Does anyone know how to remove an air vent on the GL450 one of slider directional pieces came apart and it looks much easier to put back together with it off than on. I looked at buying a new one but MB wants $200.00 for the air vent set up and I would still have to remove the old one and install the new one.

medivac

 

Yes... it is a silver circle with the black directional vents inside

 

The instructions and illustrations to remove the left,right, or center air ducts are the same. Insert a screwdriver into the top horizontal slot at the 12o'clock position and "unclip" the retaining device. Similar clips are shown being released with a screwdriver that is inserted through the second slot from the bottom to "unclip" 2 clips that are located at about 4 and 8 o'clock. I haven't done the procedure myself, but I hope this helps.

 

Thanks to Reddog for the tip. I wanted to add my experience since I was able to fix mine last night. It is easier with 2 people. 4 hands; 3 to hold the screw drivers and pull in and one hand to place another screwdriver behind the bezel to carefully pull out the unit. The clips need to be moved about 0.25 inch or so towards the centerline of the unit. Also, a flashlight helps to find the clips at 4, 8 and 12 like Reddog said. There is a pdf on the ML forums to remove the airvent module; the airvents are very similar.

Be careful not to drop you screwdriver while pulling the airvent module out. The module is very tightly fitted into the dash but will come out without too much force.

Once the module is off, you have to unclip the bezel carefully; 4 clips on the back/side. sturdy fingernails or carefully pry with screwdriver. Bezel is plastic, so take care not to scratch.

The back bar of my 2 units were off. Once the bezel is off, remove the slates from the rim making note of position and direction of the little connectors; they point alternately left and right. Look at an intact unit to guide.

The most top and bottom units will allow you to "hang" the back bar facing towards the back. The 2 lowest slabe with the tab goes into a hole on the bar; it is a pain. Pushing the pin/*** into the bar tends to dislodge it off the other 2 slates.

Finally place the 2 slates on. Line up the Hinges to engage the back bar.

Pop back the unit and you are done.

Hope the adds to the knowledge base here. I did not take pictures as it was dark last night and did not think I was going to succeed. It took a really long time to reassemble the units after removal. Buying new ones online is about $100 each but would have shaved off more than half the time. It was very hard managing the small pieces and trying to figure out what connected to what.

 

I am new here, but thanks for the tips! We have one of the vertical directional plastic pieces that fell off and is rattling around, i know it will be easy to fix when I get the vent out. I am trying it this afternoon!

 

My GL450 left center vent handle broke off so I'm going to replace with a new one. They seems very cheaply made. I found this PDF for others. For those that removed the vent, are you suppose to put 3 screw drivers to simultaneously release the 3 clips (positions 12,4,8)? Once you remove the vent, the instruction refers to unclipping the air outlet libation from the bracket -- any idea what this is for?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...dP_5IBQ6pk4b9Q

 

I finally got around to replacing the vent. The process was very easy. Just stick a screwdriver to 8 o'clock tab, pull gently, repeat on top and 4 'o'clock tabs. When loose, pull the assembly out and replace with new. Dealer wanted to charge $265 to replace one..

But I highly recommend not taking the silver bezel off. I took off another one to repair the blades -- but the vent blades are held together with a flimsy medal spine that's impossible to put together once it's removed. I just ordered another one from eBay to replace.

 

This is ridiculously difficult to replace. The short movie on the item description page on eBay shows how to replace the front tab, but doesn't touch how to get the back slider on the vent. After about two hours of fumbling, here's what I came up with: run two lengths of thread through the upper and lower holes in the rear slider, then push it through the vent. Run the upper thread ends above the middle opening in the vanes; run the lower threads below. It's very tricky to maneuver, but push the slider back to try to engage it on the proper vane, then wiggle it on by pulling on the alternate upper and lower threads. It's not easy, but it avoids pulling the whole vent assembly out of the car.

Another hint - two dabs of orthodontic sticky wax on the horizontal ends of the rear tab that engages the vent direction controller - that will prevent it from constantly popping up out of the slider while you push the front tab on and engage the clips.

Good luck. Those Germans must have had tiny fingers to get this all assembled the first time...