PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

Squiggle Dog · #55 05-01-2018, 11:42 PM

I was hoping that I could simply use some of the wires on the original harness, or could at least tap into them. But, the wire harnesses between manual and automatic climate control are vastly different. The manual system is overall wired directly to the fuse box, while the automatic system uses many smaller gauge wires that go between several different locations. So, I decided the only way to do it probably is to replace one wire at a time.

I spent hours carefully cutting off the wrapping on the wire harness so that each individual wire is accessible. I then started removing the wires that aren't needed. I removed the power window and power sunroof wires since I converted them to manually operated ones for increased reliability. The less wiring I have in the car, the better.

After I have all necessary wires installed and accounted for, all the extra wiring will be removed so it's not complicating things. When that's done, I'll re-wrap the wires with new cloth tape. I'm trying to undo a lot of the over-engineering so the car is more reliable, practical, and simple to repair. There were so many zip ties and getting any access to where the wire harness goes through the firewall was SO difficult. It's fortunate that the two 8mm nuts at the bottom of the fuse box and wire harness support were already loose, because they were almost inaccessible. I had to use a very small ratchet for one, and a flatblade screwdriver with a socket on the end for the other.