce"... really??

I am reviewing all electronic modules, perhaps ALL THESE LUBRICATED SYSTEMS SHOULD BE REVIEWED as well in a thread.... that would be a positive step for "the best or nothing" -

 

there's this synthetic grease they have at the dealers called something like Gleitzpaste (I know thats wrong, but its something like that), which works really well on things like sunroof sliders, various plastic sliding parts, convertible top latches and hinges. its almost unobtanium commercially except in a ridiculously large tub that costs a fortune and would last a amateur 5 lifetimes. its a very clean grease, that goes on thin, and doesn't attract dirt, most applications you use just the tiniest dab and rub it in until its almost all gone.

 

I do lubricate these hood lock and door hinges with CRC dry type silicone spray grease. Rubber/plastic Safe.
I like it, as it does not attract dust/dirt like those wet kind of lubricant, say a WD-40.

Surely this hood lock assy will work better and it is good NOT to apply extra resistance to pull cable if all sliding/friction parts is nice and slippery...including inside the push-pull cable to its jacket.
If you take a notice on the LEFT hood Lock Assy, MB placed a plastic guide, that bend L shape plastic... that is important and I am glad they thought of it.
The L shaped plastic guide will make pull steel cable to cable's internal plastic jacket less prone to collapse and smoother pull too.

What I worry is the quality of the plastic used.
I have damaged 4 plastic components on my car.
1st is the U shaped clip, which is part of the radiator plastic top cover towards bumper assy, 2 clips holding that hood pull cable, I broke it. Its too weak.




2nd is the hood "spring assy" of the hood. I forgot which side. It broke during cleaning ....LOL. Inside it there is a few "claws".
One or 2 claws cracked and broke. Probably heat damaged.



The trunk plastic liner. This is a PULL and PUSH to install/remove. One of the holding hole for the plastic clip somehow broke its 4 baby claws ..... on 1st time removal.
The plastic material is so bad here, perhaps this is recyced plastic. MB has to abide certain EU rules where recycled plastic must be used to certain % level in the car production. I read it somewhere.



Last one, this is my fault. I tightened the spare wheel plastic hub so much, hoping to reduce rattling sound...if any... I did not realized I cracked the base which holds the plastic male screw thread.
However, I seen this kind of engineering plastic used on my diving hardcase and they wont break that easy like in the car. If you buy PELICAN brand hardcase, my late 80s version is so awesome to today.
I usually stand on my Pelican hardcase or diving tank fell on it and I abuse it so badly for 30 years..... it never failed me...never.



The same worry I have for plastic parts : It is the engine to HVAC heater core.. coolant PLASTIC pipe.
I really really really fear this plastic pipe will break a big opening and not micro cracks where coolant level sensor can do early detect.
This plastic pipe cost is cheap, but the labor to replace it is going to a nightmare for my W212 with M276 3.0 TT. There is no space for hands to access the plastic pipe, the aluminum heat shield/firewall is there.
Worst of all, lousy work angle or working space, usually produce BAD job/result.

 

Got these 2 combo from USA 2 years ago, before Covid.
I use it for my Pano Roof.
MB Indonesia does not even stock these

 

WD40 really isn't a lube. its great for cleaning stuff (its mostly kerosene), and a spray of it will keep moisture at bay for a little while.

you have to be careful with silicone to never get it on a painted surface as its really really hard to clean off so you can properly wax or polymer seal, or so you can repaint. white lithium grease applied just where it needs to be (and wipe off any excess immediiately when spraying) is pretty good about not attracting too much dirt, and does a great job of lubricating hinges, latches, that sort of thing for a long time. if it does get dirty, it will be very obvious since the clean grease is white.

 

yep very clear voyant with these platics heater pipes. I guess they get brittle and the first time you deal with them is when you'll need an OEM part replacement - When the engine starts rocking on failed rubbee mounts, coolant plastics lines get torqued repeatedly...

Like the PCV plastic vent pipes they use to feed quarts of engine oil back in the intake, perfectly brittle. FCP has kits to refresh the whole system.

Brake flex lines (4pcs)... good for how long before the swelling begins ? 😂

 

ugh, the air plumbing plastics and stuff on our 250000+ mile 1993 and 94 Mercedes' were still 100% when we parked them. the dark car's clearcoat had failed, the seat springs were getting tired, but the cars still drove just fine, except mine was due for brakes and tires when it was parked. the 94 wagon was still her daily driver, but has been sitting on under a tree since Christmas and now we can't even find the key, hah hah.

 

yes, that stuff! those are like 500ml cans, right? those cans are $94 in the US.

hah, ok, there's guys on fleabay selling half ounce (14g) little plastic jars of it for $12.


not sure I've seen that little oil bottle before. (googles), k, thats repackaged Krytox GPL 105 perflourinated oil. its for rubber seals, like door seals, window, sunroof seals (not sliders). wipe onto the rubber very sparingly, don't get it anywhere else.

 

I think the older MB uses virgin engineering plastic source. So hold up better.

My Ford Fiesta coolant bottle small venting plastic hose simply snap with ease by 9 years old. The rubber hose engine to HVAC heater core, torn like 4cm wide, by 9 years old. 27,000KM only...Yep, garbage.

Perhaps those with hot coolant and its related pressure will live a shorter life compared to air/vaccum lines.

 

Yes, 500cc/ml size for the steel can grease.
That small baby bottle lube is what MB reccomend for the "hairy" slider area. See arrow :

 

Just in case, the paste is "on sale"

https://www.mboemparts.com/oem-parts...ste-0019894651

Wow. I had never read about the Krytox line of lubricants. Those are on the upper end of technology and price

https://www.walmart.com/search?q=Krytox&sort=price_high

For a glimpse of the applications.
https://miller-stephenson.com/chemic...ox-283-series/

 

So you have the hood lock sensor on both sides.

I would not be surprised if you had the brake wear sensors in both sides too. Both my E550 and S550 have these both items on one side only. Not really that big of a deal but it shows how MB has stripped some items for the U.S. marked cars. One big one that I don't like at all is the noise isolation. My S550 especially shows this as I know how quiet S-Class is in Europe and I'm seriously thinking of installing lots of material in the car for this.

 

NO...my car only has 1 sided brake wear sensors.
Usually Indonesian version they cut here n there...aka El-Cheapo.
I think US version would be one of the best if not the best ...based on what they sell as base model before options.
I got no GPS MAP. No rear reverse camera.
Surely heaters I do not need. ... I am sure US version is loaded with heaters, a MUST

 

You can also get it from ECSTuning for $10, but free shipping kicks in when it's over $49. I got some years ago and still have plenty left. I'm just surprised no one has jumped in to part it out, has about 35 1/2 ounce servings in a tub.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-.../0019894651~a/

https://www.mercedespartscenter.com/...ste-0019894651

 

Arrie, I just looked at my 2014 E350, and it has the same arrangement as Surya's, i.e. both locks are encased and both locks seem to have sensors (both have an electrical connection). Even the color differences, the right side lock case is gray, and the left side is black. Surya's has the splitter on the right side (his driver's side) while NA cars have it on the left side (our driver's side)

I would check for the brake sensors at a different time. Never changed brakes on this vehicle, i.e. 75K and still original pads.

 

So MB added the locks to be on both sides since my 2010 model. Well, I have had the passenger side lock open once after service at the dealer. It is not very obvious unless you really look at it. The hood stayed closed at 75 MPH speed, no problem and it has that "wind hook" as a back-up anyway.

 

Ya'll know you can delete the pics in a quote response, right?

Just a PSA.

 

44 posts... great body of knowledge stabing this problem back and forth - Thanks @juanmor40 for fishing this

Have we learned anything new since then ??
I fixed that 6Mo ago and weatherized the sensors wiring while I was there.

 

We're so lucky to have Senor Prihadi on this forum. His writeups and pics are top notch...

I was noticing that the plastic surrounding my hood release bowden cable and some of the clips that route it have completely disintegrated. I'm going to look into this more using the pics from this thread as a guide. So useful.

I'll echo the disappointment about the quality of the plastic in this car... I have an '88 Porsche 924S that sat parked in a field for 10 years and is now running again. The plastic shrouds around the timing area and intake are all still perfect, and the hood release Bowden is still fine. The interior hood release plastic parts were shattered but I assume that's from getting banged by driver's feet over and over again (the release is on the side of the driver's footwell on that car)...

Same with my '83 W123, my SLCs, and the 96 SL I have in the garage--much better quality plastic.

 

On my friend's 2010 W204 C200, the similar pull cable for hoood on his car already had the plastic jacket 90% gone, but inside is steel cored spiral....but then rusty already.
What MB uses is the same as our oldie bicycle brake cable system

So probably by year 14 or 15th , I will replace all of these pull cable set and the intermediate 2-in-1 plastic junction box.



Total woul be 3 separate pull cables.
The cable set I mess with the most in the one inside the car. Everytime I need to remove the plastic cover under the steering to access my OBD stuff,
the red hood pull lever cable set need to be un-clipped. I have at least removed the red hood pull lever cable end stop, that lead stopper ball..... 10 times or more.