It's not diesel, but can someone help me?
 

Heater works, but is loud, and not much heat! Help!! its cold in Utah
My son has a 1991 190E gas Mercedes. We just had $1,110.00 worth of work done for the pulleys, belts, and shocks on the idlers (whatever that is) anyway, he turns the heater on, and it is grinding, and not much warm air blows out of vents. What can it be? And his headlights seem so dim, do we buy just lights? or do you have to buy the whole headlight assembly? I am a single mom trying to help him, and as you can tell, I am not a mechanic, even though I want him to think I am......

Thanks,

You should probably post this on the tech forum for info from gassers. I don't know much about this model but my initial guess would be that the heater blower motor is binding and as a result sucking up a whole bunch of amperage causing the lights to dim. Try turning off the heater or removing the fuse to the heater circuit to see if the lights brighten. Could also be a weak battery or a bad alternator. I would definitely not assume that dim lights required replacement of the lights.

The fan blower is located where the fresh air vent is or its under the wiper motor in the center, its a PITA to R&R, i believe its just needs a bulb for the headlight

we had the alternator replaced last year, so hopefully it is not that, but I will try the heater fuse to see if that helps the headlights. thanks, I did post on the tech support, but no replys, so I am begging you..... for some insight.

Drop by an Auto Zone or Advance Auto. Usually they'll test the battery and alternator charging function for free.

Before even doing that you should check that the battery connections and especially the -(neg) ground cable connection to the body are clean and tight.

Has it been starting OK (without having to jump it from another car) every day?

the car starts fine even on cold days....
 

we will check battery cables now...

as mentioned above, if you are hearing grinding when you turn on blower, something is binding and drawing amps. To some extent, this a good thing cuz at least you know its working and its not blowing fuses - yet, or just plain quit due to motor burned out.

I would probably take care of that first - freeing up the blower. Maybe its cocked or something or screws holding it down are loose, etc.

It you are also saying that the headlights dim when you turn blower on, then that should account for the amp draw.

Yes, AZ should be able to test your alt and battery in place. I believe, Advance Auto does it too.

It is also possible that leaves and dirt have accumulated in the fresh air intake to the blower. That would cause the blower to slow, make bad noises, and drag down the system voltage so the lights would be dim. There is supposed to be a screen protecting the blower but maybe it is loose or missing. As was said, the blower is hard to get to but can be cleaned out and then might work normally.