i am writing this as a heads up to oyu if oyu have ever experienced unfathomable electrical problems with oyur interior illumination, left rear window motor, or oyur #3 fuse blowing. i will list the three problems that i have had, the cause and the remedy.

1) i had aproblem where my car was blowing the #3 fuse as soon i moved the head lamp switch to any of its first positions. i eventaully went so far as having the entire center console removed from my car tracing all of the wires for a short. in the end the problem was that my trunk lid (while closing) kinked the bunch of wires that feed along the drivers side trunk hinge. the ground wire was bare and twisted together with a hot liscence plate illumination wire. to fix it i cut the wires and respliced them together.

2) i had a problem where my complete interior illumination (no console lights while driving at night) circuit was not functioning. i checked the light control relay, i looked for the twist-on fuse on the back of the instrument panel (mine has none), i looked at the light dimmer, and once again i had basically every wire on the circuit exposed looking for the problem. i found that my instrument panel has a fusable link where the twist in fuse is supposed to go. the link was blown and it looked like a flat copper wire that "jumped" out of the printed circuit. i soldered over it and now i can drive better at night.

3) this one i solved today. it got me so annoyed i felt i had to share all of my experiences with y'all. i am beginning to see common problems with mercedes benz's wire routing. the problem today, my left side (driver's) rear window would go down but not up , problem? you say, sure if the problem is with a car window! anyway, i removed the motor/regulator and tested the motor at the battery by reversing the motor's leads at the battery terminals and found that yes, the window does have the ability to go up and down. after a bit of diagnosis, i found i had a break in continuity along the green/red wire going from the rear center console window switch (position 1) to the rear door switch (position 3). i traced the path of the wire and BEHOLD, within the accordian grommet-type thing that passes wires from the chassis to the door was a group of kinked-stripped-twisted wires that lead to the rear window switch. so i snipped them apart and used connectors to rejoin them.

i wrote this because i had two problems that were due to the same issue, wires kinking in the body parts. they were very frustrating problems that seemed to have no soluiton but as we see they had one eventually.

thanks,

MIKE
1987 300D Turbo 196K miles 28-29 mpg hwy

ps, i am putting in for my 155K badge next week!

For taking the time to write - I don't currently have or have had any of the problems you describe, but may have something similar and will remember your words as a source to look at.

John

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John Hughes, was in Landstuhl, Germany but currently in San Antonio, TX


1978 280CE Astral Silver now 59,xxx miles and counting "Silber-Kugel"
1986 300E Black Pearl Metallic 143,xxx miles 5-spd daily driver w/ blk leather "Schwarz-Schönheit"
1989 190E 2.6 (euro) 5-spd Desert Taupe 112,xxx kms Had to leave behind in Germany!!! "Helga"
1983 300D Pastel Beige now 312,xxx + miles SOLD

OBK#24

yea, i hope this helps alot of people. i had to share the electrical problems i had because in the manuals they never tell you to look for things that shouldn't go bad. two of those problems buggered me for like six months each.

MIKE

Thanks for posting the information on the location of where potential shorts in the wiring may occur. I'll know where to look if I experience similar failures on my W124.193.

-Steve

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1987 300TDT smoke silver w/ burgundy leather interior
2000 VW Passat wagon indigo blue w/ beige leather interior
1985 Mustang SVO
1970 Chevrolet K10 fleetside, shortbed

Thanks for posting these! I'm currently experiencing the 'no dash lights' fault, though mine may be a bit more inclusive.
None of my lights in the front of the car seem to work, other than the error lights, and signal lights. Dash illumination, console illumination, and dome light, all inop.

Thanks again, though!

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-Josh
Testing the cheap Mercedes axiom, one bolt at a time...