Mercedes-Benz R230 trunk soft-close latch repair

JBFMCAR reported that sealing four ports had not worked on his assembly. He later found six locations in total, described a repeat attempt, and subsequently said the closing assist was working after all six were sealed. His report qualifies the original four-port description rather than proving that four ports are always sufficient.

Yepster reported that an initial superglue attempt did not work, but plastic epoxy restored the closing assist. On that assembly, removing the pneumatic compartment made six ports accessible. During reassembly, the black air hose obstructed the release mechanism, causing the trunk to close and immediately reopen; rerouting and securing it resolved that behavior. These are that owner’s installation experiences, not a guarantee for every adhesive or vehicle.

On mwpersonal’s 2004 SL55, initial restored closing assist still left a trunk-closed recognition problem. In a later post, the owner said the adhesive repair lasted a couple of weeks, then a repeat attempt lasted only a few closes, leading to replacement of the closer. sebi0214 also reported operation for only two or three cycles after a sealing attempt. The second vehicle’s cause and any effect of adhesive choice were unconfirmed. These outcomes qualify the original promise of a permanent repair. Stricko initially reported restored operation after reassembly, then edited the same post to say it had failed again a few days later. The contributor had not reopened the assembly to confirm whether the adhesive had failed, so the recurrence does not establish a particular product as the cause.

moretech first reported five months of continued operation and later said the repair had solved his problem eight months earlier. next2pool said his repair was still holding a year later, contrasting it with the earlier four or five cycles after a reset. Jan T also reported that his sealing repair was holding after several months. These owner follow-ups add time context to the shorter successes; they do not erase the separate recurrence and replacement failures elsewhere in the thread.

moretech reported that the epoxy repair was still working two years later. ArrArr separately reported restoring his newly purchased SL55’s soft close after sealing the ports and reinforcing a cracked diaphragm-retaining tab, but gave no follow-up duration. These are attributed owner reports; they do not establish a general success rate.

bigdthep reported leaving the adhesive overnight and restoring soft-close operation. He initially heard some escaping air, then later clarified that the hiss lasted about a second and stopped while the trunk stayed shut. He also reported marking and readjusting the latch position. Rudeney distinguished a brief actuation hiss from continued hissing after the latch had operated. The photographs belong to bigdthep’s report; they do not establish an independently verified adhesive specification or long-term outcome.