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Gas Spring for Center Console Storage Compartment Lid - p/n A 0009807564

62K views 233 replies 59 participants last post by  sushipaste 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Does your Center Console Lid pop open all the way when you push the release button? If so, close this thread and be happy it does. If it doesn't, read on. There is a gas strut (MB calls it a Spring) at the rear of the lid that opens it for you. If your lid doesn't pop open all the way, the strut is bad. Just follow the video seen in the stickies at the top of the 129 section that shows the removal of the wood and the center console lid. The eBay part cost $50, OEM part costs $73 at Parts.com and $93 plus from the dealer. It takes about 30 minutes to replace.
 

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#89 ·
Well it seems that we have about three generations of differences.
Mine is like Poundy's I had like the video, to remove the whole console.

Looks like Lynn's is a harder case.
Maybe they have installed wire tight too tight?

Sorry, that I can't be of any help Lynn. :(

Regards,
aam.
 
#94 · (Edited)
After all is said and done....

1) I didn't need to remove the 4 screws and floor at the bottom of the Center Console. You only need to do that if your going to remove the Center Console for some other reason. So I had to put the screws and flooring back. Thank you Forum Members for your best thoughts!

2) I was unable to get at the Storage Box electrical wire through the RHD passenger side Rear Storage Compartment Cover. So I had to close that back up. Thank you Forum Members for your best thoughts!

3) I'm satisfied at this point that I didn't buy the storage box light assembly that some have in there cars because I'm still not sure if I had the wiring to connect to.

4) I had to pull much harder on the vac/elec connections than I would prefer to in order to remove the Storage Compartment Lid. It finally popped and the electrical connection separated. I then disconnected the vacuum line w/o a problem. Those of you who have gone before me know how short the electrical connector line is to the Armrest Lid assembly.

5) R&R of the Gas Spring was probably the easiest part. But you do have to be patient with yourself if your not use to working w/ small repairs. Be sure and put a white towel down on your work area so that you can find the small C-clip if they happen to get away from you. Try putting a small piece of Scotch Tape over the C-clip when removing it.

6) Reinstall the Storage Box Lid by making your connections and screwing the Lid Frame back in place with the 4 Philips head screws.

Thanks to all for your impute.
 
#193 ·
1) I didn't need to remove the 4 screws and floor at the bottom of the Center Console. You only need to do that if your going to remove the Center Console for some other reason. So I had to put the screws and flooring back. Thank you Forum Members for your best thoughts!

2) I was unable to get at the Storage Box electrical wire through the RHD passenger side Rear Storage Compartment Cover. So I had to close that back up. Thank you Forum Members for your best thoughts!

3) I'm satisfied at this point that I didn't buy the storage box light assembly that some have in there cars because I'm still not sure if I had the wiring to connect to.

4) I had to pull much harder on the vac/elec connections than I would prefer to in order to remove the Storage Compartment Lid. It finally popped and the electrical connection separated. I then disconnected the vacuum line w/o a problem. Those of you who have gone before me know how short the electrical connector line is to the Armrest Lid assembly.

5) R&R of the Gas Spring was probably the easiest part. But you do have to be patient with yourself if your not use to working w/ small repairs. Be sure and put a white towel down on your work area so that you can find the small C-clip if they happen to get away from you. Try putting a small piece of Scotch Tape over the C-clip when removing it.

6) Reinstall the Storage Box Lid by making your connections and screwing the Lid Frame back in place with the 4 Philips head screws.

Thanks to all for your impute.

Great documentation Lynns - super helpful.

Just to contribute back to the forum a bit - I took on the console spring replacement yesterday in my '97 - having read all the difficulties Lynns went through - and wouldn't you know I also had zero slack in the wires. I had the advantage of having the console cover off and pretty much everything apart - and a full day on Christmas break. I took the passenger rear storage compartment plastic cover off and by snaking my arms and fingers from both sides up through small gaps -- from above and from the passenger rear storage compartment, I discovered a multi-turn pathway of gaps through narrow plywood edges which snaked down to the rear compartment.

In my case - and maybe the case of others - there was plenty of wire however it's stiff and bundle taped with that sticky wrap - so you cant feed or pull it through - too stiff and sticky around those edges. When trying to pull the wire from above you're pulling UP hooking and sticking on a 90degree edge - when the wire needs to be PUSHED from below in the rear compartment, fed and pulled FORWARD, then UP, a little at a time. After fiddling and joggling and pushing and pulling from both sides - including using super long needle nose to grab and pull the wire FORWARD from above, I was able to generate enough slack to remove the wire connector and vacuum line.

I've attached pics of which wire bundle snakes up through there - hopefully might help someone else along in the future. I didn't take a "before" pic - but looked much like Lynns's pics.

Love this forum - all of the frustration and struggling being documented still gave super helpful nuggets of knowledge to get it done. Thanks all !! Hopefully these few details might help others along.
 
#98 · (Edited by Moderator)
It took me longer to plug the connectors because I was doing it wrong. It should only take like 2 mins max. I realized you do not have to unplug the electrical connector. The electrical connector (while already plugged in) is connected to a plastic part that snaps on and off the metal housing around the spring. Sorry I have no pictures, It was a frustrating process after realizing how much easier it was to plug it in after wasting time.

The vacuum line is easy to reconnect (remove the rubber hose, not the plastic part). As for the electrical connector, closely inspect it. You will see it is attached to a plastic plate with three arms that snap onto the spring housing.

Although it took me longer then I would have preferred, It was worth it. Now I use the storage box a lot more.

Note that the electrical connector is attached to a plastic plate (that is removable).
 

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#100 ·
It took me longer to plug the connectors because I was doing it wrong. It should only take like 2 mins max. I realized you do not have to unplug the electrical connector. The electrical connector (while already plugged in) is connected to a plastic part that snaps on and off the metal housing around the spring. Sorry I have no pictures, It was a frustrating process after realizing how much easier it was to plug it in after wasting time.

The vacuum line is easy to reconnect (remove the rubber hose, not the plastic part). As for the electrical connector, closely inspect it. You will see it is attached to a plastic plate with three arms that snap onto the spring housing.

Although it took me longer then I would have preferred, It was worth it. Now I use the storage box a lot more.

Note that the electrical connector is attached to a plastic plate (that is removable).
My Storage Compartment frame had virtually NO slack when I first started and I didn't want to force anything for fear of snapping the connections. Ultimately I was in my garage w/ the soft top down and plenty light and free area to work in so I gently pulled up on the frame assembly and eventually I heard a pop that turned out to be the release of the alarm elec connection from the frame assembly plastic contact switch. At that point I was free from the car and able to quickly R&R the gas spring w/o a problem. But when I returned to the car to reconnect the two elec connections I could not get the slack I needed to connect the two so I connected the vacuum line and put everything back together less the alarm elec connection. Can you imagine if my car had the wiring for a light and I had to deal with the elec connection for that? What a PITA!

When all is said and done I still don't understand why the alarm elec wiring is so short that it makes it such a PITA to work with. Like you said that was the most time consuming part of the repair for fear of breaking something that I was trying to fix.
 
#116 ·
I spoke to a gentleman from Bansbach easylift last week about these gas springs. I sent him som information and told him i was looking for a replacement in the range of $25.00 / $30.00

Well, today i got a response from him and a drawing. I corrected some of the dimensions he had and sent it back.

The good news so far is, he didn't flinch at the price. I hope to hear back in a few days
 
#121 ·
Lynns Electrical Connector Shortage

This is my first post. I am a new owner of a '99 500SL. I used this forum to replace the spring in my console box. All very helpful. Thanks. However I ran into the same problem as Lynns. The length of the cord for the electrical connector (security system) would not allow me to reconnect it after the spring replacement. In fact, it disconnected when I removed the console lid. Thanks to you Lynns I did not spend hours or days trying to remedy the situation. I just put everything back together sans the electrical connection. I used a new MB OEM spring and one other little issue was the fact that the spring was slightly longer than the pin alignment hole and it was necessary to depress the spring in order to get the pin through the hole. I used a flat carpenters' pencil to slightly depress the spring and it worked quite well.
The real reason I am posting is that there is a solution to our problem Lynns. If we can get a couple of the original male and female two prong connectors then we can make short (what, 3"?) extensions that we can then connect to the too short cord and our console storage lid. So, how do we find the manufacturer of the connectors? And provided they still make these connectors, how do we get a couple?
 
#122 ·
I am a new owner of a '99 500SL. I used this forum to replace the spring in my console box. All very helpful. Thanks. However I ran into the same problem as Lynns. The length of the cord for the electrical connector (security system) would not allow me to reconnect it after the spring replacement. In fact, it disconnected when I removed the console lid. Thanks to you Lynns I did not spend hours or days trying to remedy the situation. I just put everything back together sans the electrical connection.
Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the BW R129 Forum.

Thank you for confirming that your MY99 electrical wiring was also short. FWIW, I have not noticed any negative impact on the car since that wire has been disconnected.
 
#123 ·
Didn't I read on here that someone loosened the rear storage compartment to make more slack in the wire harness so it can be connected? I can't find it now, there are like three threads and this one has 13 pages, but I do recall reading something about that.

FWIW I just got the ship notice on my lift spring. I think I paid $55 eventually. The parts king was out of stock and the first Ebay purchase was refunded $50 since the guy ran out of stock.

I'll be putting mine back together shortly...
RP
 
#130 ·
I just replaced my spring in my 97 R129 and it took about 30 minutes, much of that time going to finding a way to slightly compress the spring so I could get the bottom pin in.

I lost the darned "C" clip for the bottom, although I know it's in the car. I had it on the rear deck while I was working and when I went to retrieve it I couldn't find it. I'll dig around in the car this weekend and see if I can locate it.

While the cost-benefit ratio is questionable, I do like the lid popping up on its own now.

Dan
 
#131 ·
I lost the darned "C" clip for the bottom, although I know it's in the car. I had it on the rear deck while I was working and when I went to retrieve it I couldn't find it.
Win some, lose some. Save a buck, pay ten dollars. What's with these DIY? Boy have I seen the smallest of things get dropped into never never land. 1) Center Console Strut "C" clip. (not the first) 2) CPS screw/bolt

Thanks for sharing and good luck, Lynn
 
#140 ·
Well, I gotta laugh. In the 2 years I have had this car I have wondered why it is such a PITA to open that console storage unit. I open it after reading all of this and low and behold there is a gas strut at the end of the lid. I am hoping I just have to remove the 4 screws and latch but I will fix this - I'll bet that has been dead at least 10 years
 
#151 ·
Well, I checked at my dealer today - they came up with part# 000-980-75-64 They usually give me a nice discount being in MBCA but there apparently isn't much mark up for them with this - list 113.49 my price 102.14

My friend at the counter was saying for a certain E Class (forget the nomenclature) they have a similar arrangement (but smaller strut) and you have to by the whole assembly.

As for substituting a spring I was thinking about this and you would have to have a pretty long spring which then I presume would break rather easily - not a very elegant solution.

I will shop around but if they are $100 I think I will forget it
 
#154 ·
Thanks guys - my dealer has usually been pretty good but you are right Dan in this case they are adding to list then giving a small discount from that - to the point the "discount" is still higher than MB-USA list.

This thread has fascinated me as I didn't even think there could be a problem with the console lid - it was just difficult to open! My '96 apparently doesn't have a light

I think next week I will go with the MB dealer in Ashville NC - shipping is a big component (one site wanted $17 just to ship FedEx ground) and free shipping with these guys is a deal. Plus no CA sales tax which would be another $5-$6.

I have always tried to keep the car as the factory intended - I am wondering if these particular gas struts were at the time a bad design - the trunk struts seem to last a long time - I wonder if the current batch will last longer. We shall see...

Thanks again - this will be my project next week
 
#155 ·
hello bill if you need one let me know i can get one for $80.00:smile
 
#158 · (Edited)
Well, I almost have it - have some installation notes and a question

Others are correct - you don't have to pull the console apart - the wood specifically - to get to this - 4 screws in the upper lining - and you should remove the button - it has 2 little plastic clips you press inwards and it **should** pop out - mine didn't want to go out - and knowing these older Mercedes as I have come to learn knew that if I applied pressure something was going to break.

However I was able to push it out enough that with a little upwards pressure the assembly came out. There is some plastic that surrounds the upper part of the gas tube - big surprise a piece of that broke (actually 2 small pieces) and after trying to fish one part out it went under the console into never-never land and thought even with crazy glue just decided I''m better off just leaving it alone.

A note - I noticed at both ends of this strut there are pins that go through (the lower part is the longer pin) but both secured, of course, by tiny circlips.

I have been around the block enough to know these things are extremely easy to lose - a little pressure trying to either pop them or install them - you slip and the circlip flies off to who-knows-where.

I bought this strut and the NC dealer Scott recommended - man - they were $40 less than my local dealer - and asked them if it wasn't trouble to supply me with some extra circlips. The gave me 6 of them; 2 each of increasing larger sizes (the smallest were a hair bigger than the ones on the car) but good thing as I used the smallest they had and they fit (the original circlip you can see next to my finger - you can't even put needle nose pliers on that sucker - who installed those - some elf in Stuttgart?

My question - it looks like a switch is down there with the vacuum line and the odd thing I know it should be just dangling there - the base of the black plastic has 2 pins that look like it fastens to something but I could see no holes for a mounting location.

I am "assuming" it just fits into that metal clip attached to the vacuum line?

Other than that, the lid stays proudly open like it probably did 10 years ago - the length of the gas strut is actually about 1mm longer than the "open" position - meaning I had to use a small punch through the bottom anchor point, feed it to the strut mounting eye and push it down ever so slightly while I fed the pin in and through the hole.

Some said this took them 30 minutes; YMMV and mine is usually longer ;-)

Other than seeing how that switch attaches - I am ready to put it together. It seems to me the only way it attaches is with the clip on the vacuum line but that doesn't seem "right" although I see no other way it attaches.
 

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