Dead Battery--Can't Open Hood!

You could charge the battery via the cigarette lighter. You need to turn the ignition on and leave it on to create a circuit to the battery from the cigarette lighter.

The car battery needs to be charged regularly to keep it viable. There are a number of different bits n pieces that require a little bit of battery power to keep alive.

Tho older cars didn't have them and the batteries were different too.

Might try the owners manual looking for the manual release.

Oxyacetylene torch?

A question like that posted by anon? Sure wouldn't want to have my name on it either.

There're two questions in the original post: how do I open the hood; how can I charge the battery with the hood closed? Answers 7 & 4 tell Anon how to open the hood and s/he can then use a conventional charger. The cigarette lighter charger can work but I'll bet anything Anon will have trouble finding the right kit and then trouble getting it to work with the key in the right position.

There are so may solutions to this: searching online, calling a Merc dealership, or just paying a mechanic to nip round & sort it that asking here seems bizarre. And that's a clue. Personally I suspect that Anon is under so much stress from the forclosure that s/he's just not thinking. Hope it works out Anon.

1.cigarette lighter too, surely

2.manual release

3.scrap yard

You may have a further problem, in that the alternator is not charging properly (assuming that you have remembered to drive the car during the 500 miles since the new battery was installed).

Was the alternator checked, or did you simply decide to replace the battery without a proper test?

Do you only drive a few miles back and forth and never give the battery time to properly charge up, combined with all the extras that a Merc has can mean that the battery gets emptied quickly....buy a quality battery charger if that is the case......cheap ones without proper charge control ruin the battery even quicker!!!

You are the first US citizen that I have heard of that does not like his Merc!!!! No matter how old it is!!

i have a couple of trucks I don't use much

I hardwired a connector from the battery, that comes out behind the grill

I just plug them into a float charger with the male side of the connector for 1/2 a day once a month

no fuss no muss

I LOVE my Merc. It is un-reliable & too expensive for ME to fix/maintain. It has a REPUTATION for being good, that doesn't match my experience. It fries its O2 sensors every year, and that is a $440. bill minimum, for those parts alone. I think they discontinued that engine until they had re-gone over the electronics. It's now back in a newer model in 2012 after a 9yr hiatus. Didn't check the alternator, but if that were bad, it'd have shown up in the 500miles. I'd drive 30 miles at a time, enough to charge the battery. Most people don't complain about theirs because they didn't retire with one,--they're still working, and can carry the weight. Plus those that own one, have several cars, so if one developes a "bug" they drop it off at the dealer. and drive car 2 or 3. That car should have been brought-over with its Euro-available turbo-diesil, but the US BUREAU behind auto-safety insists on crash-testing several examples of each engine-transmission to be imported, so the costs are too high to certify more than 3 or 4 engines, compared to the 10-15 available in Europe.

Not testing the alternator may be the basic problem.

Most good shops offer such a service.

If you have a multimeter, I can give you a test using voltage measurements that will probably be good enough for your needs.

Just ask me. But only when the hood is open.......

Considering the complaints, it seems the battery is not the only thing left without a charge!

A message to the forum:

We're here to help not to be protagonists.

In this case I have to agree with you.

The OP has problems that far outweigh a simple automotive dilemma.

I wish I could help.

Agree with aussie bob, lyn, and tobugrynbak and kendall but I will just add the tiniest bit of info that there are fairly inexpensive solar chargers that will trickle charge through the cigarette lighter if you don't use the car very often. I suppose, bearing in mind others' observations re cognition of question-poser, I will clarify that the solar charger has to be in the sun in order to work.

It's a good idea if the cigar lighter socket is permanently connected to the battery, many are not, but a simple re-wire would fix that.....

I have a Toyota Corolla 95 that the hood doesn't open. I pull the cable with a plier every time I need an oil change. Enjoy

I get very nervous about trying to charge a battery through the cigarette lighter. A friend of mine tried this and his power source found the short which caused the battery drain in the first place. The wire melted and also melted many of the other wires in the dash. Fourth of July came early that year... He ended up having to replace the entire dashboard. Parts of it had melted too.

If you insist on using this method, make damn sure your charger is current limited. DO NOT try and jump start from another vehicle using this route. This may have been what my friend did.

BE SAFE! I am sure that dashboards for a used Mercedes are harder to find and more expensive than the dashboard on a Chevy truck.

Bill

Thanks:

In addition many solar panels will DRAW current when not in the sun. Boat owners using solar typically install a diode to prevent this. In addition, even a 5 watt panel will overcharge a battery over a period of time.

12v socket charging. Does anyone know if on the C230K the circuit is live with the ignition off? Or if there is a key position where only the 12v socket & minor stuff is live?

I'm thinking that if the ignition key has to be in "ignition circuits on" position for the 12v socket to be live then there's a whole host of other circuits that will be 'on' including things like the aircon and or course the ignition itself. Can probably turn /some/ of them off manually but there'll still be a significant current drain.

I have some work I should be doing this morning. You can probably tell. So I looked for solutions to the hood/bonnet problem and foudn several interesting angles that may / may not be appropriate to your model. Take a look at http://www.benzworld.org/ where there's a number of threads on the issue.

You're lucky it's only the hood you have problems accessing.

On some vehicles, in order to access the battery, you have to remove the front fender!

Harrah! pulled down thingie, replaced cable. Hood is open,battery's charging, THANKS!...for all the Great comments and Good wishes! --Fierce Tiger, I would not like to remove a fender like you have to do with a few cars. Luckily, did not have to do that then.