I have just taken delivery of a 2007 R230 SL350 and have noticed that the operation of the driver side inner door handle is odd and only sometimes works.

If I pull it slowly and gently I hear something pulling at the top/rear of the door by the lock but nothing happens.

If I “surprise” the door handle by pulling suddenly and firmly (not hard) it opens every time!

Any idea if this is something going wrong or “normal”?

 

it's not normal. you'll have to pull the panel to find the problem. has anyone been into the door before?

 

Thanks. No idea if anyone’s had the door panel off before. I’ve seen videos of how to do it but decided to leave it until the local Merc dealer parts department reopened (post Covid lockdown) in case some of the clips broke and I needed replacements.

 

be careful of the clips when putting the panel back on, they break fairly easy. try lining the clips up to the holes visually before pushing in. tools needed to pop out clips are fairly cheap

 

Good tip - thanks