messed with heater controls, now 85CD won't start :( - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

swank · #1 10-29-2011, 07:41 PM

Hi everyone. Been lurking here for a while, but this is my first post.

I was just digging around behind the heater controls (had the controls out and the stereo out looking for ignition wire to power my new pyro) and like the title says, now it won't start. I was going to drive to the parts store to get some electrical terminals and decided to leave the heater controls out when doing so. When I turned the key, there was no sound at all. So I plugged the heater controls back in. Now, I can here the relay click when it's in the glow plug position, and it clicks when I turn it to the start position, but the starter doesn't respond.

Does anyone have any experience with such things?

Thanks in advance.

PS. Is it me, or is the fuse box cover a real pain to get to?

vstech · #2 10-29-2011, 08:42 PM

is your shifter still out of park from pulling out the radio?

kerry · #3 10-29-2011, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstech

is your shifter still out of park from pulling out the radio?

Bingo.

swank · #4 10-29-2011, 10:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vstech

is your shifter still out of park from pulling out the radio?

mind=blown. I took my bike home from the shop so I can't verify, but I'm willing to bet that is it.

Thanks for the responses everyone, I really appreciate it!

vstech · #5 10-29-2011, 09:11 PM

I hope you've got your car started now, welcome to the forum!

the fuse box cover is perched really oddly, and the combination of angles required to remove it is only outdone by the combination of angles required to put it back...

Yak · #6 10-29-2011, 10:00 PM

The rubber strip near the firewall peels away and goes back on easily. Pulling that gives maybe an extra inch of wiggle room for the fuse box cover.

And since you're messing with your radio, you'll want to check some threads in multimedia. Three or four fuses and different wires for the radio, I think. Unswitched power (thin red?), switched power (thick red?), the headlight dimmer (gray?) and maybe one more? That presumes an unmolested OE harness and install. Don't trust, get a voltmeter and verify...

swank · #7 10-30-2011, 07:28 PM

confirmed working! If that's not a forehead slapper, I don't know what is...

tangofox007 · #8 10-30-2011, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swank

confirmed working! If that's not a forehead slapper, I don't know what is...

How about the fellow that had tried for a month to remove his "stuck" rear brake rotors, with the parking brake engaged?

Codifex Maximus · #9 10-30-2011, 11:41 PM

Or the blinkers that don't work because the hazards switch was cockeyed.

wildest · #10 10-31-2011, 09:43 AM

Put your hood in the 'all the way up' position for easier removal/install of the fuse box door. I had to repent after some of the things I said trying to get the fuse door off, before stumbling into this solution.

Zacharias · #11 10-31-2011, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildest

Put your hood in the 'all the way up' position for easier removal/install of the fuse box door. I had to repent after some of the things I said trying to get the fuse door off, before stumbling into this solution.

Well thank god it isn't just me. I have always hesitated to start a thread on the w123 fuse box door, lest it was a personal spatial-coordination issue.

I have always assumed the chassis designer who put it there sort of forgot there would be a brake booster in general vicinity....

Zacharias · #12 10-31-2011, 01:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tangofox007

How about the fellow that had tried for a month to remove his "stuck" rear brake rotors, with the parking brake engaged?

Or the guy who ran a local shop who spent hours fault-tracing when, after some electrical work on a 2000-ish Chrysler, he started it up and the daytime running lights (this is Canada) didn't come on?

My friend the wrench ambled in to visit when he was at the point of cursing and throwing stuff around the shop in frustration over the lost time.

At which point my bud helpfully pointed out that on that era of Chrysler, you had to put the car in Drive and be moving at something like 2 mph before the DRLs came on.

jay_bob · #13 10-31-2011, 02:21 PM

Guilty member of the "left in L position" club...I was sweating it bigtime until I happened to look down...

vstech · #14 10-31-2011, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jay_bob

Guilty member of the "left in L position" club...I was sweating it bigtime until I happened to look down...

now, why do you think it came to me so quickly as a possible problem...
I've done that DOZENS of times...

and just today I was trying to get a rear rotor off, and it wouldn't budge, and I thought of this thread... sure enough, Parking brake was on...

swank · #15 10-31-2011, 06:49 PM

I think I like this place. Bunch of like minded individuals...