W220 Drivers Soft Close Door Repair 

Thank you. I am glad you enjoyed this video.

I fixed my trunk unit that way but I ended up purchasing a new part. Mercedes of South Atlantic had the best Total-out-of-pocket price. $478.75+59.95 S&H = 538.67. I do not think I am going to video the work as it will just repeat this job. I will fix my summer feature, mine works but the key has to be very close to the sensor, I might film that even though there is a video out there on that fix. Take your time and good luck with the repair.

There are rare exceptions, but most aftermarket stuff for these cars is penny wise and pound foolish. It is best to budget ahead and then bite the bullet for the Benz part. These cars were like nothing else on the market when they were released, and now 15 years and ~100k mi. later, the weak spots in the first-gen designs are rearing their ugly heads. The folks over in Stuttgart typically learn from their past designs' shortcomings though and one gets the benefit of this learning in a re-engineered part and/or improved materials should he/she choose the Benz replacement. Not always wallet-friendly, but then I remind myself that I only paid $15k for a car that, adjusted for inflation, would be ~$150k today similarly equipped.

how did you remove your old unit out? did you have enough room? R230 ?

@@fredrezfield1629drill out a couple rivets, then yes it clears. Not a pleasurable job tho 😒

@@fsb1284 i only see one but whats your mercedes?

@@fredrezfield1629 pre-facelift W220

I did not remove the glass. Mercedes has a procedure written out to do this. I just followed their procedure and showed that in the video.

My initial input is that the soft close is pneumatic and those air lines are susceptible to failure as they age and become brittle.

I try another one from the left side and it works perfectly with the vaccum and cables from right side

Got it 👍🏻 You can’t see it, you have to feel it. Just stick your hand behind the lock assembly and you will get it.

Lo mismo digo yo

bonjour, Si vous êtes en France, tous mes liens sont inutiles car ils pourraient ne pas être expédiés à l'étranger. Il suffit d’aller sur Internet et de rechercher des pièces Mercedes. Bonne chance

@@A_Renaissance_Man je ne trouve rien et chez Mercedes cela n'est pas vendu. cordialement.

Thank you for asking. I cannot recommend the repair kit as the parts were of a low quality and required adjusting and fitting as they were not a direct fit replacement. Unfortunately, Mercedes, unlike BMW and others, have their parts locked down. This means you must go through a dealer or an online dealer to get parts like this. This is not a bad thing but, there are very few or no avenues available to purchase them at a lower cost. If you would like to put in the time to hunt them down outside of a dealership, MB Star software can be found and you can obtain the part numbers to help you find a used one or to have a look at the rebuild parts on eBay. As a final note, Dealerships will give you the part numbers you will need for the repair if you just go in and ask. I don't recommend calling on the phone as that can become a prolonged and frustrating call. Good luck.

I do remember a lot of wiggling and jiggling but everything went in. Patients and time were needed to figure things out. This is a tough repair and if you want to rivet things back together then that is a separate issue as the unriveted parts may move. The window was up and I just taped around the top so the tape was on both the inside and outside of the glass to hold the window up.

@@A_Renaissance_Man no i can replace rivets with a bolt but you ve never worked on the SL eh ? i only see one rivet but i am unsure as to that being the right rivet to be destroyed

no need to remove the rivets from the regulator i think the SL is the only car with a panel that big enough room to move stuff in and out !

I do not know the book time on this job. Took me about four hours with filming. When I replaced the unit with a new one, it only took me about 2-1/2. I did not film the OEM replacement, I just fixed the door and I am very happy with the new unit. In both cases I riveted the window guide back in place. The new unit had an extra cable that threw me for a minute. Feel free to ask me any questions if and when you decide to do the work.

David Prokity Well, I milked another year out of my factory door lock actuators. Time to do the driver’s unit (with some of my tax return LOL). I just bought a new unit from a dealer offering good price online. Hopefully the extra cable you speak of will not confuse me. I also bought some new titanium drills and a rivet kit from Harbor Freight.

Hi David. I am going through the same process right now, but I'm in my 70s and the temperatures are in the 90s. I bought the new replacement parts for both front doors (2003 S430) and I have managed to get the new unit in place with the door lock stem and ir cable in the correct position, but I'm really struggling with getting the nylon clip closed on the hook from the outside handle. Can't seem to get much leverage and the back of my hands are an ugly sight. Any secrets that you can share?

Sorry, I have not had to deal with that issue. I would think that you could get the panel off and see the latch. From there you could see what is wrong.

I had that issue. Try opening it from the inside and spray some wd-40 from the outer

I this case I do not know the root cause of the failure. Sorry. Also, as time passed I did not repair pneumatic failures as they were too numerous. Good Luck with your efforts.

its likely not leaking from the part that was replaced in this video.

The soft close is pneumatic and the locks are electrical. Could be a break in the airline.

Yes, but the lock function does not work. The alarm will arm but the door remains unlocked which is a high motivator to have this unit replaced.

Wow, what a pain in the a--! The soft close is an option best avoided.

Most of these W220's have it though..W221's have an electrically-actuated soft close though...go figure!

What about when locks are locking, seats are pumping, headrests pop down, boot soft close works.... But the doors dont soft close ?!

t150k1 sounds like a leak somewhere! The door closer and lock actuator are all one big assembly that you see David taking out of his W220 in this video. Update on my car: The dealership diagnosed all four of my doors and the trunk closer as having leaks and wanted about $2000 in labor alone to do all five repairs so I will be doing my own labor, which thanks to David I am not afraid to perform!

You are certainly correct about the quality not being there. Thank you for you nice comment.

Извините, я уже давно не в Мерседесе. Я бы поискал в Интернете или, возможно, на свалке есть то, что вам нужно. Удачи

Yes is it very much a lot of work. Consider just ignoring the problem and close the doors like a regular car. Since all four are out make sure the problem is not with the lines or the pump. Sure would be a shame to spend all that money only to see the problem still there. Good luck and I hope this works out for you.

@@A_Renaissance_Man They arent out exactly. I have 13 GL450. On the front doors, the soft close is very loud. i also have an x5 with soft close and they are quiet. On the rear doors of my GL, the soft close mechanism makes noise opening the door. Could that be solved by pulling the fuse?

@@A_Renaissance_Man Great video, thank you. Will the central locking work without the soft close? Mine does not.

Unlikely all 4 are shot. JMO.

I am in central Virginia near Lynchburg. I am retired but, I know an extreamly repitual shop if you live around here.

@@A_Renaissance_Man I’m not far from Lynchburg. Do you do work like this regularly?

I think you can leave them in and just go on without them functioning. What I remember is that the car door was just shut normally like all other cars. As you know these doors do not need to be slammed because of the pressure relief vents. I don't remember any issues when they malfunctioned.

@@A_Renaissance_Man well for some reason my door gets stuck as in the actuator latch still wants to engage so the door handles dont work locking and unlocking still work but the door is stuck shut. I removed the door pannel and since the bottom plastic piece of the actuator is out i can push up on the plunger and that gets the door unlocked

Just close the door normally without the assist. $650 for what, soft close. Why do you really need this feature in an old car?

@@A_Renaissance_Man I agree. But the problem is that the PSE pump will keep working continuously (because it thinks the door is still open) until it burns out. Ask me how I know :)

@@tonyandraos9107 Just bought the car, where Is this pump placed? I've to check because my driver's Door doesn't soft close

I gave up and stopped fixing all the pneumatic leaks. There were just too many hair line cracks.

@@A_Renaissance_Man Yea it's frustrating. Also thank you for making a video for a tough procedure. That door handle thing that attaches behind the actuator was a major pain to get in place correctly.

Funny you say that I’ve had nothing but failures with Lexus. Benz never works because you don’t maintain it correctly and the people before didn’t maintain correctly!

@@maxboya you’re funny Mercedes’ rank number 4 in the most unreliable . I own plenty of everything to tell you this .

@@Sclassmercedes that’s cute. #4 where did you get that from? JD power? 😂🤣

@@maxboya is that why they lose 75 percent of their value after 4 year 🤣🤣🤣 laugh all you want fan boy . I own a few Mercedes’ right now and a few Lexus . Matter of fact I own a car lot so you can be biased all you want but have zero clue of why Mercedes’ loses their value so fast 😁😁😁 take some class .

@@Sclassmercedes that’s nice. I remember when I owned my dealerships. Now I specialized in transported exotics from all across the world. I don’t need to chase clients everyday and worry about a vehicle being on the lot for one too many days to where the banks docks me. You don’t even own a lot. The bank owns it all. Finance finance finance. Keep doing what you’re doing. You make my friends big bucks. Word of advice. Pay close attention to the market. There’s a reason why there’s 15K repos a day and for you in that market. Y’all are already over 2.5 million repos and not even halfway through the year. You want to talk about $ and costs. I suggest you start liquidating and fast🤣 Back to Mercedes. Yeah they depreciate but ya know what depreciates more? BMW 7 series, Porsche 911, Nissan Leaf, bmw 5 series, Toyota 4Runner, BMW i3, BMW X5, Audi A6, THEN WE GOT MERCEDES S CLASS then followed by E class. Then it goes Chevy volt, Volvo and etc etc no Mercedes for awhile. This was not mercedes time for quality that’s for sure and I’ll admit that. But you can’t just grill Mercedes for junk this and garbage that when you still own one! Why!? Because you enjoy contradicting yourself and wasting more money? People chose a make because of personal preference. Every single car has issues and flaws. Some from factory due to bad design but what car doesn’t have a single flaw besides idk like a Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla? Do you have any idea how widely use Mercedes is across the entire world? Kiddo they still got W126s running down the African Sahara running on nothing. Even Top gear did it! Lexus is an overpriced badged over Toyota. You realize how flawed Lexus models are? The reason why they don’t depreciate AS hard as Mercedes is because people love what the brand represents. Toyota bones and drivetrain also owned by Toyota! Just more executive interior that’s plush for the everyday dummy droid driver. To tell you who’s Lexus market is look what happened with the LFA 👀🤣 Even with that mediocre exhaust note, no one wants them even now. I’ll never forget the time I was driving me and my lady home in her truck. 2015 F150 crew cab XLT 2WD with the 2.7L V6 Ecoboost. Trucks bone stock mind you. Didn’t blow the doors off this 2014-2016 Lexus GS350 F sport but very nicely pulled away while both of us being WOT. Lexus owner pulled up to the next Texas red light and asked if truck was tuned. Replied of course bone stock and his response was “I’m trading this in for that truck! Surprised how quick it is!” Take it how you want. But that’s just embarrassing. XLT with leather seats and Pano roof. I mean I was having a blast just because that trucks so easy to drive with that electric rack😂 Point is. I own everything from an AMG, to 63’ Cadillac DeVille so believe me. I’ve been around more cars than you. I’ve driven vehicles you’ve never even heard of. Have you ever driven USSR vehicles? Or a VW Touareg V8 TDI? Lexus are sharp and great for they are besides that every mom and their grandparents want one. Thus MMR is through the roof for them and always in a sense will be since that’s the masses. Same reason why F150 is the best selling vehicle like what? 50 years straight now? 2018 they sold an F150 every 23 seconds… Using ford as a flat out across the board reference when comparing depreciation and everything else on top.