Some punks tried to break into my car while I was out of town by playing with the drivers side door and lock. Ever since then my key doesn't work in it. So I decided to get off my butt and fix it, got a new lock, installed it, then ran into this problem. The locks only work with the engine running. As soon as I shut off the engine, I lose all vaccuum. Isn't there some sort of vaccuum resevoir that would keep the system under vaccuum so you could lock and unlock the car with the engine off? Or do I just have a bad vaccuum leak? I tested the vaccuum lines one at a time and the only leak I found was the line that comes from the drivers side lock, right in front of the drivers seat, the line splits into 2, and one of them didn't hold the vaccuum. Problem is, I can't figure out where it was going to. It continued under the seat but didn't show up under the rear seat bench like I thought it would. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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1991 190E Mercedes Benz---1973 DeTomaso Pantera

Only hting I can add is the line split is going to one of three places: One of the other doors, or the trunk, or the gas flap. Assuming you're not testing the supply line.
Gilly

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Hi Gilly, I guess the easist way to find out where it goes is ot run a thin piece of wire (24 guage) thrue the vaccuum line, hook the Positive polarity of a 9 volt battery to the wire and run another piece of wire from the Negative side of the battery to the a grounding point on the car. I have a circuit finder the will trace exactly where the vaccuum line goes. It can find high voltage wires up to 15 feet below ground so this should be a snap. Wish me luck!

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1991 190E Mercedes Benz---1973 DeTomaso Pantera

Probably easier to just pull the door sill plates off and pull back the carpet and trace the vac lines that way. There are too many Y's on the path to try to shove wires through them, would be about like trying to put a catheter up yer wazoo. There are colored stripes on most of them to help ID what is what. On the lines you talk about on the drivers side, one is kind of obviously running to the rear drivers side door, and the other is going to the passengers side, from there it splits, one goes forward to the front passengers door, the other goes back, splits again, one side of that split goes to the passengers side rear door, the other goes back to the trunk for the trunk lock and gas filler flap. Hope that helps. I'd dump the wire idea, too many splits. What you need is a Mity-Vac to help find the leak. make sure you open a window so's not to lock yourself out by accident!
Gilly

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Gilly!! HELP!!! I've locked myself inside my car and can't get out!!! Sounds like a good idea getting a MityVac. The vaccuum lines for all of my door and trunk locks are solid yellow with no stripes. The vaccuum lines in the engine compartment have the stripes. I'm assuming that somebody replaced them already. I'll get to my car Sunday when I get back from a little golf trip with some friends. I;ll let you know what's up as soon as I find out. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Peter

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1991 190E Mercedes Benz---1973 DeTomaso Pantera

Flowdrip? Gilly?

Can you point to a good discussion thread about diagnosis and repair of the vaccuum system for late 78-85.

Door Locks and engine shut-off does not work
Where do I start?

Thanks

Flowdrips problem would have been the vacuum pump under the rear seat, or the switch inside the drivers door lock mechanism not operating the vacuum pump. I've had both of those problems on a '84 190 2.2D.
Exactly what year and model is your car? Your problem sounds more like a vacuum leak or disconnected vacuum hose/connector.