Rear trunk star fell off
 

The rear star on the trunk lid of my E300 fell off the other day. It's held in place by three grommets that have either disintegrated or wiggled loose. In either case, in order to replace the star, I need to remove the trunk lid lining. It is held in place by a number of black plastic pins. Before I start trying to dig them out and screw something up, is there a secret to getting them out and being able to reuse them?

The fasteners are two-piece.

The center part is a pin that pushes into the center of the outer part.

The outer part has expanding wings that resemble a Sheetrock anchor.

To remove the fastener use a panel removal tool that has a flat edge with a notch and pull the center piece out.
Then pry out the outer piece.

To reassemble, put the panel back, and put all the outer pieces in the holes first. Then press in the centers once you have everything aligned.

Note the fasteners for the trunk ledge are similar but backwards. You have to drive the center part through the fastener body and then pull the outer piece out. In this case you have to go fish the center piece out from the void behind the fastener.

Although I don’t think you have to open the trunk liner to fix this. I’ve seen the videos of the production of the cars in Sindelfingen (like this one: https://youtu.be/teq-z9CK33o at 6:55) and they show an associate (always a female by tradition) spraying a fluid (probably soapy water) on the three fasteners and then firmly pressing the logo in with a rubber tool. As long as you can fish out the broken fasteners you should be able to do this all from the outside.

Thanks Jay. I fiddled with one of the fasteners and see now how to hopefully remove them if needed. Love to find that video you reference, because I certainly prefer not to remove the trunk lid liner, locking mechanism, etc. to get in there. I'm assuming that the old rubber grommets have either deteriorated away or fell down between the trunk lid and the liner. New grommets are about two bucks a piece from the dealer. That could be the best six bucks I've spent in awhile.

I was surprised when getting one for the SDL at the dealership that they too are plastic now.

Got it fixed!!! Thanks for your help and suggestions.

This video helped, but I had to remove a lot more of the trunk liner clips than the video indicates.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XBJytjIyaU

Turns out all three of the clips had come off. Two of them were in the liner when I removed it and I reused them. The third one must have dropped down into a crevice in the sheet metal. Made a third one out of a slice of a wine cork. Seemed to work well. Time will tell.

Upon further review, I may not be done.

See https://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Mercedes-Benz/45-BODY-Trunk_Star_Replacement/45-BODY-Trunk_Star_Replacement.htm

Looks like at some point that star may fall off again and I will need new grommets, since they install from the outside of the car. Mine are completely pressed on the star from the inside. I bet that when I had the trunk painted a few years ago, the shop installed the star grommets incorrectly. I probably ought to take preemptive action now and just buy the new grommets now before I lose the star altogether. It will be an absolute piece of cake to do it right.