Recently, I purchased a 1992 400SE. Upon reading the owners manual, I became aware that there is a pneumatic door assist in the normal closing of the doors and trunk lid. This system is not functioning at the present time. ( None of the doors or the trunk lid pneumatically close, they must be "slammed" closed. ) Is there something simple that can be checked by me before taking it in for service?

Thanks in advance....

Dan

most likely your vacuum assist pump in the trunk is bad..
but you can check fuses 3 and 9 in the trunk.. if they are good.. jsut remove them wait 60 seconds and put them back to reset the system.. it may end up fixing the problem, but if prior abnormalities persist your vacuum assist pump PN 140-800-08-48 will have to be replaced.. it costs about $570 and is like a .5 hour job..

good luck..

my opinion.. dont even worry about it... jsut let it be and just enjoy the vehicle.. oh and you should know about the more typical faults the early w140's had such as front end shimmy, the AC evap. adn the window reg. that tend to snap..

good luck and have fun with your W140.. i have 165k on my M104 powered 300se.. and its been great even without the power assist not working.. hehe..

__________________
Turk..
00 S500 W220
93 300SE W140
01 C 240 W203
86 SVO Mustang (Turbo Pwr'd.. hehe)

WADAN,

I know that the US clients were and are spoiled by mercedes, but the pneumatic door assist was an option in europe... Not every W140 S-class has that option here and I do not whether it was an option in the US or not, but with the dutch W140 we have to "slam" close most of these doors...
I presume that the american models do have this gadget as a standard item...

greetingz,

__________________
1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)

MBenz,

Interesting point that you bring up, this is a Canadian W140. This is the first Mercedes that I've had the pleasure of owning, so I had noticed in the owners manual that there was this option. Ofcourse I don't know whether it was a standard option or not. BmwTek did give me some info about the location of the vacuum pump ( in the trunk ), so my first move will be to see if there is a pump at all and go from there. Thanks to all...

Dan

To my knowledge, the early year 140s, 300 and 400 (320, 420) did not have pneumatic doors as standard feature. I do not know at what year this became standard.

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

I dunno but i am pretty sure it was standard on all US models.. not def sure... but pretty sure..



so any luck with reseting the system?? did it work??

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Turk..
00 S500 W220
93 300SE W140
01 C 240 W203
86 SVO Mustang (Turbo Pwr'd.. hehe)

I have this problem as well. I have survived on just taking out the fuse and putting back in. It will work for about a week, and then fail again.

The doors I'm not that bothered about, it's just the trunk. If the closing aid fails, the trunk tends to bounce when you try and close it. You have to mess around with switches in the trunk to turn off the closing aid. Sometimes, when the aid fails, the trunk doesn't close, and the pop out handle stays open.

__________________
Oliver

jsut disable the trunk closing feature via the switch on the trunk lid,,, if it still tends to bounce up its probably the hinge on the locking mechanism... (located on the car itself not the lid.. basically all you have todo is remove the cover and you will see 2 bolts.. just position them correctly and tighten them up.. you should be fine..

__________________
Turk..
00 S500 W220
93 300SE W140
01 C 240 W203
86 SVO Mustang (Turbo Pwr'd.. hehe)

WADAN,

There will be a pump when you are going to "search" for it. It is the vacuum pump that controls the:
* central doorlock,
* AC ventilation vacuum pods,
* orthopaedical adjustable seats,
* pneumatic door assist.

...just to let you know...
greetingz,

__________________
1990 300SL-24
1993 C250D with a minor 600+k kilometer
www.MBenzNL.com(the Netherlands)

The trunk closes and locks, but the vacuum assist isn't working.

How do I get the trunk to close completely?
The "locked position" now is at the top of the vacuum pull down, so water may leak in the sides of the trunk lid.
1 - How do I get the trunk latch to "lower"?
2 - How do I get the trunk vacuum assist to stop assisting?

__________________
Thanks for the help
Bill Fisher

'86 560SL (186K) - Now a 'classic' : Registered as an Historic Vehicle
02 E430 in the stable
'14 LS460 (Lexus)
- - - - -
'95 E420 (198K) found a new home
'99 E320 (80K) (gave it's life for me as we hit a bumper)
'95 E420 (231K) Sold to a happy buyer, new to Mercedes
'90 300E (65K) Sold to an Mercedes Lover
'92 190E (215K) - retired to the salvage yard
'93 500SEL (214K) - Moved to another family, still runs like a young pup