Greetings,
Three days ago when I last used my car, the ACC system was working fine. Hot was hot, cold was cold, fan speeds were working properly, as was the defroster. Today, nothing works. I pushed all the buttons repeatedly and there was no response.

What could this possibly be? Bad control unit? Bad fuse? Bad blower motor? Maintenance just keeps costing more and more.

Help would be greatly appreciated it. Without the ACC working, I have no way to defog the windows. Thanks a lot!

Alex

__________________
1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

First thing to check is the fuse. Easy to check and cheap to fix. Then the rest. These old diesels are a little prone to blowing blower fuses.
Open the fuse box and locate the blower fuse. Usually it is obvious.

OD,
Thanks. I looked at the fuse earlier today but was in the city parked on the street so I didn't take the time to pull it out. It looked fine, and it still looks fine, but I changed it anyway with a new one and everything seems to be working fine. Thanks.

Alex

__________________
1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

Seems to me that someone in this forum brought up a note from MB that they changed the recommended fuse for some of the blowers. I searched but was unable to locate the thread.
Hope I am not introducing a half truth here, but is this the case?

Just wondering, what did the top of the fuse look like?

At one point, two of my windows stopped working. THe fuse appeared fine fromt he side, but I pulled it and ofund that the metal on the top that makes contact with the contact point had gone away somehow. Put a different fuse in and all's been well...I eventually replaced all of the fuses, just to be safe.

__________________
2001 VW Jetta TDI, 5 speed, daily driver
1991 Ford F-350, work in progress
1984 Ford F-250 4x4, 6.9l turbo diesel, 5 speed manual
Previous oilburners: 1980 IH Scout, 1984 E-350, 1985 M-B 300D, 1979 M-B 300SD, 1983 M-B 300D
Spark-free since 1999

The best thing you can do for your electrical system is to change all the fuses with new ones and take a brush and clean off the contacts. Make sure you have a good seal on the fuse box cover as well.

These old-style fuses are just not very reliable after years of use. I saved my old ones for spares and put them in a baggie in the trunk.

Save yourself some grief down the road and put in all new fuses.

__________________
Mike Holbrook
1983 MB 300TD-T (aka -- Daisy)
Spring Valley, CA

Warden,
The fuse looked ok. It was in tact and there were no visible defects. It was a little dirty though, maybe that's what they problem was. It didn't look dirty enough to cause a problem though. Oh well. Mike is probably right. It's a good idea to just change all of them for PM.

Alex

__________________
1983 300D (parked for four years)
2012 VW Sportwagen TDI Manual
2001 Miata SE
1962 Chevrolet Corvair Rampside

A somewhat common problem that will cause this is the ignition switch. After starting the car and turning on the ACC, wiggle the ignition key putting force in the counter clockwise direction. Don't wiggle too much in the clockwise direction because you might cause the starter to engage while the engine is running.

If wiggling the switch kicks in the system, then you need to replace the ignitions switch. It's not very expensive and not a huge job to replace. There is adequate information in a Haynes manual to get you through the job.

Good luck,