W108- Wierd Question

[coldwar]

I just bought a 1969 280S, the one I had advertised here-

W108 Lovers- $750.00

Just having 4 good summer treads mounted on rims that will fit my W115, and a nearly new battery in this car is worth what I paid for it. So, this morning I went out to look it over, to see what works, what doesn't and in my exploration, I found that this car does not have a blower fan switch! Is this possible? It has the typical 4 sliding heat and flap controls, but there is nothing on the dash that would be a blower switch. The car is Euro by the way- that might have something to do with it.

All the other electrical on the car is working and accounted for- lights, signals, wipers, 4 ways, Euro park light left and right mode, cigar lighter, radio- but damned if I could find anything resembling a blower switch.

My new list:
'76 300D Daily Driver
'70 200 Euro- totally rotted W115 parts car
'69 280S Euro- don't know what to do with it yet
'90 VW Jetta- salt soaker for winter
'98 Cavalier- Wifemobile

[Larry Delor]

One of those four sliders (discs) is the fan control. I think its the top left (could be the bottom left though) Definitely on the left.

If you do a parts search on fastlane, you will discover the disc with the switch on it.

[coldwar]

Originally Posted by Larry Delor

One of those four sliders (discs) is the fan control. I think its the top left (could be the bottom left though) Definitely on the left.

If you do a parts search on fastlane, you will discover the disc with the switch on it.

Ah- OK, I was wondering if that might be the case. I did fiddle with those controls in every position possible, with the ignition key switched on, and the blower did not come on. Well, that's just one electrical accessory that doesn't work!

This car could almost be put back on the road- the body is fairly sound- starting to go bad underneath, but not too far gone. THe Euro headlights and tail-lights are in fantastic shape, as are the bumpers, except the rear bumper mounting brackets are completely rusted and crumbling. Fronts are OK. Also has a 4 band Becker radio that powers up and makes a wonderful hiss in the speaker (mono), but doesn't seem to pick up anything. It almost picks up an FM station, but not listenable. Any thoughts on that? Could it be as simple as the antenna connection corroded or something? The four bands are LW, MW, K (SW) and U (FM). I live about a mile from Radio Canada's huge Shortwave station, but it doesn't even pick that up. I'd like to use this radio if possible- does it sound salvagable?

Dave M.

[JMela]

Hey Dave - I've got a 280s as well, and your blower switch is the upper left slider. It has two stops (hi/Lo) so you should feel it 'bump' into place. Mine slid freely and had become inoperable, so I rebuilt it when I did my dash wood a few years ago. The electonic 'sliding' element of the switch had become dislodged. It now works fine.

Becker rebuilds stuff out of their US office, otherwise you might find a different unit on ebay.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

If you're 'almost' getting FM and nothing on AM/SW, check the antenna first, especially if you have the original Bosch or Hirshmann locking antenna - the type that fully retracts into the fender. It's common for the sliding contact in the antenna base to get dirty or corroded. Rotating or sliding the lower mast can sometimes restore contact. Also check for the usual suspects such as a loose or damaged cable.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[coldwar]

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

If you're 'almost' getting FM and nothing on AM/SW, check the antenna first, especially if you have the original Bosch or Hirshmann locking antenna - the type that fully retracts into the fender. It's common for the sliding contact in the antenna base to get dirty or corroded. Rotating or sliding the lower mast can sometimes restore contact. Also check for the usual suspects such as a loose or damaged cable.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Couldn't budge the antenna. But when using my MP-3 player through FM Belkin Tunecaster, the old Becker picked it up loud and clear. From this, I'd say the radio is fine. Now all I have to do is get it out of the 280S into my 300D, to repace the Honda AM-FM Cassette. (As of yesterday, the 280S is officially a parts car).

Gonna end up with high tech MP-3 through a vintage mono radio and top of dash speaker. Laughs anyone???

Dave

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Actually, the single dash speaker in those cars usually sounds much better than the optional 4-speaker Becker stereo that Mercedes offered from about '69 to '74.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[coldwar]

Originally Posted by Mark DiSilvestro

Actually, the single dash speaker in those cars usually sounds much better than the optional 4-speaker Becker stereo that Mercedes offered from about '69 to '74.

Happy Motoring, Mark

I notice a small but vocal group of audiophiles praise the virtues of a single point source for music (menaing a single full range speaker without crossovers)amplified through a single open ended mono tube amp. I don't think I'm ready to put a tube amp in my 300D, but you know what I mean! When I tried the Tunecaster, I really liked what I heard!

Dave

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Unless you demand 'surround-sound' in your car, a single speaker, properly installed, can be more than satisfactory. One of the best sounding car radios I've enjoyed was the Blaupunkt-Frankfurt mono AM/FM radio with single Blaupunkt dash-speaker, that was in Moms '70 VW Squareback. On the other hand, one of the worst was the 4-speaker Becker stereo installation in my '72 250. The radio was OK but the two 3-inch speakers in the front footwells were especially bad and sounded little better than a pair of transistor radios dangling under the dash. The 4 x 6 rear deck speakers were just barely adequate. I finally disconnected those pathetic little 3-inchers and installed a decent pair of 6 x 9 Sony coax speakers in the underdash cardboard panels.

Today, if I wanted decent stereo in a Benz and didn't want to cut holes in my interior, I'd get a pair of those 100-watt 2-way mini-box speakers, like the RCA units I've seen at Radio-Shack and mount them on the rear floor or under the front seats - out of sight.
I recently did this kind of installation in my '60 Fintail, with the speakers powered off a small 100 watt amp concealed behind the dash and cabled to the headphone jack on a Panasonic battery CD player in the center tray. The nice thing about this setup is I can connect anything that has a headphone jack - MP3, Minidisc, I-pod, etc.... I've heard there's now a small portable Sattelite-Radio unit with a headphone jack.

Happy Motoring, Mark