My light for the cluster doesn't work either. I checked the fuse and tried replacing it and still no turn signals although my hazards work? Does my flasher need to be replaced? Can it work for hazards and that's it? It's three prong, under the console, 1983 300d t

It could be the flasher relay. When mine failed, the hazards still worked but the turn signals did not. I just replaced the flasher relay to fix it. Some folks have found the problem is with the hazard switch. I think there is some trouble shooting info here if you search.

some cars the flasher relay IS the hazard switch. on the 82 and up I think it's a separate relay for the flasher from the hazard switch

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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

The relay is separate on my 82, so I assume it is also separate on the 83. As I recall, some folks have had problems with the separate hazard switch too, but I don't remember the details.

There are a number of iterations of this system design in the various cars we own. One has a red rocker switch on the center console near the shift lever. Others have a big, nasty at night because it glows red all the time and distracts you, rectangular button type switch for the 4-way flashers. On the ones with a small red rocker switch, the way this works is the blinker stalk "signal" to make a turn goes through the flasher rocker switch. If the rocker switch is in the "4-way flashers OFF" position, the signal passes to the flasher relay and the appropriate blinker blinks. If the rocker switch is in the "4-way flashers ON" position, the signal is interrupted from the blinker stalk so the relay is not allowed to try to respond to the 4-way flasher and blinker command at the same time. When the switch gets old and dirty, the OFF position on the 4-way flasher rocker switch can become difficult or impossible to engage. And then, you can shut the 4-ways off, but not enable the blinkers. New rocker switch needed. Or you can try to fix the old one, but be prepared to order a new one from FastLane (Buy Parts tab above) as the dealer sells that thing for way too much. Or, you can remove the rocker switch and do without the 4-ways and bypass the rocker switch with a chunk of wire to enable the blinkers....

If you have an older switch that is a big red hazard button, the whole operation is, I believe, in the one switch that includes the push button 4-way flasher button.

Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

O.k. thank you very much Jim, when you say rocker switch do you mean the three way flash relay? And are you saying if i remove it the signals should work?

We need to make sure we are talking about the same things. The rocker switch is merely a switch. It has no relay function. It is a small thing about the size of the window open/close switches. It is red and has some hazard triangle icon on it.

There is another electrical device that makes the noise you hear, and causes the blinkers to blink by opening and closing a set of switches that are connected to the left side and right side blinkers. That is the blinker/flasher relay. It doesn't care where it gets the command to flash from, the blinker stalk or the rocker switch.

So, if the 4-way flashers work, the relay works. If the blinkers don't work the command to tell the relay to flash is not getting to the relay. In my experience this is because the rocker switch has broken and will not restore the blinker stalk connection to the blinker/flasher relay.

You can either replace the rocker switch, or you can unplug it and then find the blinker signal inputs and short them in the socket. I don't recall which ones they are at the moment, but if you take the rocker switch apart it will become clear to you. There is a set of terminals that, when the rocker switch is in the OFF position, are shorted. Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

I'm sure that is true in some cases, but in my case (82 300D) those symptoms were due to a bad relay, not a problem with the switch.

I had previously attributed the description of your problem to a seeming confusion about what these parts are called. I am confounded by the description of your problem, as the "relay" is a dumb thing, and has one "blinking" function it does regardless of where the request to blink comes from. So, if it works when the 4-way flasher tells it to blink, the relay should be wholly functional. The problem then lies with either the blinker stalk, or this interface with the blinker stalk signal in the 4-way flasher rocker switch. I see no way replacing the blinker relay will fix that problem on the surface of how this system works. Maybe there is more to it than what I understand. Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

I also do not understand why the "flasher relay" would work with the hazards but not the turn signals, but in my case that's what happened.

The turn signals on my 85 Euro 240D quit and it was the relay under the console and fwd of the shifter.$40. I have the small "rocker" emergency flasher switch.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

The "controversy" surrounds the reported ok 4-way flasher operation (meaning the blinker relay was ok flashing all 4 blinkers) but not ok "blinker" functioning. My experience has been that the 4-way flasher rocker switch feature that enables and disables the blinker stalk function was not working. I broke it completely trying to "fix" it so I had to replace the switch.

The point being, the blinker relay is a relay and it gets its signal from either the 4 way rocker switch, or from the blinker stalk. It doesn't care which. I am having difficulty understanding how the relay failure could only affect the turn signal function of the blinker stalk and not the 4-way flashers. Jim

__________________
Own:
1986 Euro 190E 2.3-16 (291,000 miles),
1998 E300D TurboDiesel, 231,000 miles -purchased with 45,000,
1988 300E 5-speed 252,000 miles,
1983 240D 4-speed, purchased w/136,000, now with 222,000 miles.
2009 ML320CDI Bluetec, 89,000 miles

Owned:
1971 220D (250,000 miles plus, sold to father-in-law),
1975 240D (245,000 miles - died of body rot),
1991 350SD (176,560 miles, weakest Benz I have owned),
1999 C230 Sport (45,400 miles),
1982 240D (321,000 miles, put to sleep)

My only guess is that there is more current flowing through the relay in hazard mode. This may result in a marginal relay working, while it may "stick" when it's only seeing half the current in turn signal mode. Just a guess.

o.k. but seen how I'm lost anyways, how do i get my cluster lamp back on?

Ok I just went out and fixed it, the red button on the console was kinda stuck in a weird position, the hazards weren't on but it would'nt let anything else come on either. The cluster lighting just didn't look like it was on but it's pretty dim, no dimmer i guess. Thanks for trying to help guys, but I fixed it all myself. (lmao)