M-103: too many issues for the title... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

400Eric · #1 12-30-2009, 04:47 AM

Daddi, GSXR, at the risk of repeating myself:

Quote:

Originally Posted by 400Eric

I may be pretty ticked (REALLY ticked actually) at this car right now but I couldn't do that. Not to a member of the family. I could send Benzer 1 to a new loving home but not to the junkyard. We brought our beautiful daughter home from the hospital in this car. At over 214,000 miles, this car gave me 136 MPH just for the cause of out top-ending a much younger Lexus GS just because it was something that needed to be done and was the right thing to do. This is the car that hooked me on Benzes and W-124s. That's why all of my subsequent Benzes are named after him. Nope, we have to fix him.

Ps2cho, pesuazo, the replacement of the OPV fuse solved all of the issues in my first post except for the ones I repeated in my third post.

Guys, I really need a quicker fix to this battery drain issue. Before I have to resort to GSXR's methods (which I really don't have time for right now), are there any known trouble areas/weak links where I should look first? Thanks again.
Regards, Eric

gsxr · #2 12-30-2009, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 400Eric

Guys, I really need a quicker fix to this battery drain issue. Before I have to resort to GSXR's methods (which I really don't have time for right now), are there any known trouble areas/weak links where I should look first? Thanks again.

Eric, if you would spend the 10 minutes needed to locate the drain, you'd already know what needs to be fixed. I don't know of any common problems on the 300E that would cause a battery drain. It's really not as time consuming as you think - trust me!

About the car being a member of the family, and not being able to put it down... two words: Old Yeller.

400Eric · #3 12-30-2009, 11:52 PM

That's my point! Who here didn't shed a tear when they put Old Yeller down? I don't want to see that happen again! It was bad enough the first time. Now I'm supposed to do that to Benzer 1 too? It's not like B-1 has a hopeless fatal disease that he's gonna die from and it's not like he or his disease poses a risk to the other members of the family. And we have AAA AND our own tow truck too!

You weren't there that day when we spanked that Lexus GS. Up until that day Benzer 1 was just another car to me. A commodity to be bought and sold like so many others I have done through the years. But that day my attitude toward B-1 changed. That wasn't just a race, it was an all out top speed brawl. This is a bond forged in battle. I love this car like I love my dog. (That's a serious kind of love!)

I'll get back to work on B-1 when it quits raining. Still open to other ideas too!

Edit: Dave, I've sent you a PM about some diesel info that may be of interest to you.
Regards, Eric

tinypanzer · #4 01-04-2010, 11:34 PM

Battery drain can be the stupid factory alarm system. They always seem to act up when it gets cold, too.

Lift up your front passenger carpet and take it out. By the footrest area, there's a plastic cover panel secured by a 10mm nut that may have already broken the plastic around it. Remove the nut if necessary, and the panel.

To the left, you will see a wedge shaped black box that says Becker Autoradio if the sticker hasn't fallen off by now. It has two plugs that attach on the left side, one large, one larger. Remove them both. Alarm is now disabled, and this is a GOOD thing.

Also check to make sure the light in your glove box and trunk are shutting off.

OVPs can be a pain. I replaced the one in my 300 just because I didn't want to run into OVP problems. The replacement gave me problems after one month, and I'm running the original again.

Don't give up on your 300SE. They're great cars, and leaks can be fixed (mostly). Hit me up if you need any advice.

AWW CRAP. Just saw that you said 300E not 300SE. Still a great car, but not sure if any of what I said about the alarm location/deactivation is accurate.

400Eric · #5 03-19-2010, 06:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinypanzer

Also check to make sure the light in your glove box and trunk are shutting off.

I came back to this thread to look for a link and I saw this post again. It looks like Tinypanzer deserves kudos too because he pegged the trunk light as a potential source of the power draw. It just didn't seem right to not recognize his contribution to this effort even though it took another thread to get me to actually look in that direction. Kudos to the Tinypanzer man!
Regards, Eric

mak · #6 01-04-2010, 11:53 PM

check the alt bushes, worn ones will cause problems for the OVP.
Replacing the fuel accumulator to ensure a good pressure
check the Air flow potentiometer at the front . It controls the cold start and warm up RMP's The voltage at the pins can adjusted to specs after prying /removing the cover,This is a sensitive adjustment.
the wiring for the trunk light flexes near the hinges it can short but mostly opens up .
mak
300se

400Eric · #7 01-05-2010, 03:38 AM

Crazy stuff. Bunk stuff. After I finished my testing that day that I found that relay "A" was causing a drain, I had put the "C" fuse back in as I was buttoning everything back up cause I wanted those other functions back that "C" also feeds. After all, I had removed the troublesome relay "A" already anyway right? Wrong. Even with relay "A" gone, fuse "C" is still causing a .70 amp drain. What?!? I'm confused now so I put everything back in and started over. I got my same .70 draw. I then removed fuse "C" and the draw went to .20, still too much of a drain. I then pulled relay "A" and the draw went down to .02 (which is acceptable...probably the clock). Now, leaving relay "A" out, I then put fuse "C" back in and the draw went back up to .70! Now if it seems like this doesn't make any sense that's because it doesn't! (I did wait a long time between moves to make sure to give the meter time to "settle"). Now I've been trying since my teens to get better at solving electrical problems without much success. I just haven't been able to master that skill. I think it's because I wasn't breastfed as a baby and as a result, my brain didn't get to develop to it's full potential.

I read somewhere that jump starting the car can blow the OVP fuse so that may be why I had that issue. I've been jump starting the car a lot since this battery drain issue began.

Now relay "A" only feeds the power seats.... nothing else. So I'm still thinking that there is something wrong there because that's the only thing that relay "A" and fuse "C" have in common but what do I know. Thoughts?
Regards, Eric

gsxr · #8 01-05-2010, 11:21 AM

Maybe try unplugging all the main connectors under both seats, and see if the drain goes away? If so, the problem is in the seats themselves. If not, you've got problems elsewhere.

400Eric · #9 01-05-2010, 10:11 PM

Were you breastfed as a baby Dave? I'm just wondering cause you're so smart!

I forgot to mention that I also made sure that there wasn't anything under the seats touching something or causing something to touch something that shouldn't have been being touched and maybe causing this problem. I then checked the meter again and the .70 drain was still there.

Unplugging the seats will be my next move. Any more ideas out there?
Regards, Eric

tinypanzer · #10 01-05-2010, 11:19 PM

Probably a good idea, and not all that difficult, at least on a 126.

On my 560SEL, I had problems with the seat tilt not working.

After much investigation, I found that a busted seat bottom spring had cut through 3 of the 5 wires in the harness going to that motor. The wires were touching each other, the seat frame, etc..... So, maybe check for something like that if you're under there.

Could it be that the relay itself is drawing this 7/10 of an amp? A relay does have a coil that draws current when active.......... Perhaps an internal short in the relay?

See if the relay is getting coil voltage when it isn't supposed to be also. Perhaps whatever controls that relay is sending it voltage when it shouldn't be. I don't know that a relay coil would pull .7 amps at 12v, but it doesn't sound too far off.

400Eric · #11 01-05-2010, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinypanzer

Could it be that the relay itself is drawing this 7/10 of an amp? A relay does have a coil that draws current when active.......... Perhaps an internal short in the relay?

That's what I was thinking originally but it's still pulling .70 amps even with that relay pulled out.
Regards, Eric

cheeseraid · #12 01-06-2010, 12:30 PM

Your performance loss is either bad plugs, bad cap, bad wires, clogged injectors, bad ovp causing limp mode, or the most likely the eha is outta wack. If you got a dwell meter test the car at idle and 2500. Just plug the positive wire into the number 3 socket on the right fender wall next to the abs module. It should read somewhere between 45-55 at idle and 40-45 at 2500. My car with the 2.6 m103 likes 52-54 at idle and 42-45 at 2500. My car goes like a bad outta hell. My benz didn't want to start when it started to get cold and somehow the mixture adjustment got outta wack again. I check that mixture adjustment every six months. You electric draw problem I would pull the fuse for the seats and see if that stops it. I have seen quite a few of these cars draw electric from a bad seat motor. If that dosen't help pull all fuses except what you need to run the motor and work backwords putting a fuse in at a time and check current draw. The abs light could be a faulty speed sensor (there a magnet pickup in the front hubs). Just check that the sensor isn't gummed up. If not that then your abs module might be acting up. I don't remember how to test that thing. Anyways good luck.

hispassion · #13 01-06-2010, 09:20 AM

GSXR's method IS the fastest way to solve a short circuit issue. If it's less than a 10 amp draw you can connect a DVOM between the positive cable and the positive terminal of the battery. With the meter connected, then begin pulling fuses (one at a time) to find the suspect circuit. Usually, it's something simple once you find the suspect circuit. One time on an american car, I found the seat bolted through a wire to the floorboard. Another time, I found a broken tail light bulb where the filaments had crossed. I'm not saying these are you issues, but only pointing out it's usually a simple fix, once you find the culprit.

Short of doing that (pun intended), you could try - as GSXR said - to remove the fuses one at a time while connecting the battery and watching for this loud spark you described. If the spark doesn't occur, you have found the suspect circuit.

Also, since it's a battery drain with the engine off, I would be only suspect of the circuits that operate without the key. i.e. the seat switch/motor/wires that operate with the door open, etc. Again, probably not the seat or switch, but I think you may be getting the idea...

Good luck!