Pulled my instrument panel(1984 300D turbo) to get at the nonfunctioning odometer.found two things of interest...
1)Oil gauge(bourdon tube) leaking oil.very slight,but apparently oil is moving thru.Am I right in thinking that oil is not supposed to move "thru" tube.since it is brass can I braze the hole,degrease,dry and reinstall gauge and expect it to work?
2)Small clip on oil pres/fuel/temp circuit board was loose.this clip appears to be where one of the mounting bolts go upon reassembly.It had a broken solder weld,I fixed it and here is what happened...
a)cruise control came to life.It was nonfunctioning before I fixed that weld...
b)fuel gauge reserve light(small triangular by gauge),parking brake, and the brake pad sensor lights all came on and stayed on as long as key was turned to anything past acc setting.Before weld was fixed parking brake light worked as it was supposed to-ie on when on etc,reserve triangle did not function and pad sensor light did not function either.pad sensor light is only one that I expected to come on because one of the wires is cut.the rest is a gremlin of suspect proportion.

Any sugestions or ideas are greatly appreciated.thank you in advance....

I think the warning lights are suppossed to go on (including reserve light) and go off after you start the car.

My oil pressure gage is leaking enought to drip on my shoe. I had the lower panel off to troubleshoot the cruise control and noticed the drip. Seems to be a common failure,

Do the turn signal lights and high beam indicator work like they should? Did they before?

Chuck.

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2000 C230 Kompressor "Frosty"

2007 PT Cruiser
2001 VW TDI Beetle
1999 Landrover Discovery II
1971 Corvette

Gone: 97 Cabrio, 83 240D, 93 VW Eurovan, 95 Volvo 850, 93 Chevy Astro Van, 77 VW Bus, 99 VW Jetta, 74 VW Bus

lights stay on after startup.turn signals and highbeams both work same as before.that oil drip of yours,how have you been recommended to deal with it?replacing appears pricey.

I think R Leo has given some consideration to the prospect of repairing Bourdon tubes on these, but I don't know if he's had a chance to try it.

I had a similar discovery when I pulled a cluster to fix a slipping odometer. In that case, it was definitely coming from the Bourdon tube itself. I replaced the gauge cluster with one pulled at a local salvage yard. They turn up on eBay from time to time, too, but the competition can be fierce.

It may be that your repair has inadvertently created a path to ground to these devices that they should not have, yet the cruise circuit gets a path to ground it was missing from elsewhere. The reserve light, pb and pad sensor lights SHOULD all operate when a ground is made at each respective device. If you were to remove the ground path created, they should again function normally. If you then took the broken pad sensor wire and grounded it on the caliper, the light should go on.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

finished mucking around with the cluster....
Lights all work as they are supposed to?I think!all of the aforementioned lights stay on until I put in drive and go.reverse does not do it.I think that this is correct.no errant blinks or twitches.got the bourdon fixed.when i worked in diving we used to caress them gently with a micro torch and this seemed to fix most leaks.mine is now installed and metering happily.LOL.would be happy to attempt anyone elses if they are so inclined and would not mind sending it to me.email me at rebreath@yahoo.com.
happy motoring....

That's encouraging news on the Bourdon tube, and a generous offer of assistance!

For my own experience and edification, I might try using your approach to repair the leaky one sitting on the shelf in my garage.

I used one of those cold heat soldering guns(radioshack) and a bernzomatic micro torch.I gently caressed the tube with the flame(whole gauge btw is still in one piece,I did not dismantle other than to remove from cluster and bezel) until a small amount of oil dripped into my palm(ouch),then I turned gauge over and promptly filled with brake cleaner(all I had at hand) and tried to actually observe where leak was.mine was at both ends,where brass fitting is pinched over tube.repeated sprayings and fillings laterI started to get less oil and more clear fluid.was never clear per say,just clearer.I then stopped filling and concentrated more on heating,while being very careful to not focus in any one place for more than a sec(literally).the inside pinch site(the one that is actually under middle of face I ended up using a bit more of the cold heat solderer than the other side .if you have access to an old blood pressure cuff,the pump ball is a one-way pump,can be GENTLY used to move solder when it starts to flow.making vacuum at fitting end instead of pressure.good luck, and let me know how things work out for you.

So the oil leaking onto my shoe is a common problem then! I checked into replacing the cluster and I gather from this thread that they are pricey new ($400) and hard to fnid used (any recommendations where to find them used besides e-bay?).

I'm not sure I've got the mechanical talent & patience to try and fix this myself (unless there is someone in the Seattle area willing to experiment with me on it). Any ideas are appreciated

-harv

Actually, one more question....how interchangable are these clusters....I've found a number of old '80s era ones but from different models such as 240s and 500s. -harv

126 chassis was electronic oil gauge, but 123 and 115 were mechanical oil gauge. The whole clusters interchange by chassis type; but the oil gauge should interchange and work as long as it's the mechanical type; like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/79-MERCEDES-BENZ-240-D-SPEEDO-CLUSTER-GAUGE-FF028_W0QQitemZ8077413043QQihZ019QQcategoryZ33675QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Or give our own jschoenfeld a look:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=137336

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The Golden Rule

1984 300SD (bought new, sold it in 1988, bought it back 13 yrs. later)