I recently purchased a 1982 300sd. All the power windows didnt work when I bought it and prev owner never bothered fixing them. I tried replacing every fuse in the car and then replacing center console swiches (note they were covered in coffee or coke syrup) and the led lights dont even come on leading me to believe they arent receiving any power. anybody else have any cheap solutions to try? also note the driver side power seat adj. doesnt work and niether does tachometer.

Welcome to the group.

Surprised no one got to this sooner.
If you have your old switches still, please take them apart.
Just so you can see how easy they are to open and fix.
My drivers window stopped yesterday and I took it out in the parking lot
and fixed it at my desk before going to lunch.

The system is really easy, but you will need a volt meter to test
the wires where the switches are. I suspect you are getting power there.

Please do make sure that the correct wires are going to the correct switch.
Don't laugh, my non-working window 300SD that I just bought had the
wrong wires going to the wrong switches. I did not catch it at first.
Look inside the connector for let's say drivers window, and look for the
metal contact, not all holes have contacts. Then look at the pins.
Make sure the connector gets plugged into a set of switch pins that match it.


Your drivers side power seat is possibly just in need of a cleaning at the switch.
This is trickier. Please practice on the window switch.
The seat switch is easy to take apart, and you will probably need to.
But the switch will not come off the door on the 82 (if it is like the 83)
because it is soldered at the back (another story). It can be opened and cleaned
I might have some pictures from when I did this.
I used 400 or 600 grit sand paper strips to clean the contacts.
Cleaning the contacts is all it takes in most of these interior switches.

Tachometer: different story. Under the hood, drivers side, a screw on cap
on the wheel well toward the middle to front. If you search the forum for
cigarette butt (no joke) you will see how folks describe unscrewing this cap
and prying out the tach amp and putting something in the cap and then
screwing it down and then it works.
I used foam from a pool noodle or pipe insulation to do this and it worked.
Mine is still a little inconsistent though and this weekened I will check the sensor at the crank for a gap of .008 (or is it .08) between sensor and
harmonic balancer counterpart.

So, tell us how you do.

__________________
80 300D 340K Owned 30 yrs
83 300SD 440K Owned 9 yrs - Daily Driver 150mi/day
02 Z71 Suburban 117,000
15 Toyota Prius 2600 miles
00 Harley Sportster 24k
09 Yamaha R6
03 Ninja 250

No such luck on the windows I tried every combination on the wires I could. Im hoping to get them fixed before summer here in hotlanta if you know what I mean!

howdy - my '83 300SD has been having intermittent power window problems...they seemed to get better after vacuuming (sp?) the console & switches but the problems have returned...

does anyone have a photo or two that show how to take apart the console & switches for cleaning?

I haven't started to poke around yet - maybe it's a very intuitive process but I figured I'd ask first 8^)

thanks in advance for any input

Joel

On 123s there is a Power Window Relay behind the Instrument Cluster. I do not know if is the same for your SD? Maybe someone will Chime in concerning that.
But, I have not yet read of anyone that has had the Relay as the cause of the Power Windows not working; but, in your case since they all are down it could be possible.

You could remove one of the Rear Door Panels and see if the Window Motors work by wiring it direct to a Battery. Unlike the Starter the Motor is not grounded through the Chassie. You have to connect the 2 Motor Wires direct to the Battery. Reversing the Wires reverses the Motor direction.
Also on a 123 there is a single Door Panel Screw hidden under a plastic cup where the Door Pull Lever is. Pry the cup out and you will see a screw.

It may be that the previous owner did try to fix the Windows but left some stuff disconnected.

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

What kind of problems exactly? Which windows work and which don't? Or is it all of them?
If it's all of them, I had a problem like that a couple of weeks ago, and it was an easy fix: I opened the fuse box, located the fuse (I think its a red 20 amp fuse, but I don't remember for sure; your manual will tell you) and it was intact, but kind of blackened and the contacts were a bit rusty. I got some fine grain sandpaper, sanded off the rust on the contacts, got a new fuse and my woes were gone. The thing is that when this happened my wipers were gone and my climate control was gone too... is something like that happening to your car too? If it's only some windows, it might be the switches themselves. The center console's wood fascia is not screwed in, as a matter of fact, mine is so old that it's very easy to detach; if yours is good and tight, I'd get the ashtray our first, which is screwed in, then the coin thingy in the middle and then the wood fascia, which shifts forward, then just pull it out. Then you can replace the switches if necessary.

__________________
[/SIGPIC]~cirrusman

1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD - Wife calls him "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
[SIGPIC]




1983 Toyota Tercel (Tommy, The little Toyota that could)
1965 Ford F100 (Grandma Ford)
2005 Toyota Sienna (Elsa, Wife's ride)


Gone:
1988 Toyota Pickup
2004 Subaru Outback

1987 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
1986 Volvo 740 GL Station Wagon - Piece of junk.
1981 Volvo 242 DL 2 Door - Hated to see it go. R.I.P.
1987 Pontiac Fiero GT

when taking apart window switches, it's a good idea to set them on a large white towel first.
there are two springs and two bb's inside each switch. open them up, dump out the guts, and clean out the syrup.
put it back together, VOILA! working windows.

awesome replies, thanks a ton!

I should have been more clear; the driver's side front & psgr-side rear having been giving me problems (though the rear window is now working but I'm not depending on it)

thanks for all of the tips - hopefully this weekend I can spend some time with it.

What sort of cleaner does everyone recommend?

thanks
Joel

Those windows (diagonals) share a common fuse--another place to look.

"Switch cleaner fluid" comes out of the left handle at the kitchen sink.

__________________
James Marriott
2003 Buick Regal
1983 300D (228k, frau Auto)
1996 Suburban K2500 (192k, 6.5 turbo diesel/4WD towmaster 10,000)
www.engineeringworks.biz
1987 300SDL junker 170k
1982 300SD junker, 265k

X2

This is what caused my Front Passanger and Driver Side Rear Windows to stop working. At first the Fuse looked OK until I removed it from the Holder.

Attached Thumbnails

 

__________________
84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Cleaning window switches.

http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/SwitchRefurb

Charlie

__________________
there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works