Bought a 97 S320 last week, I'm loving the big Benz but she has a few issues which I hope are minor. SRS light stays on constantly. Anyone know how to fix? Also my passenger side power mirror is not working........well actually it does but smoke comes out from behind (burning wires) and blows fuse so I dont use it. Sucks because the programmable seats also control the mirrors and I cant use them till I get this fixed. I've heard many horror stories about Benz repair bills and hope I didn't buy a headache. Anything I should know before I let the dealer rape me? Besides these problems the car is a beautiful example with only 63k orig miles. Inside and out, it looks/feels like a new car. I hope it turns out to be reliable or the wife is gonna kill me. Thanks for any advice/help.

Take your car to a reputable independent Merc mechanic and have them pull the codes. Without these we're all shooting in the dark trying to guess what the SRS problem might be. You'll need this guy on your side sooner or later so you might as well start to establish a rapport with him now.

As far as your mirror goes- it could be as simple as disassembling the mirror and checking for chafing and a simple short.

Good luck! The 140 is an awesome machine!

Paul Hansen

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Paul Hansen

1997 S500 (100,000mi)

My SRS light wouldn't turn off either, the issue I was having was the front passenger seat has the Baby Smart monitoring system which went defective. If the small airbag light in the center console is consistently light, I think orange, that may be your issue. 500 something later the issue was fixed.

Paul, this was a common fault with the 140, the wire harness rubs on the mirror housing and shorts out.
You can easily repair this yourself, you need a new wiring harness, It's the short harness that goes from the mirror motor to the door.

I haven't done one for quite a while, from what I recall the mirror cover pops off, this will give you access to the motor.

On the inside of the door the triangle trim in the corner of the door also pops off, this will give you access to the plug at the door frame.

As far as your SRS light being active, you will need to have the fault codes pulled.

If you can find out what fault codes you have and then post them, we can have a look and advise you what to do.

ozzy

Thanks for the responses guys. When I get the time I will be taking it to the dealer to get these things checked. Years ago I owned an 87 300E and never had a problem besides a water pump and valve stem seals@138k miles. I hope this car turns out to be as reliable as that. Thanks again.

[QUOTE=Destroyer]well actually it does but smoke comes out from behind (burning wires) and blows fuse so I dont use it.QUOTE]