MB Medic Mercedes-Benz Repair Guides, Service, How To DIY
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This article shows you how to open the hood on a Mercedes-Benz S-Class W220. It is applicable to Mercedes models such as S430, S500, S600, S350, and S55 AMG.
How to open the hood on the S-Class W220
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Open the driver’s door and locate the hood release under the dashboard on the driver’s side.
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Pull on the hood release lever. You should hear the hood pop open.Â
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Locate the hood latch release at the front of your car. If you are opening the hood for the first time, use a flashlight to look under it. Press the latch release tab to unlock the hood.
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Since Mercedes-Benz S-Class cars are equipped with hydraulic lift support, the hood should stay upright on its own. If it doesn’t, replace the lift support using the instructions in this article: How to replace hood lift support.Â
If you try these instructions and the hood on your 2000-2005 Mercedes-S-Class W220 is stuck, try some of the tips in this article: Mercedes-Benz hood stuck, Won’t open!
If the hood will not stay up, prop it before you work
The line above says the hood should hold itself up and to replace the lift supports if it does not. That is the right fix, but there is a gap between noticing the problem and getting the parts, and it is worth being plain about what that gap means. A W220 hood is large, heavy, and hinged above your head and hands. A support that has lost its gas pressure does not fail cleanly. It holds for a while, then gives way, usually when something nudges the hood or the car is rocked.
So if the hood sinks at all when you let go, do not trust it while you are leaning under it. Put something solid and non compressible under the leading edge, a length of timber or a proper prop rod, positioned where it cannot slip off and cannot damage the paint. Not a jack handle balanced on the slam panel, and not your shoulder.
Two things make a tired support worse, and both catch people out. Cold weather drops the gas pressure inside the strut, so a hood that just about held in summer can sink in winter. And the supports wear as a pair, so if one has gone the other is usually not far behind, which is why they are normally replaced together rather than one at a time.
Before you buy parts, scan every control module, not just the engine. It shows the root fault behind the warning lights and tells you whether the problem is still active. See how to do a full health check.
