Repair-It

2 bolts, lift out latch assembly, disconnect plug, pull out switch. Push new switch in. Place latch assembly down and reconnect the hood switch.

I traced with a sharpie so I would be able to put it back in the correct alignment. Done. Easy. The old switch was actually working but the plastic that retains it in the latch assembly had gotten sort of bent/fatigued and wasn't holding. So the switch would get pushed down and not engage the hood properly. That's why it wasn't working.

It's back with a vengeance, at least it was tonight. From what I could see in the dark the switch looked fine so I will investigate tomorrow. Best I can figure is check the switch and clean the connector. Other than that it may be more complicated. Or the switch died prematurely. Hopefully my other repairs don't have such a premature expiration date ...

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/340 ... r-fyi.html

Probably not the switch itself (technically the old switch worked, too), but something to do with the switch coming loose in the latch (which is what happened to the old one). Someone did something with electrical tape, not sure exactly what. Someone also ziptied theirs permanently closed. I guess that's an option...

Yeah I was over thinking it. Basically the same thing happened to this one as happened to the one that was on it when I bought the car. It just slips out of the latch and thus too far away for the switch to close. Nothing is really broken. It looks like the whole sensor is just a bit U-shaped and needs to lay a little flatter to fit better. So is this manufacturing variance? I don't know. But it's time to jury rig. Basically I ended up using two short pieces of zip tie to hold the plastic tab near the connector out a little to add some pressure to the clips. If I'm lucky this will be just enough extra force to hold everything in place. If not, I will consider adding a dab of hot glue behind one of the tabs to give it a little more pressure (and still a tiny bit of flex).

The good news is, it's nothing scary like wiring or a module. It's just cheap plastic crap. Fortunately I am used to cheap plastic crap. That's the funny thing with this car. I always assume the worst, and then it's usually something much more minor.

This also means I probably didn't even need to replace the original switch. I could have just done a similar thing. Good thing it was super cheap.

Here it is slipped out of the latch.
Zip tie shims installed.
Didn't get a shot of the latch reinstalled but suffice it to say, it's two 10mm bolts and you clip the plug back into the sensor....easy.

Yeah that fixed it, as expected. I'll up my game from 2 pieces of zip tie if it happens again.

I had to up my game again. It was falling out of the slot again. So I added 2 more pieces of ziptie as shims. I think this will do it.

Thankfully this has been working. Opened the hood several times and the sensor stays put.

Hood open alert this morning. I jammed more zip ties in to wedge the switch against the side that is slipping out. I almost want to roll the dice on another sensor. This one was made kind of crappy and doesn't fit right in the space.

Man.

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/340 ... r-fyi.html

This was an issue back in 2010. Maybe I should just do what that guy did with the ziptie. It's the same issue.