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The latch for my W212 glove box won't engage with the lever inside. It appears to be loose and I can't open the glove box. Any tips on how to fix this. It's definitely not locked
Pretty much you are stuck replacing the whole glovebox. Luckily, they are cheapish on eBay - ~$150. I had the same problem with my new-to-me car. Once I got the replacement, I tried my darndest to get inside that thing to see what could be done - and also because I found out too late that the shade of gray pre-and-post facelift is slightly different, so I really, really wanted to see if I could swap the covers between them (it's "close enough" for now). I assume that black is black though. There are two different gloveboxes, not sure if this is a pre and post facelift thing or an E350 vs. higher models thing. The one I got used has a 12V outlet in it (which I intend to wire up) and the shelf inside is different and has the music connectors in it. The whole thing will interchange, but you can't swap the doors between them. I wanted to use my original box with the replacement door - no go, slightly different shape.
The glovebox is easy to swap, there are instructions posted on various threads here, and a couple of decent YouTube videos too. A video is worth a thousand words in this case, though you DO need to get it open to remove it. IN my case, pulling the latch and pulling the door towards the driver's side of the car would release it. I was hoping for treasure once I got it open, but it was about as exciting as Al Capone's Vault - just the owner's manuals. Nice to have those though!
The amusing thing is that you can buy that latch handle as a replacement part from China all over the place - but be darned if I can figure out any way to take the glovebox door apart without breaking it. Pretty sure they assembled it and then glued the halves together with some German wunder-glue! The soft cover actually peels off very easily, but that latch bolts through it, and I doubt you can get one off without breaking the latch, at which point you are back to square one.
Thank you for that detailed response Kevin. A garage here has said they can replace the latch alone, for which they'd have to break the current one of course. Going to give them a try and see what they can do
Thank you for that detailed response Kevin. A garage here has said they can replace the latch alone, for which they'd have to break the current one of course. Going to give them a try and see what they can do
If they succeed - PLEASE pester them for the details as to how they did it. Much Googling, and I do mean much, did not reveal the secret to this. That latch bolts in from the back, and there is no way to get to those two bolts that I can find.
My suspicion though, is that the latch is the symptom, not the cause. Once my door was off it was very obvious something internal to the mechanism was broken and rattling around inside. Pulling the latch caused one latch to move halfway and the other not at all.
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
