Hi,

2 questions on my 83 300D:

-I drive from Bear, DE to Philadelphia once or twice a day to row. This is a 90 or so mile round trip each time I do it. I have put ~8000 mi on my tires since I replaced them, and they are starting to show odd wear on the outside tread blocks. The top of the tread block on one side, the bottom on the other side. I want to rotate them ASAP, as the rears have hardly any wear. I just got an alignment about 3000 miles ago. Is there any difference between genuine MB weights and the ones you would get at a tire place if I had them balanced? (one weight has fallen off, and I figure Ill get them rebalanced just in case) What would cause this pattern of wear on the outsides of the front tires?

-The seat belt light has always come on intermittently for no apparent reason(seat belt attached). I used to think it was a bad connection in the seat belt, but recently it has changed its behavior. It started coming on much more often, and now it starts to illuminate the glow plug light slightly as well. They both flicker a bit, and it actually affects the tachometer for some odd reason, so that drops down 500-1000 RPM in its reading. If I push on the edge of the entire gauge cluster, in various places I can make the seat belt light turn on or off for a second(until I let the cluster go). Any ideas what the problem might be? ANy way to fix it? Do yu think if I removed the wire going to the seat belt light, it would be ok? I would guess Ill need to take out the fluster to look at the back. ANy advice on how to do that would also be appreciated.
Thanks very much,

JMH

JHZR2,

I did not follow your tire wear description very well, but it may be a wear pattern called "cupping" which can occur if the tires were statically balanced and need a dynamic balance. Static balancing can work ok if the weights are distributed on both sides of the wheel, but dynamic balancing, where the tires are put on a machine that spins them, is more accurate. A recent thread about a Hunter balancing machine brought out a lot of technical details of tire balance and vibration. You can find this thread by doing a search on the subject of vibration or tire balance.

The problem with your cluster sounds like a ground problem. Take the cluster out and find the ground wire and clean it up, reinstall the wire and make a good connection. There are others who have had this problem and can give good "virtual experience" to you. Or do a search on the subject of instrument cluster grounding.

Hope this helps, Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

jmh,

not sure on the 83 , but you could look underneath the carpet
below the driver's seat and there should be a wire- just disconnect it and the seat belt light in the instrument cluster will not function (works on an 84).
good luck

__________________
1984 300D Turbo - 231k....totalled 11/30/07 RIP