1992 300 SL questions

[medic0749]

Hey everybody - I'm looking at buying a 92 300 SL that has been sitting for a couple of years with 87K miles on it. I had to jump start it as the battery was dead and drove it down the road a couple of miles. While driving the car just died on me. It then started right up. throughout the entire time I drove it I found the following issues that I think may all be related but cannot find the cause for. The dash board instrument cluster is basically dead, none of the gauges work except for the trip odometer (speedo does not) and the temp gauge, all of the rest are dead. The back lighting works on the dash and the turn signal turns on but doesn't blink and won't shut off after making a turn. The power windows do not work, the locks do work, the radio resets to 87.7 when car is turned off, the fan does not work for heat or A/C. Interior lights work, headlights work. Otherwise the car runs great, drives great and handles well. I'd like to buy it but not sure what is wrong and where to start looking other than fuses which were all good. Any help would be great.

thanks

[tecqboy]

Fuses, fuses, fuses. The fuses in these cars corrode, especially if they are the aluminum originals and the vehicle has been sitting a while. The fuses for the power windows and the top hydraulic pump are in the trunk on the upper right side. I know you checked them, but they can look OK and still not pass a current. The power top will not work unless the windows work. The roll bar won't work unless the power top works. Radio is not getting the keep alive voltage. The power top controller for this vintage 129 is notorious for getting confused and requiring a total reset. Lot's of information on that in previous posts. Use the search tool. If the car runs well, I wouldn't be too concerned about the electrics. But then, I'm an electrical engineer. BTW. Radio in this car is a 3 piece unit. Head unit in dash, actual radio receiver in trunk, and power amp under the right front seat. Radio gets a speed signal from VDO to raise and lower volume with vehicle speed. Some of these cars had a factory installed mobile phone integrated with the radio causing further issues.

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