'83 300CD: gauges, power windows stopped working... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 12-10-2003, 12:06 PM

Ok I DID a search, but it didn't turn up an answer.

My wife uses this car (!) and she reported this morning that the power windows didn't work, nor did the fuel and other gauges in that cluster. No idea what other items might be giving problems.

Car starts, runs, lights work.

Weather VERY cold and snowy last few days, if that helps.

Help me, Obi-Wan Mercedes, you're my only hope!

leathermang · #2 12-10-2003, 12:41 PM

When electrical devices of different types and places go out at the same time it is almost always the first " common" fuse to them in the wiring tree..... so that is the first , easiest , to look for.. but also check the Negative side of the connections to the body or frame...

coachgeo · #3 12-10-2003, 01:21 PM

yep.... I say fuse too. I've had nearly the exact same syptoms on my MB beast and its allways this one fuse.

Rick Miley · #4 12-10-2003, 01:24 PM

Take the fuse out and examine it. They can look good inside the holder and still have non-visible cracks.

Marks88 · #5 12-10-2003, 01:27 PM

Jim B+

I had the same problem a few months ago. It was a blown fuse. Not hard to find which fuse is bad, just remove fuse cover and look for broken wire on the fuses. Easy fix.

coachgeo · #6 12-10-2003, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Marks88
Jim B+

..., just remove fuse cover and look for broken wire on the fuses. Easy fix.

ohhhhh contrair (sp?) took days to find the problem for me the first time. The fuse blew at dusk. Quick view of my fuses showed no problem. Only dayssssss later after exhausting looks for shorts etc. as I was pluging test light to fuses did I spy the culprit. The American Glass fuse that had replaced the ceramic Euro type was blown in such a way that the wire inside adhered it self to the glass forming a visual bridge across the fuse. From one angle it looked to be a completely good fuse.

wheelguru · #7 12-10-2003, 05:33 PM

I vote for a fuse too. I had exactly the same problem last spring, no windows and no guages. It was a fuse but was really hard to see that it was bad.

#8 12-10-2003, 06:01 PM

the environment in which about 90 percent of my auto repair stuff takes place.

leathermang · #9 12-10-2003, 06:55 PM

Hey, you only asked about the electricity stuff... we can 't do anything about the weather or time of day...except suggest you move south...

Wasuchi · #10 12-10-2003, 08:16 PM

Yeah, he can move to Texas and get a 40mph wind along with all the dirt it takes with it since it hasn't rained for so long. Makes working under the hood conditions less than optimal if you don't have a garage.

#11 12-11-2003, 08:45 AM

turned the trick.

Stopped by the garage this morning to let the guys do it...last night attempted operation in dark, inch-an-hour rain, with cold-numbed fingers.

Reminded me of one night we decided to get a friend's Packard that hadn't been started in 12 years under power...11PM, about a block into the circular drive through his development the beast died...and then it began to snow...

Whenever I go to visit an "old car friend" now, I put two or three loaded "Marlin Perkins Model" tranquilizer guns in my trunk...when the urge to rebuild an engine in the middle of the night comes on, we all let each other have a dart of 500mg subcutaneous thorazine administered by dart...by the time we wake up, the urge to resurrect someone's old steel has generally faded.