All you guys who persisted in the charging system being suspect, stand up and be counted, I BOW IN YOUR PRESENTS! even though my charge rate was only off by 5% and the battery never gave any cold start problems. I changed the brush/regulator pack, and it did`nt help one iota. So then i took out the alternator and gave it to my auto electrician, he put it on his test bed and said, it seams ok but voltage is down slightly, lets change the rectifier plate anyway while we`ve got it out. Before i had a chance to put it back in the car he ran me and said that he checked all the diodes individually and they were all ok. Then for the sake of it he checked the exciter diodes and found one that was ever so slightly beaking down.
Once in the car i started her up and crossed my fingers, guess what, no abs light came on, thought oh yeh it will come on in a few seconds, but it did`nt. then i noticed the idle on the car was absolutely smooth, hang on something good is happening here. Took it for a drive and it`s never ran so smooth, and here`s the big bonus, the cruise contol that used to always hunt a little bit, is perfectly stable now.

I told the electrician about what happened, and he even said weird, must have been puting out some ultra sonic frequency and playing havoc with the system.

What a story eh, i bet half the strange problem that happen to our electrics can be attributed to faulty exciter diodes.

ONCE AGAIN I BOW IN YOUR PRESENTS.

I read through this post and niticed that the solution turned out to be the first reply! Why did you ignore the advice of someone who has made over 3000 posts and a dedicated M.B. technition? Sorry for the rant, but you should take a look at the credentials of the person making the post before you decide whether they are right or wrong. You would not of wasted the weekend "guessing "what was wrong, instead be driving enjoying your Benz.

__________________
Chris Muc

'87 300E 430,000 km

"You can fight without ever winning
But never ever win without a fight"

Neil Peart

OOh dear, your one of them, sorry for getting under your skin, I`ll get out now.