Arrgh!!! Stupid Previous Owners - W126 Console / Stereo help

[96C220]

Ok I need some help, or I need to vent or something.
After the first couple days with my new 1989 420 SEL I have gone over the car, and come up with a bunch of little things it needs.

Most are simple - drivers door contact switch, a headlight frame, a sun visor clip - Passenger side. The clip is broken, and the visor rattles against the headliner. Anyone know where I could come up with one of these?

Now... I have to rewire the aftermaket stereo, which is a botched install by circuit city. Basically they wired it through the fader switch, using only the rear speaker outputs of the head unit.

I did this before on my old 190E, but when I tried to get to it (basically because it was the only thing I could do without needing parts, I immediately ran into a problem)

The center console wood around the shifter would just not budge.... no way no how.

I called the previous owner - long time family friend, and the only reason I even considered purchasing this car. And asked him if he had any idea what was going on.

This was his reply.....

Apparently at some point he had replaced some power window switches etc, and the center console wood trim piece had become loose in its mounting points. It would not stay snapped in, and was problematic.

So he came up with what seemed to him as a perfectly logical solution. - Krazy Glue, and lots of it from what I understand. - That and a couple hard cover books on it until it cured well.

Now, the wood just wont budge, and I'm afraid of two things.

#1 - Breaking the actual wood piece if I try to get it out

#2 - Taking up a piece of the center console vinyl along with it, if I somehow do manage to get it out.

Now, this wood trim piece is somewhat worn, and not in the best of shape, but it will do for now, until I can source a replacement in decent shape.

Therefore here is my new mission. Finding the speaker wires somewhere downstream of the fader switch, and running new wires to the rear of the head unit.

Anyone have any idea where to look? - Anyone done this before.

Apparently the car has 6 speakers. Two in the front dash, two in the rearward lower portion of the front doors, and two in the rear deck.

Are there any crossovers in the system? It seems that the lower door speaker only plays bass frequencies.

Does this sound like a viable plan? The head unit is a Kenwood CD head with the "mask" flip down face and a decently powered amplifier.

Thanks for any help in advance,

George - new e-mail = george@parts4sale.com

1996 C220 109k mi
1989 420 SEL 243k mi

[jsmith]

you can sometimes find the wood trim on ebay. it may be difficult for you to extract the piece if it is glued down so maybe having a replacement ready isn't a bad idea. you will get more help in the car audio forum so you may want to move this discussion there.

BTW what CC did isn't half bad - the original Beckers were really just two channels anyway so you would have to rewire the whole car to get all four channels. read the DIY section, a lot of the head unit R&R is probably applicable to your car but i would check with the experts in the car audio forum.

[96C220]

That with a high power radio - the fader switch burns out.

Which is the case with mine, and now only the drivers sides speakers work, if you get the fader switch to the one position where it likes to work....

George

[sixto]

There should be one amp for each side behind the rear seatback. The fader controls a preamp signal.

The stock stereo sends a common ground signal to the amps and sends floating ground power to the speakers. That's only two wires into the fader switch and four wires out of the fader switch. I wouldn't risk wiring your stereo's speaker outputs for common ground but I think you discovered that you can use the car's fader switch.

Looks like you have to route speaker wires from your stereo to behind the rear seatback and hope that the speakers are of an impedance your stereo can handle.

If you need help with identifying wires at the amps, let me know.

If there are any crossovers, they are part of the speaker assemblies.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

[96C220]

I would love some help in identifying the wires at the amps.....

Running speaker wires to the rear seat shouldnt be a big deal.

People have had success with soldering front to rear wires on the fader, and running new wires to the speakers in the dash/doors.

If all of the speakers are wired to the amps, It would be great to be able to get to all the speaker wires there.

Thanks again,

George - new e-mail = george@parts4sale.com

[davidg]

I saw some visor clips on ebay over the weekend. I think they should still be there.

ok...heres what i would try...many super glue companys make a substance called "D-Bond" or some equivilent...basiclly it just makes the glue release chemically. I feel certin you could find a hobby shop around that would know what I am talking about. once you get this D-bond, just librially apply it all in the seams and anywhere u think there might be glue, anyway thats the best i can come up with....hope that helps

Scott

[Khughes]

why don't you just run new wires to the back, not that hard and saves you the trouble and expense of breaking the console..