Hi,

I finally got the hood to pop....

1st I went to my official MB dealer. They had a quick look (at no charge) for approx 20 min. No luck. I needed to make a follow on appointment so they could try something else...

2nd I wanted to try something myself before spending a lot of money on poping the hood by the MB guys...
This required the usage of a web-cam (!!), a laptop and a strong lamp. By removing the left indicator light (this is a snap-in mechanism, so if you pull real hard it will come out (undamaged hopefully)) and inserting the lamp and web-cam I thought I would get a good picture of wat was under there, and attaching a piece of thick wire to pull the catches. However there was not enough room to get the lamp and web-cam in...

3rd By inserting my hand into the opening of the indicator light I could feel the cable that opens the hood from inside. I gave a good yank on this cable and guess --- YEP! the hood popped open.

Hope this helps anyone else, or at least gives you some new ideas. A web-cam can be bought for less than 50 euro's these days..

Regards,

Stephen