My car has a similar problem although it just thinks it is armed and breached at all times. I'd like to pull the alarm relay out if I can find it. Then jumper the K38 pins 1 and 3 per Arthur Dalton so it will start.

Is this how you solved yours?

Thanks!

__________________
Tim Benner

00 ML320 170K
95 E320 wgn 160K

I haven't yet done this to my car. It's retired for the winter, so I have all winter to work on it. I'll let you know when I've done it.

__________________
95 E320 Cabriolet, 159K

Not sure where N26 is on Wagon. Maybe someone here can look it up...
My CD won't load for that model.

Try under carpet, passenger side footwell. [ 124.032 location..may be the same]
The ARM wire will be terminal #6, Yl/Bu wire.
You may also have a stuck K38 relay. That is behind cluster.

Here is K38 schematic

ftp://members.aol.com/ajdalton7/K38.jpg

I found a diagram that shows the N26 relay in the passenger footwell under the carpet. Should I just pull the relay and bridge pins 1 & 3 on the K38? Or leave the relay and insulate the yellow/blue wire from pin 6?

Thanks

__________________
Tim Benner

00 ML320 170K
95 E320 wgn 160K

i WOULD TRY TO JUST CUT THE arm WIRE AT n26 AND i WOULD BRIDGE THE k38. i BRIDGE THE RELAY AND THEN PLUG IT BACK IN CUZ THE NEXT GUY MIGHT WANT TO FIX THE ata SYSTEM...

EXCUSE THE CAPS..i AM NOT RETYPING CUZ i AM A 2 FINGER TYPER.

On my 95 E320 wagon the bottom plug to the N26 relay (ATA) had come off the relay and the 8 pin plug itself had come apart. This is under the passenger footrest. Just had to pull back the carpet and remove one screw to pull the cover off and the problem was immediately evident.

The pins that should have been in the plastic insulator part of the plug were just laying there loose and randomly touching one another. I reassembled them into the insulator and snapped the cap back on it to hold them in place. Then I plugged it back into the ATA relay and ran a cable tie around it so that the plug can't come back off the relay and the cap which holds the plug together cannot come apart either.

Taking a look at this cost about 5 minutes and saved me from doing any wiring kludges. The total fix took about a half hour and would have been less if it had not been pouring rain. (only my legs got wet) Drove the car to work today and it felt too good to be true after a week of driving the Montero.

My gratitude to Arthur Dalton and all who helped!

__________________
Tim Benner

00 ML320 170K
95 E320 wgn 160K

Very good..

You just have to look around sometimes....now you are aware of the K38 system and workings, so you will be Armed with the needed info in the event you get another no crank condition...
The X27 trick has saved many a posters a tow job !!!!!

I have a 1995 E320 Sedan that will not start because the alarm remains activated.

Recently the alarm was set off when my wife quickly opened the door. I was able to stop the alarm only after disconnecting the battery.

I was able to reset the system (enter code into radio) and get the alarm to
deactivate by slowly locking and unlocking the driver's side (DS), passenger's side (PS) and trunk locks.

Two days later, the alarm engaged and would not deactivate no matter what was attempted.

I strongly believe that we have a faulty DS door lock. We had an issue with the driver's window not fully closing. The shop fixed the window. However, since the repair, the DS lock will physically not go down fully nor rise fully.

I have checked all fuses and replaced fuse #5 as the fix suggested in a similar posting. Also, I was able to start the car using the X27 method described by Arthur Dalton (thanks very much, btw). I have checked all connections under the passenger side foot rest. All seems fine.

I have read many posts with similar issues and they seem to suggest that I can disable the ATA by shorting the K38 relay by soldering a wire between 1 & 3.

I feel comfortable doing the work and we have no need for the alarm system.

I need the following assistance:

1. Where exactly is the K38 relay on a 1995 E320 Sedan?,

2. Does anyone have a diagram of the K38 relay? (Arthur Dalton was kind enough to post the diagram in late 2007 but it is no longer available through aol.),

3. Am I correct in thinking that I can solder a wire between pins 1 & 3?,

4. There was mention (again by Arthur Dalton) that the "arm wire" at the n26 should be cut. Is this necessary? If so, where exactly is the n26 and which is the "arm wire" and if it is cut, on which side of the n26 should it be cut?, and

5. Am I missing anything?

I appreciate everyone's previous postings and patients in reading my post.

I disconnected my alarm last spring. My notes tell me the K38 relay is behind the instrument cluster. When you remove the cluster, you should see two relay units next to each other at the upper left. One is blue, the other is silver. It is the silver unit (001 542 02 19) where you jumper 30 and 87 to defeat the interlock function.

Thank you very much for the additional information.

I searched and found a post that described how to remove the instrument cluster and did such. I located and pulled the silver relay.

Now, there is a diagram on the top of the relay. It shows a 30, 85, 86, 87 & 87a pin. I jumper 30 & 87 (not 30 & 87a) correct?

Do I need to pry off the silver top of the relay to jumper the pins or do I just jumper the large pins that go into the plug? Also, should I solder a wire between the pins or just wrap a wire between them?

It might be easier to jumper the socket, the relay can then reside in your spare parts box.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I never thought of that. I just wrapped a wire between 30 and 87. I'm pretty sure it's not 87a. I would have written it as such in my notes.

87 is a normally-open (N.O.) contact, 87a is normally closed, that is the difference.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

With the assistance of Kestas and babymog I was able to jumper the 30 & 87 pins on the K38 relay and successfully start my car (after installing a new battery because the ATA drained the battery while the car sat waiting for me to fix the problem). If you have this issue happen, remember to disconnect the battery.

Now to my next question. I wish to be able to use the power locks but I don't need the alarm system. My wife and I didn't even know we had an alarm system for the first year we owned the car and we've been the only ones to set the alarm off.

How do I remove, disengage, or disable the ATA? Do I remove the N26 and if so, where is it located on a 1995 E320 Sedan?

Diagrams or pictures would be appreciated.

You could do as I did and just disconnect and remove the ATA from the vehicle. My power locks still work.

On the 95 E320 cabriolet, the ATA is located inside the left rear fender well, accessible from the trunk. I'm not sure where it's located on the sedan.

__________________
95 E320 Cabriolet, 159K