I picked up a replacement for the MB star hood ornament. It is a nice MB badge that fills the hole.

Looking under the hood of my 99 E-300TD it is not obvious how to remove the Star. Not wanting to

mess anything up…What do you wrench on, and which way do you turn it?

P.S..The MB star hood ornament seems to inflame certain types who have it in for German cars
here in the New York City area. So this will help me keep a lower profile <G>


------------------
1999 E-300TD

I just changed the star on my 87. Clever design, not a chance I would have figured it out without advice. All 12 parts (!!!) that make up the star on my 87 300E are held in place by spring action between the star and a one way rotation sleeve, with the hood metal sandwiched in between. Opening the hood and looking at the very bottom of the star assembly, the tech pointed out a small horizontal cross pin holding the spring through a small circular opening in the sleeve (other end of spring attaches to the bottom of the star). The tech held on to the star with one hand, and pulled out the pin (just like a grenade!) with needle nose visegrips, and the star and spring assembly were released and easily came out throught the top of the hood. The "U" shaped sleeve came out the bottom. The old star assembly was rendered useless by this operation, as the new star assembly is sold spring loaded and cocked. The new assembly was inserted into the keyed hole in the grill, and the U shaped sleeve was rotated until it snapped into position, holding the whole assembly together. Someone did their ME graduate thesis designing this. Good Luck.

------------------
JCE
87 300E, 60k miles
Smoke Silver

[This message has been edited by JCE (edited 02-26-2000).]

I think the newer MB models are easier than the older ones. The removal was similar to the one you described, however, there was no removal of a pin.

I just replaced my 2000 E hood ornament with the flat one. With my model, the ornament was one unit that requires a simple twist of the base from the bottom of the ornament.

Open the hood and look at the bottom of the ornament. You need to apply a needle nose plier to the outside grooves of the bottom base and rotate it a quarter turn. There is only one way to rotate it so don't force it. However, some pressure is required. After the quarter turn, the ornament can be removed from the top. I hope this helps.

Eric

------------------
'00 E430 w/ Solaris H-7's
Brabus 19'' Monoblock V, 2 piece
H&R Sport Springs

'99 SLK230 Sport

This was sooooo easy!!!! This is definitely the way to go!!! I changed it in less than 2 minutes. The best directions.

Put a new one on the Redhead today - simple. Also took me less than 5 mins (I had to reinstall new one).

Ditto, but I replaced mine(300SD, W126) in a slightly different way. I saw that the outside metal lock piece swiveled. I simply , with light pressure, clamped a pair of vise grips on the round base(surrounding the pin thru the spring), and gently pulled down and twisted the feet onto the cast base of the star and popped the old broken star out. Popped the new star in and clamped on the round base again and pulled down and twisted in the way it twists. DONE is maybe a minute tops.