My car was hit while parked a few weeks ago. The front right and rear left corners were smashed in. The body shop has fixed the car up very well except for some electrical problems that seem to have resulted from the accident.

Symptoms:
Drivers seat adjustment total failure including the steering column. Passenger side works fine.
Courtesy ligh failure.
Seat belt light does not come on or flash when people enter or start the car. It comes on randomly and stays on for a long time, even after the car is turned off.
Power antenna failure.

Is there something that ties all these systems together that could have been damaged?

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,


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Kevin Moran
1988 300E

I had a few electrical problems with my '86 420SEL after all the King's horses and all the King's men failed to properly reconnect electrical "plugs".

My car was repaired at Erie and LaSalle Body Shop in the River North area. I had to take the car back many times for them to figure out the problems. Many of the electrical connectors will fit each other causing an inexperienced repair person to reconnect the wrong wiring leads. The simple way to figure out the correct connections was to match up the color of the wiring. To give you an idea of my problems: the headlight would flash instead of the turn signal (i.e. the two connectors were swapped with each other). The headlight washers didn't work at any time because the connectors on top of the washer fluid reservoir were installed in the incorrect sequence. The A/C didn't work because some of the leads were mis-matched with the electric cooling fans.

I'm surprised the shop gave the car back to you with the problems that you are experiencing. Somewhere along the electrical plan you have open circuits that could have many causes from blown fuses, mis-matched leads, disconnected leads/connectors or broken wires.

If these problems were not present before the collision, then your car has not been fully repaired.

There is a diode that will cause this on the outside of the fusebox area. Also the warning module or the domelamp could be faulty. Make them fix it...Or I would get them to pay the bill for a Mechanical shop to fix. I don't want body men doing diagnostic work on these electrical systems of my car.

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Benzmac:
1981 280GE SWB
1987 16V
ASE CERTIFIED MASTER AUTO TECHNICIAN
SERVICE MANAGER FOR 14 BAY FACILITY
MERCEDES SPECIALIST 8 YRS
PARTNER IN MERCEDESSHOP.COM