WEBSRFR

My car has been pristine for the most part but with spring all kinds of leaves, pollen, holly berries, and all kinds of tree stuff has been falling in there lately and some of this stuff is accumulating in the area under the front wipers. I believe there is an air intake in that area also. There is very little clearance there so it is difficult to remove debris from that area with my hand.

Does anyone have any bright ideas for removing debris and cleaning that area? I'd like to try and keep that area as clean as possible...

BenzboyW210

Strong vac? Either suction it up or blow the debris out...

Heatwave

Raise the hood ... that opens up access to the area beneath the wipers.

220S

Can't you get to it when you set the hood in service mode? Use a small vacuum and then clean out the drain plugs.

My dealer does this as part of their service. Both the pano roof drains and the cowel.

When the hood is straight up (90 degrees in service mode) you should be able to get to it, no? I assume that's the way the dealer does it.....

(not a lot of stuff falling from the sky around here, so I haven't bothered with it personally.)

BenzboyW210

Yes, and it's the same for changing those damn wipers! Scratched the edge of my hood the first time I tried. Grr...

bobcatflip

By the way..how do you lift the wipers up AND out to clean windshield under them without scratching edge of hood? Sometimes they lift up and sometimes they dont..whats the trick?

Heatwave

While the engine is running, or while the key is turned to the ON position, turn on the wipers, then turn the key to OFF when the wipers are in a near vertical alignment on the windshield. Then you can lift the wipers away from the windshield for cleaning or replacement.

I know ... it's a kludge way to do something that shouldn't have to be done at all, but that's the German way of engineering.

And don't open and raise the hood while the wipers are folded out.

SolanNo1

I do it this way too. BTW, this is the MB way of engineering . I can raise the wipers on my BMW from the 'OFF' position.

Barry45RPM

Interesting... they must have changed the wiper arms along the way. My '04 wiper arms would scratch the back lip of the hood if raised slightly, (even by the car wash towel guys) my 07 wipers are nowhere near scratching the hood lip and can be lifted to 90 degrees with the hood closed.

I remember my 04s owners manual warning about trying to lift the wipers with the hood closed.

WEBSRFR

FWIW my 07 E550 will scratch the hood edge if the wipers are raised more than about 30 degrees. IMO this is a very bad design as all you need is some careless towel guy in a hurry and you end up with a scratched hood edge.

WEBSRFR

I really don't want to do this though as I'm afraid any debris will scratch the windshield without any liquid for lubrication. I'd do this if I had cleaned the windshield but not otherwise. I'm not sure if you can justify this as any sort if engineering thing as it is just a plain bad design. You should be able to lift the wipers for cleaning and maintenance without damaging your car...

WEBSRFR

Thanks for mentioning the "Service Mode. I did not realize the hood raises up 90 degrees. I would not have tried that out of fear of braking the hood hinge

I'll try this out. This should get the hood completely out of the way for cleaning under the wiper area with a vacume. Thanks!

SolanNo1

Mine too...09 W211

220S

I don't see how this is at all possible

It even says so in the owner's manual.

Here's a pic from your 2007 owner's manual. And a pic from the 2009 manual (second image.)

Note: "To avoid damage to the hood: the wiper arms should only be folded forward when in the vertical position."

Either:

1) your wipers are not returning properly when shut off

2) you turn the wipers on and then shut off the key (to leave them vertically on the glass, like the manual says)

3) you are scratching off the clear coat (and the paint) without realizing it

btw, the hood cowel is deliberately designed to 'cover' the wiper mechanism. This allows for better airflow and less wind noise. If you look at the design of the hood (from inside the car looking out), you'll see that it's raised up and extends quite far over the wiper mechanism. This forces the air flow up and over the wipers hitting the windshield about 6+ inches above everything. It's an aerodynamic design, albeit a frustrating one if you're used to cars that allow pulling out the wiper arms.

p.s., once you know how it works, it's no big deal. But if you ever let somebody else wash your windows then get ready for paint scrapes.
There's an old guy who sits on the corner in Pasadena doing window squeegees and who actually knows the issues with these cars. He was proud to tell me he knew all about it (he probably found out the hard way....)

Barry45RPM

Oops. You're all right. Don't know where I was when I dreamt that up. Que estupido!

220S

Just be sure you release the locking clip on the hinge. Don't push it all the way back without the hinge release clip pushed out or it probably will break. After you shut the hood, it'll return automatically to the original non-service mode. You don't have to reset the hinge yourself.