For those with the latch issue, we found one thing which seemed to work:

After many adjustments at the dealer and a warranty replacement, our latch never seemed to work consistently for more than a month or two after the last "treatment."

Then one of our many mechanics suggested that we turn off the the raise-limiter function (which you do via the settings function on the driver info system). It means that you might not be able to open the rear lift gate in the garage if your ceiling is low, but after we did that the power lift-gate miraculously worked for several months and was still working when we decided to get rid of the car.

And I have no idea why that would work or how the limiter and the latch could be correlated, but it worked.

 

Were you able to get the latch issue resolved? I have the same issue. Pull to open the hatch and the unit hums and re-locks itself. MB of Nashville wanted $1000 to replace the lift motor. I don't think that's the issue. So I haven't done anything yet.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I have had problems as well. At first they want to charge you with a 1.5 hour @$125 an hour to "adust" the latch... if that does not work then they replace the latch. I had mine replaced a year ago and is acting up again. By remote or switch it opens, then closes again... but if you pull the handle by hand, it does move enought to "engage" and lift.
I am tired of this. I will probably fix it myself.. this is not rocket science.
as I have no confidence in SilverStar Montreal.. they have failed me several times in the past.

 

My power latch assembly was replaced by the original owner under warranty. After reading many postings on this, I have little faith in its reliability over the long term. Is there any way to disable the power hatch feature and use it manually without damaging anything?

 

88,000 miles, 2007 R320.
We've had hatch latching problems ever since we got the car 3 years ago. Mainly, it would slam shut, then re-open. Sometimes we had to give it an extra push to really slam it to make it latch and stay shut.
Our indy mechanic was frustrated and finally suggested replacing the rear SAM, and if that didn't fix it, there would be no charge.
That didn't fix it, so we had him take it back out. Now get this... NO problems since then. Makes me suspect nothing more than a wire? Corrosion? Or something got bumped back into place?

Same with the taillights... you think your stop light bulb is out because the circuit has turned on another light. Another indy (whom I will never use again) replaces the bulb. 6 months later, another bulb. I dug into it and found corrosion at the contact point. Light sanding and a little Corrosion Block, and 1.5 yr later, still working fine.
Little things can make these sensitive cars go wacky.

Now the horn starts blowing while driving. We've disconnected the connector behind the airbag to stop it temporarily, but none of the steering wheel buttons work either. Expensive frikken car to maintain, and seems to be breaking too often. But, it sure is a pleasure to drive!

 

That seems high. I've seen multiple references on this forum for a $600 total for replacement from the dealer.


The part is about $240 shipped from ECSTuning, I just ordered it, and will have a go at this myself. The worst outcome is that I take it to my indy, humbled and hat in hand, and ask them to clean up the mess I've made (and probably pay them a couple hundred, but I'll still hopefully come in under $500).


Our car has 99,500 miles on it, I expect to pay a few thousand per year (on average) from here on out to replace things like this (and struts, seals, etc).

 

dwooderson,

Thanks for the shout-out

Everyone,

We do have this latch available, and it is only $225.43* plus shipping.

If you are interested, you can get to it on our website by clicking HERE, or by clicking on the photo of the photo of the latch below.



This is a genuine Mercedes-Benz part, so you know that it will fit just like the original. This is also the third iteration of this part as well, so hopefully it will work a little better than the original.

If anyone has any questions about this latch, or needs any other parts, please feel free to send a PM or post and I will do my best to help out.

*Price subject to change.

 

2007 R320CDI, 95,000 mi. Works MOST of the time. But today at the store, hit close button, goes down, SLAM as usual, goes back up. Hit button again, all is normal (with the usual SLAM)

Our Indy replaced the latch several years ago, less than $500 total. In my post of a year ago I mentioned the rear SAM also, but that wasn't the actual problem...maybe a wire loose or corroded terminal.

Still, we love it, and wouldn't know what to replace it with.

 

Unfortunately my exterior latch mechanism died. I could open it from the inside but that was a hassle. My dealer replaced it for about $500 including labor. In all fairness I do have 130k on my R350.