manually retract the side covers

[Doc47]

the boot lock was faulty so I bought another and managed to open the boot by part opening the vari roof. After installing the new lock I found that I couldnt close the boot because the side covers were extended. How do I perform and emergency manual side cover retraction. please.

 

[Chris Dean]

Connector X8/4 “Boot lid separation connector”. This is tucked away at the rear of the pump on the passenger side of the boot and is under the plate on which the pump is mounted and is not very easily seen unless you get right down and with a good light. It slides on to two rails which mate with two grooves on the connector. A little gentle persuasion is required to pull it off. The object is black, 30-40 mm long and a bit deeper with a white connector block attached (not relevant to this job). The black part has 2 rows of 7 wires entering at the top and exiting below. The top part with its wires can be detached by squeezing together the plastic lug at each end (a little gentle wiggling helps). This reveals a well with 2 rows of spade connectors. The wire positions are numbered on the detached part. “5” is 3rd spade from the left hand end and “6” is opposite. Used a 12 volt battery and connected “5” negative and “6” positive caused the flaps to fold down and tuck under the boot lid.

This worked on my 2007 350SL

 

[Doc47]

I managed to gently ease the boot down with the side covers pressing against the rear window, once I got the boot lock clicked shut I pulled the roof opener lever and the boot opened as normal. When I pressed the boot closer lever everything tucked back as normal. Job done.
Thanks for your advise Chris.

 

[Chris Dean]

I'm glad your problem is solved. I don't think I could have got away with that on mine. The geometry must be a little different I suppose.
The most recent problem was that the latches where the roof closes onto the windscreen were either not closing properly or not sending the right signal so that the boot lid stayed firmly up. The only solution was a trip to Mercmedic and new sensor unit. They found a recon. unit but the courier company lost it so they had to fit a new unit. Expensive but the car would be useless otherwise.
Kind regards
Chris