cretamk

Well I tried opening my hood last week to change out my bulbs and it wouldnt open. When I pulled the release latch, it seemed as though only the drivers side released. I pulled, pushed, had another person pulling the handle while I was pushing and pulling and couldnt get it open. I brought it to the dealer and they told me they needed $400 to replace the cable that was stretched out. The part is only $40 online, so I want to do it myself, but I cant get the hood open to do it. Anyone ever had this problem or does anyone know how I can get it open? It must be possible because the guys at the dealership did it. Any help is appreciated.

reitmeid

Ok..it's really not that bad. Here's how I did it:
Remove right front wheel. Remove front half of plastic fender liner.
Remove 2 nuts and 2 bolts holding the oil cooler/fan assy. and then pull it back towards the wheel hub and tie it up with wire or cord to get it out of your way.
Remove the frontmost section of the plastic lower engine cover.
Get on your back and look up with a light where the passenger side stud lock is approximately. You will see a black plasic cover about 2x3 inches. Reach up and wiggle it off. You will now see a very pleasant sight....the mechanism. Get a very long flatblade screwdriver and push the normally cable operated lever over until it releases. I got mine to pop in about 10 seconds.
After I finished, I wondered about whether is was necessary to pull back the cooler in the wheel arch. I think it gave me more room but it might not have been necessary. You might want to start with the engine cover and see if you can get it done. Either way, it's doable. My cable had come out of the horseshoe shaped metal bracket it belonged in. I rigged up a cable tie to hold it and it's been fine since. Good luck.

mikey33

It is very hard believe me. I ended up taking my car to an indie shop and they did it in 5 minutes for $40. They used a hook type of deal and jimmied it through the grille until they got it to pop. GL.

cretamk

Reitmeid, thank you so much. I want to go try it now, but gotta wait till daylight. Ill let u know how it turns out. ThanKs again

cretamk

Well, leave it to the dealership to try and rip me off. Thanks to Reitmeid, I was able to get the hood open and see what the problem was. The cable end that releases the hood latch on the passenger side, was off of the bracket which holds it in place. All I needed to do, was reattach it to the bracket and tighten it so it wouldnt come apart again. This took all of 5 minutes, once the hood was open. The dealership either did not really know what the problem was or tried to rip me off. Either way, that's quite unprofessional and I won't be bringing my vehicle back to Mercedes Benz of Smithtown, located in St. James on Long Island NY, again. Thanks again for your help Reitmeid, you helped save me $400.

reitmeid

Good job. Welcome to the hood.

amdeutsch

What a way to get a double meaning across.

mikey33

The dealership is not the bad guy imo. That is what they will charge anyone to get that type of thing fixed and because of the minimum time required to be in service. It is best to go to an indie for something like that.

cretamk

The dealership told me that the cables needed to be replaced because they have been stretched out. That was a complete fabrication. The cables are not streched out and they had nothing to do with my problem. This is what I was quoted

New Cables - $300
Approximate Labor - $100

So how do you state that the dealership is not the bad guy?

starbrite

Kinda have to agree with that one.

mikey33

I read your original post wrong. I was thinking MB dealership was charging you a minimum service time charge.