1971 280SE heater knob - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Mark DiSilvestro · #16 02-17-2009, 08:47 AM

If you think the rubber part is still sturdy enough, and you have a steady hand, you might be able to drill a couple tiny holes in the rubber 'C' part, along with a matching pair in the broken knob, and use some metal pins to reinforce any glue-job. You could make the pins out of some tiny nails or brads.
Of course,at this age, those old rubber levers may have decayed enough that such a repair attempt may be impossible, and simply result in breaking up more of the rubber part.

Incidentlly, last week I got a complete W108 heater control assembly from a green '72 280SE 4.5 at the Virginia Beach Pick-N-Pull. At fist glance the levers looked perfect. A closer inspection revealed that someone had made a set of replacement levers out of smoked plexiglass, and epoxied them to the plastic discs.
I could probably use those as a pattern if someone needed replacements.

Happy Motoring, Mark

meltedpanda · #17 02-17-2009, 09:46 AM

can you post of picture of the dash in question

Nik_the_barber · #18 02-17-2009, 03:36 PM

Yeah, and I was planning on taking Pictures of my entire car soon.

Nik_the_barber · #19 02-21-2009, 03:51 PM

I didn't want to start an entire new thread for this but, I have gone to the auto wash a few times now, and just discovered today that my antenna is retractable. My only concern is that it has been slightly bent in the auto wash and I bent it back, But my question is the antenna suppouse to retract all the way inside the vehicle? Or does it go down most the way with about 8-10 inches still sticking out. I'm hoping that I havent bent it so much that it will no longer retract. I had a hard time just getting it to retract at all since I think it hasn''t been moved in a while. But the wd-40 took care of that.

Mark DiSilvestro · #20 02-21-2009, 04:06 PM

The typical manual retractable antennas found on Mercedes (usually Hirshmann, sometimes Bosch) should collapse fully into the fender-mount. They take a special key to engage the tip and pull it back out. These antennas have an aluminum tube below the fender-mount to enclose & protect the retracted mast. This tube could be full of crud and dead spider-nests, or the mast itself could still be distorted enough to jam.
Keep in mind that if you force it completely down, it may be impossible to pull it up again with the special key. Then you can try a pick or some similar tool to grab the tip. Otherwise, if you really get it jammed all the way down, you may have to push it up from below, through the access-hole in the bottom of the aluminum tube.

Happy Motoring, Mark

Nik_the_barber · #21 02-21-2009, 04:12 PM

Yeah, I have the key, Man that's a bummer I wish I would of known this before i took it to the auto wash. I can keep working at it and try to get it to go in again.