I just purchased a 1995 C220 with 148K miles on it. The car is very nice but for a few items:

(1) The cruise control works intermittently. I drove 700 miles yesterday and it worked for the first 250 miles then quit. I eventually stopped, turned off the car, played with the vacuum lines under the hood, and it started working again. Note that I do not know whether (a) turning off the car, (b) playing with the lines, (c) the mere passage of a cooling off period, or (d) all or none of the above resulted in it working again.

It continued working for 150 miles or so, quit, and eventually popped back on later during the journey. Any ideas? Loose or leaking vacuum line, loose electrical connection, too much hysterisis in the throttle linkage, etc.?

(2) The LCD readout on the radio is wholly unreadable. Is this replaceable? Was there a recall? How much is this problem going to cost to fix?

(3) The SRS light stays on for a while (sometimes a couple of miles) after the car is turned on, then it goes out. Any ideas? Note that playing with electrical switches, such as the HVAC fan controls, seems to get the light to go out.

(4) Finally, I need to remove the cassette holder under the radio so that I can fabricate a replacement panel to hold a readout/IF receiver for an RF CD changer control. How do I get the cassette storage unit out without destroying it or anything else?

Thank you.

Jody Hart

1. Do a search on cruise control. This topic has been discussed many times.

2. I don't think the LCD is repaceable. I'm not sure what you can do about that?

3. If the SRS light stays on for a minute or so after you turn the car on, then there is no resistance in the seatbelt buckle of your seat. This means you need a new buckle (about $75), it's fairily easy to install yourself, but you need Mercedes to turn off the SRS light.

4. If you look at the cassette holder, and look up above it, but below the radio, you'll seee 2 screws. Kind of hard to explain, the controls are all vertical, but there is a place below the radio that the dash is horizontal, look below that, and remove the 2 screws. You should be able to kind of force it out from there. If you can't, then you need to remove the ashtray and the pocket below the ashtray, but if you try without doing that, you should be able to get it ok. You can buy a storage pocket that went into the later C-classes ($11), and then put you IR reciever in there... will probably look nice and more complete.

Lastly, congratulations on your new purchase!! And welcome to the forum.

__________________
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!)

David,

Thank you for the reply. As to your response to (3), I am not certain that I understand. My SRS light does go out. Are you saying that, once the seatbelt buckle is replaced, the light comes on permanently unless turned off with a service tool? Or did you believe that my SRS light stayed on all the time? Also, as to zero resistance in my seatbelt buckle, how does such a problem occur? Are there contacts in the buckle that wear out?

As to your response to (4), prior to my original post, I found the screws to which you refer. However, that baby still didn't seem to want to come out. Further, I couldn't figure out how to get the ashtray out. If I could visualize the various locations and methods by which the cassette holder is held in place (screws, clips, friction, etc.), I'd feel a lot more confident about removing it without destroying anything! Can you offer any description?

Thank you again.

Jody Hart

Alright, your seatbelt (probably drivers side) buckle has been damaged. When the SRS light comes on after starting the car, but goes out after a minute or 2, then the seat belt buckle is damaged and the SRS system cannot tell if the seatbelt is plugged in or not. Either something could be spilled in there, or it could be broken, or just worn. You need to replace the buckle, which comes with a wire, and 2 connectors. Once you replace the seatbelt, the light will still be on because it needs to be reset. I had to pay the $90 to take it to the dealer to reset it!! I hope I made that more clear this time.

Ok, to remove the casette holder...
On the console, where the shifter is, there is some plastic trim that surrounds the shift gate... pull this up and off, you might need a flathead, but be careful of the wood! Once you get this trim peice off (rectangular shaped with rounded edges), you will be able to pull up the console slightly from the front, by the ashtray. Pull it up just so it loosens up a bit. From there, pull the small storage pocket below the ash try firmly, and towards you. It should come out. Once you do so, you will see 2 screws, one on either side of the ash tray at the bottom. Be careful of these, because if you drop them, they're long gone! You might only need to loosen the screws on the ash tray a bit so that you can rotate it just enough to get the casette holder out.
GOod luck and if you have any other questions, just let me know!

__________________
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!)

David,

Thanks for the follow-up. I was able to get the thing apart and learned a thing or two. The most surprising thing is that the faceplate for the LED readout for the Sony RF CD Changer (that I am installing after having removed it from another car)is exactly the same size as the cassette holder inserts. Thus, I now have what appears to be a "factory" installation. Further, the cassette holders separate (non-destructively) from the portion of the insert that has the holes for the two screws that hold the assembly in place.

The ashtray and cassette holder are clipped together. I ended up removing both together, which required removal of the center console (two screws under shift gate and two screws at bottom of center storage compartment). However, after removing the two screws under the radio, I could have slipped a knife or some other piece of flat, stiff metal in between the wood bezel around the ashtray and the black plastic bezel around the cassette holders. This would have pushed the ashtray and cassette holder asseblies apart, unclipping them, again non-destructively, and pulled the cassette holder out.

Don't think that I would have gotten it apart without your help.

Thanks.

Jody Hart

Jody,
Glad I could help! Yes, the cassette holder/storage holder does clip/slide away from the ashtray. But I decided I would just give you the easier (actually harder!) way to do it since it seemed you were having trouble... better safe than sorry anyway! Well I'm glad you got it done and it fits right in!

__________________
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!)

Jody- did you get your cruise control to work? If so, can you tell me what was causing the cruise control to act intermittantly?

Thanks,
Neil

Neil,

I haven't messed with it yet as I was working on the other problems. However, I did check the taillight lightbulbs and some seem to have been replaced with non-Osram units. Thus, I believe that this may be the problem. Once I get around to replacing them, I will advise as to whether replacing the bulbs fixed the problem.

Jody Hart