83 240D switch illumination question
 

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...1192553808.jpg

Should the 4 rocker switches and the A/C temperature dial wheel in the middle be illuminated? Thx

The rocker switches are illuminated using fiber optics from a central bulb behind the radio adn switches. The bulb is located at the center of an octopus looking distributer. The dial has its own bulb at the center of the wheel. Both bulbs are the same type. You will need to remove the dial switch to replace that bulb, and probably the radio and switches to get the the octopus.

83 240D switch illumination question
 

The Ac Dial Light Bulb Is A Frosted One,the Others Are Clear.......

Just In Case.....good Luck


Marino

I was able to replace the "spider" fiber optic bulb for the rocker switches by prying off the panel and reaching down from above. If you do a search for DMorrisons evaporator replacement DIY, he has pics of it.

John

Thanks for the replies. Are the 2 bulbs I need a commonly available from Autozone or is it dealer only? Can you provide p/n's?

I bought mine at Carquest. Take your old bulb and they should be able to match it.

John

I remember changing the gear selector bulb in the 300D turbo, it was a speicial bayonet type not available in local parts stores. I ended up soldering a bulb to the bayonet base. I'd like to have the bulbs in hand before ripping it apart this time. Are they same as the bulbs in the instrument cluster, which, as I recall has 2 different size bulbs.

Mine are wedge type in there. They had them at auto zone. I was able to get to it by removing the CCU and reaching in like someone else said. not too difficult.

The bulbs for the rocker switches and spider assembly are wedge shaped. They are not like the intrument cluster. Pull your headlight switch off and see if there is one in there. I'll try and post a pic this afternoon along with a Carquest part #.

John

Does the wood panel be pryed off without taking the console apart? There are no hardware holding it from behind? I'd like to do the least amount of work if possible. Any tips on prying it off without breaking it?

Check out the link by Dave Morrison. http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/W123Evaporator.

It shows him prying out the panel you are referring to. Just go at it gently, mine popped out without difficulty.

John

Thanks for the tips! Got the bulbs replaced! I didn't want to pull the entire console apart per D. Morrison's how to just to replace 2 teeney weeney little bulbs :D so I made a special pry bar for the switches out of a piece of horn material I had kicking around. Horn is tough and strong but won't scratch the finish. See pic below

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...101807_003.jpg

The temp wheel bulb is frosted per poster above. The bulbs are the same as the small cluster bulbs and I had a few spares so put them in, clear will have to do for now. The spider is on the left side and is accessible after the wood switch panel is removed. pic below shows location of the fiber optic spider (lit up by flash light).

[Ihttp://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...101807_001.jpg

Below pic shows the fiber optics ends to the switches all lit up.
Pretty cool that Mercedes used FO in an 80's vehicle.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...101807_004.jpg

Congrats. I didn't expect you to pull the whole panel, just wanted you to see his pics describing how to pry out the panel holding the rocker switches. The bulbs I purchased at Carquest are Wagner #17037.

John :D

I have an '81 300TD that is, I think, a euro model. It has the manually controlled climate control. The button and switch lights have never worked and I'm assuming it is because the bulb for the fiber optics distributor is burnt out, however I'm having a hell of a time finding where that distributor is located.

I have the upper switch panel off and the middle climate control panel off, but I can't see where the FO strands lead to. Does the whole center console need to come out? Based on this thread it seems I'm hoping no.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any good pics either as most of the photos in the threads don't have pics anymore.

Any advice is much appreciated.

No, you should not need to pull the entire console.
See the fourth photo in the attached link for the location of the bulb for the FO spider.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/1194659-post10.html

I had to stare at the photo for a long time to figure out what I was looking at and how it aligned to my car. It took me a long time to figure out that the bulb goes into a standard receptacle which then plugs into the fiber optic distributor.

It's really obvious looking at the photo now, but I kept trying to put the bulb directly into the distributor because the PO had taken the bulb receptacle out of the distributor at some point. After fishing around for a bit I found the empty receptacle and it was easy from there.

Also, similar to the write up on the evap removal, the panel that holds my climate control dials was broken prior to my ownership of the car and someone had created a new panel out of a piece of metal and then JB welded it into the dash. This meant I could not actually move those controls out of the way which made it much harder to locate the FO light distributor, but for future reference it is possible to change that bulb without removing the climate control dials (at least on a car that has the older manual climate control).