Rebuild your old in-op seat switch !!
 

As to the current satus of my cash flow I decided to take a look inside the passenger side seat switch on my 1990 300E rather than immediately forking over the 85$ for a new one just so the back will recline and come back up again.

I searched the forum just before doing so and almost everyone suggested that it was in fact the seat switch that was bad and not any of the motors and that upon replacement everything would go back to work.

Rather than spend my hard earned cash on a new one I decided to take a look and see what makes this thing tic. So I pulled the switch and took it to my shop bench, I popped the top off and inside I found a lot of little parts that can be a bit discouraging at first glance but seem to make sense after a few minutes. It's loaded with ball bearings and springs. I removed all of which and cleaned them thoroughly with electrical contact cleaner. The ball bearings roll back and forth a long a brass strip that complete a circuit when the switch is moved forward or back. I cleaned the contact ends with my pocket knife scrapping off all of the old burned looking contact points. I soaked the springs and ball bearings in the contact cleaner. I then carefully put it all back together, it can be a bit tough balancing the ball bearings on the springs while trying to snap the plastic top back on. Once the plastic top was in place I decided to give the old girl a try! Once completely back together and in the car I found that the rear lifting part of the seat bottom now works! and has never worked since I bought the car! I was so excited I was forced to post the results here.

Hopefully this will help someone in the near future save a few extra bucks.

I should have taken pictures! :)

That is a fun DIY job...........;)

That's a typical result for a DIYer -- repair rather than replace parts. You save twice. Once on labor, again on the part.

Shops don't have that luxury. They don't have the time and they can't afford to chance that the repair won't take.

Power window switch
 

drbrandini

Recently, I had a problem with the front power window switch.Window would go down, but not up.

Took the switch out and apart (out of curiousity).

It was exactly the same scenario!

I cleaned all the electrical contacts of the switch.

Used contact cleaner on the ball bearings and springs...

Also had the same amount of fun balancing the ball bearings (there are 2!) in the middle of the springs when re-assembling the two pieces of the switch back together!

Switch works like a charm!

Unintentionally (yeah, right!) saved 30 bucks!:D

One trick to keeping small parts like ball bearings in place during assembly is to tack them onto the part with grease. I don't know what the switches look like so I'm not sure if this tip applies.

Re: Power window switch
 

Isn't it a great feeling ?? :D

Yesssssssss!!!!:D