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  #1  
Old 05-27-2008, 11:21 PM
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Douglas
 
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Right turn arrow stuck on for some reason....

I just had the center cluster out on my 1983 300D and did the DIY odometer repair with great success. Took about an hour from start to finish. One small problem now—the right turn signal arrow is on (not blinking) whenever I turn the headlights on. What did I do wrong?

Thanks for any advice out there.

Doug

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  #2  
Old 05-28-2008, 01:07 AM
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You might be backfeeding from the instrument backing lights due to a bad ground. The w123 clusters use a big round keyed plug, unless it popped apart and you had to guess where the wires went nothing should have changed there. The metal backing plates of the 2 instrument sections serve as a grounding bar for the cluster, they need to be clean and tight where the sections join, and I believe there is also a ground tab that needs to be hooked up where the circuit board section meets the metal backings. That'd be the first place to start, especially since it was just disturbed. I wire brushed mine and applied a dab of dielectric grease to ensure a good lasting connection.
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  #3  
Old 05-28-2008, 05:04 PM
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I agree. You have a poor ground so the lamp stays on. Just to rule out exterior bulbs or bulb sockets, turn on the four way flashers and walk around the car to verify all lamps work and are the same brightness.
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  #4  
Old 05-28-2008, 07:29 PM
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Douglas
 
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Thank you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by carnut View Post
I agree. You have a poor ground so the lamp stays on. Just to rule out exterior bulbs or bulb sockets, turn on the four way flashers and walk around the car to verify all lamps work and are the same brightness.
Thanks. I did the walk-around, so I'm sure you're both right about the bad ground. I'll pull the cluster, clean up the grounding points, and screw it all back together nice & tightly. Then I'll report back to the group, of course.
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  #5  
Old 05-29-2008, 12:39 AM
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I seem to remember having this problem. There is a small partition that if not replaced (or installed incorrectly) will result in the light from the cluster light bulb 'bleeding' over into the area in back of the turn signal arrow. This will cause the arrow to be lite up when the head lights are on. the turn signals worked fine but that arrow was always lite when the head lights were on, I finally pulled the cluster and repositioned the little partition.
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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
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  #6  
Old 05-31-2008, 10:41 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mrdjsk View Post
I just had the center cluster out on my 1983 300D and did the DIY odometer repair with great success. Took about an hour from start to finish. One small problem now—the right turn signal arrow is on (not blinking) whenever I turn the headlights on. What did I do wrong?

Thanks for any advice out there.

Doug
Did you ever figure out the problem?
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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"
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  #7  
Old 05-31-2008, 12:35 PM
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Seems like i'm beginning to have some ground problems as well. The PO overtightened a couple of the screws that hold the gauges to the cluster and shattered the mounting holes. Anyone know of a easy fix?
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Old 05-31-2008, 03:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ascalise View Post
Seems like i'm beginning to have some ground problems as well. The PO overtightened a couple of the screws that hold the gauges to the cluster and shattered the mounting holes. Anyone know of a easy fix?
I just used a longer screw
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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"
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  #9  
Old 05-31-2008, 06:12 PM
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These are broken off at the base or just split in to a bunch of pieces.
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  #10  
Old 05-31-2008, 10:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ascalise View Post
These are broken off at the base or just split in to a bunch of pieces.
Mine had enough meat left to get a longer screw into. Maybe your going too have to replace the cluster housing from the bone yard or ebay.
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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"
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  #11  
Old 05-31-2008, 11:31 PM
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Douglas
 
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Tomorrow....

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevo View Post
I seem to remember having this problem. There is a small partition that if not replaced (or installed incorrectly) will result in the light from the cluster light bulb 'bleeding' over into the area in back of the turn signal arrow. This will cause the arrow to be lite up when the head lights are on. the turn signals worked fine but that arrow was always lite when the head lights were on, I finally pulled the cluster and repositioned the little partition.
This sounds like it's exactly the problem. The light isn't on very brightly. It's just receiving light from a neighboring bulb..... I'm going to open up the cluster again tomorrow, so I'll report back.
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  #12  
Old 06-01-2008, 09:45 AM
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Before you remove the cluster again, with the head lights on turn the brightness down for the dash lights. If the turn indicator brightness goes down also, then go ahead and pull the cluster and investigate. If it doesn't change then you have a bad ground in the front or rear light assembly.BTDT
Paul
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  #13  
Old 06-18-2008, 10:52 AM
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Douglas
 
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Unhappy This is why I'm an amateur

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevo View Post
I seem to remember having this problem. There is a small partition that if not replaced (or installed incorrectly) will result in the light from the cluster light bulb 'bleeding' over into the area in back of the turn signal arrow. This will cause the arrow to be lite up when the head lights are on. the turn signals worked fine but that arrow was always lite when the head lights were on, I finally pulled the cluster and repositioned the little partition.
The problem was even simpler than that. I had foolishly misassembled the right gauge by sticking the rt turn signal pair of bulbs on the OUTSIDE of the assembly instead of on the inside where there's a nice little partition. A really silly mistake that is now corrected.

Thank you all. Wonderful forum here.

Long live the W123!
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  #14  
Old 06-18-2008, 07:17 PM
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That's what we're here for.. Congrats.

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