Don't know if this is the proper place but figured I would pass this knowledge on....

Replaced my chipped gray grill insert last night...well, while doing it I noticed the neat little pin that holds the star hood ornament spring in....yep..."lets see what this does..." so of course I pulled on it and pop out it came along w/ my star...for the life of me I could not figure out how to get that itty bitty clip back in 'cause needle noses wouldn't fit through the retainer piece's opening to reach the spring hook...solution...40 lb test fishing line looped around the spring hook....pull on the line to bring spring back down and use needle noses to slip the clip back in. whew....

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88 300E (plus used to have 72 350SL, 83 240D)
Dad's got a 99 ML320 & 93 300SE...we're a Mercedes family !

Funny you mentioned that. I used the same trick a while back. It worked great. Probably Mercedes have a special tool that cost $$$ to do the same...

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I did the same damn thing and its sitting on my shelf after spending hours upon hours trying to fix. Ended up buying a new one.

Titbits like this is why I love this site!

yal
88 230E (W124)

Sounds like fishing line is the MacGyver tool of working on Mercedes, good for replacing the star, removing fish, removing the model badge. It's almost as good as duct tape and a Swiss Army knife!

Thanks FL300E. I will use your trick when I replace my hood ornament.

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Dean
Santa Barbara, CA
1974 280C
1984 300SD

Guys, Guys -- I believe there's a much easier way. If your "stars" are anything like my 1986 2.3-16V star, then you all are going about it the HARD way. The star assembly basically "sandwiches" the grille frame using spring pressure between the star (exterior) and its formed sheetmetal "bellhousing" (interior; which encloses the spring). No need to remove the spring retaining "bar" and disassemble to remove your stars. Get a pair of pliers and grab the end of the bellhousing; pull up to extend the spring and twist the entire assembly 90-degrees (you'll know which way to twist as it'll only go one direction). This will line up the bellhousing with the keyhole cutout in the grille frame. Wiggle gently and your entire star assembly will come out intact. To install, just do the opposite -- feed the assembly through the keyhole, pull on the bellhousing and twist 90-degrees.

Hope this helps.

Brian

Brian's description works for the 123 series as well.

Larry