I recently bought an 84 300TD and the front doors won't lock or unlock with a key. The key turns smoothly in the lock. I took the driver side door card off and there's no rod connecting from the interior lock to the rod that turns when the key is turned.

I would assume the part would be rattling around in the bottom of the door, but no such luck. Someone must have removed it at some point and never fixed the issue. Now I have absolutely no idea what the part looks like, how it's installed, or what it's called.

I can't find any detailed pictures of the lock assembly or any parts, anyone know what the part is called and where I could get one? If it ever stops raining I can take it back apart for a picture, if that helps.

Might want to post in the Tech Help section or a want ad the P.P. classifieds. This section is a lil slow compared to the others. Someone will help you out there with the part in a flash.
Also the dealer is an option. Its probably the best option in my opinion. They will have diagrams for you to find the correct part. If you don't have a dealer close by then Ebay, Peach Parts classifieds or your local boneyard may have what you need. It is not an expensive piece even from the dealer. The dealer may save you a little running around as well. Time is money. Going to the wrecker for a $20 part when new from the dealer is a waste of time in my opinion.

__________________

Chris
84 280sl
82 300d euro

So today I did a bit of work on the car between rain storms... I sure do miss living near my father-in-law's lift! It's about a hour and a half drive away when I have to do anything under the car, though

Anyway, I fixed the SLS high pressure hose by removing the old fittings from the ends of the leaky hose. Mine looked like this for both the pump end and the hardline end:
(yes, I have a bench vice on my desk in my apartment )


I got out the calipers and it turns out the end section of that fitting where it isn't tapered is the exact nominal OD for 1/8" pipe thread, so I ran a 1/8" NPT die over the end then just used fittings and hydraulic hose from the hardware store. Really cheap! SLS still isn't working quite right... But whatever, at least it isn't leaking (from that hose, at least...) so I'm on the road to repairing it.

The next thing I went and messed with was the stupid door locks. I ended up actually finding the broke piece of plastic in the corner of the door. After screwing around, I removed the whole latch assembly, WHAT A PAIN IN THE BUTT! Getting it back in took 10 minutes of swearing at it until I finally found out exactly how to twist the assembly and it fit right through the door no problem. Go figure. I only did the driver's side because it started to drizzle, but now the lock works great again.

Why they went to all the length to design a really nice mechanical device with one piece of plastic that screws the whole thing over is beyond me... really dumb. Anyway, I used aircraft lockwire to put the plastic piece back together and it works great. I could probably actually machine a part to replace that plastic atrocity, if I ever have time...
Here's a picture:


Now I just have to go track down the vacuum leak so the power locks work. That and the horrible auto climate control module. I'm THIS CLOSE to just designing my own digital module with a LCD screen and intuitive controls that actually work. It probably actually wouldn't be too hard, few thousand lines of code, have a PCB made for the whole thing and throw it in the car... We'll see