30 is battery, I think. Not sure of the rest, I will take a look later at what manuals I have to the W123 and see what I can find.

Shouldn't be all that hard to figure out which one is the starter wire.

Also, take a look under the cover for the connections to the starter. There are two or three (depending on model) wires that go with battery cable on the starter. If one of these is pulled back into the cover and doesn't get on the screw, it can short the starter solenoid on.

Otherwise, you are going to have to look for something that works off the starter circuit (AC relay, for instance) that is shorted so that the starter stays energized by a backfeed.

Look for "user modifications" in the wiring -- foolish people do all sorts of damage mucking about with automotive wiring.

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!