I never got my central locking system figured out, so i've narrowed it down to the pump. I next get to decide if i think power locks are worth the money i'd spend on the pump! Aside from that dissapointment however, i also succeeded in several things. I changed out 3 of the 5 glowplugs, i got so sick of dropping the 12mm wrench that i fineally attached a string to it and my hand.(of course after i did that i never dropped it again), I also took apart my glow plug relay and cleaned the contacts, no more intermitant glow plug light(thus far). While i had the entire car taken apart looking for vacuum problems(back seat out, passenger seat out, 3 door panels off) i decided that i was going to try to fix my a/c vent problem. I took out the glove box and low and behold all i had to do was re-attach a vacuum line(thank the Lord i really needed an easy fix at that point). I also re-attached the power headrest toggle switch that i had rigged up for my driver's seat, so i know have a power headrest that i'll use once a year, but hey, it's neat. Next weekend i get to change the oil and possibly have the thermostat replaced(a bolt is stripped so i can't do that one) and she'll be ready for the 550mile trip to Atlanta for Thanksgiving. Just thought i'd share what my weekend(days) composed of. I actually took the car out saturday night w/out a glove compartment, two door pannels and the back seat! (got some weeeeird looks from my friens though, they know how over-protective i am of the 18 year old beast!) have a good night,
Ryan

regarding driving the car with a lot of interior stuff removed...I once started my 300D with the instrument cluster removed, fully expecting to run a few errands....big surprise when I got a lap full of hot engine oil!!!! (from the oil pressure hose). That is something you do only once!!!

How about some more anecdotes about car repair "snafu's"??? This string could be a barrel of laughs!!!

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1984 300TD Wagon, 407,800 mi (current daily driver)
1985 300DT Sedan, 330,000 mi (gone to that great autobahn in the sky)

I did the same thing, messed up my carpet and shoes.

It seems funny by now
Wolfgang

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Wolfgang Marquardt
1982 240D, 270K
1983 Ford F100, 260K

About the best "stupid" thing I've done is drop an exhaust manifold nut down the turbo on my sister's car while replacing the head (blown radiator hose nipple on a 92 Volvo) -- took forever to get the bloody thing off so I could tip it up and dump out the nut! At least it was fairly new and I didn't break off any of the exhaust pipe studs....!

and Ryan -- I suspect your driver's door actuator is bad. You have the separate pump under the rear seat, single vacuum connection to the door lock servos, correct? If so, the actuator in the door, operated off the key, should switch the pump on in correct mode (vacuum to lock, pressure to unlock) and the actuator shuts the pump off when all the doors are locked. Check the electrics -- if the pump is cycling one or more door actuator switches isn't working properly.

Peter

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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!

Interesting comment about the vacuum plug on the actuator. I can see how that would work, but on my old actuator it didn't have any spot for a vacuum attachment. I took it apart and all it was is a toggle switch. I then tried jumping the actuator by connecting the blue to red, or yellow to red wire. I could then get the pump to UNLOCK everything only, the only way to lock everything was to manually push down against the flow of the pump to get it to switch directions, once it switched directions and locked everything it woudl then UNLOCK everything again. However, if i plugged off ANY part of the system, it would lock/unlock/lock/unlock until the pump timed out. Anyway, i think if i decide to pursue it furthur i will test a differant pump to see if it starts working. My only problem now is to figure out which wires go to what on the new actuator. Thanks for all the replies. oh yea, it was interesting. i was driving down the road(this was wehn i had the gas flap plugged off) and all of the sudden my locks locked/unlocked/locked i then figured out i hadn't iscolated the wires from each other and they were bumping into each other!!! that was interesting...... thanks for the replies, and a special thanks PSfred, if youve got any more thoughts please keep em coming!!!
Ryan

Ryan:

The pump should run in only one direction at a time -- that is, when you lock the driver's door, it should lock everything then stop. I still suspect something electrical -- I've not had a problem yet with the 300E or 300D (no central locking on the 220D), and the system on my brother's 300D is the old one with two vacuum lines to each servo.

The newer system is electrically controlled -- the pump runs one way to make vacuum to lock everything, then the other to make pressure on the same hoses to unlock. There is also an acutator in the passenger door and trunk lock, so you may have a wiring problem, like a connector on backwards or shorted wire. Certainly you could only have a lock/unlock cycle if the pump is reversing polarity when the locks operate. Would be rather odd to have the locks cycling all on their own, sorta like a sci-fi movie!

Peter

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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!

i at first thought of another actuator controling the direction of the pump as well, but no other actuator has any electrical wiring to it. It wasn't untill 85 that the trunk and passenger side actuator were able to unlock everything as well. So that leaves me to three possible problems unless i'm missing something. A major vacuum leak(i ruled that out), the actuator being bad( i ruled that out), or the pump. Man i tell you though, i wish this was a cheap 15 dollar fix, but by the looks of it i'll have to shell out a pretty penny to get my locking system back. Still not decided on wheter i'll do it or not. Thanks once again for your help, it's always greatly appreciated
Ryan

I think if i could figure out exactly how the pump worked i could solve my problem. there is a plastic cover on it that is connected by two scrws, when i took that off i noticed what appeared to be a plastic vacuum nipple attached to a hallow tube inside the cover, the tube then went down to what i can best describe as a white water float like thing(like the ballons that go up to shut waterflow off and float down to turn it back on) this was connected to another toggle switch. Lord only knows whats inside the actual pump, but it's WAAAY to sealed up for me to even attempt to open, i know i wouldn't ever be able to close it back up without it leaking. This leads me to beleive there is a series of pressure switches inside the pump itself?? if only i could find someone whos taken apart one of the exact same pumps i have. thanks again for your help,
Ryan

Ryan:

You may be right, could be bad switches in the pump. Don't take it apart if it isn't obvious that it was supposed to be dissasembled and repaired -- if it is sonic welded, etc all you will be doing is wrecking it.

Peter

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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!