My '99 E320 4Matic wagon has a bad rear hatch damper. Dealer wants $300 to replace. Is there an easy DIY solution to open up that area and replace the damper?

Thanks!

Todd Buckton

Not trying to be terse or curt, but....

try using the search feature. Some time back there was a how-to posted on rear hatch strut replacement, complete with pictures. It may even have been one of the DIY articles under the DIY tab. Of course this was on a W124 wagon IIRC, but the process should be basically the same. I believe it entailed removal of the rear hatch liner and possible the rear header. The article is somewhere on this site but I couldn't tell you where.

Good luck.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Thanks for the gentle admonishment. Diligently searched the DIY forum before posting here and found nothing. Determined I was using the wrong semantics for the part/repair in question: Struts not dampers.

Thanks to all moderators and senior members who give so generously of their time to keep the MB marque alive and happy, and the mercedesshop.com forum so valuable. Certainly do not want to waste your time.

I just tried a search to see if I could locate the post with pictures, but I can't. I remember seeing it when it posted, but that may have been before on the server crashes this site had in the past when it grew by leaps and bounds. I believe some ports/articles did get lost. At least there was a decent write up about the job with addtional follow-up from a redo of the priginal job.

Hope that helped.

__________________
Mike Tangas
'73 280SEL 4.5 (9/72)- RIP
Only 8,173 units built from 5/71 thru 11/72

'02 CLK320 Cabriolet - wifey's mid-life crisis

2012 VW Jetta Sportwagon TDI...at least its a diesel

Non illegitemae carborundum.

Here's a photo of part of my headliner removed when I did this job. Mine is a 124.

Try this thread

__________________
John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

Click to see 87 300E