LED dash lights
 

I replaced some of my dash lights with LEDs. After frying the circuit board and attempting to repair it a few times, I gave up and bought a new one. After making sure it worked I put LEDs in it (after wiring the LEDs to be compatible with the stock bulb holders).

I used red LEDs and while I like the way they look, they were no brighter than the stock bulbs. Maybe even dimmer. I put the stock bulbs back in and ordered a different type of red LED bulb. It has all of the SMD LEDs on the tip of the light and I think that will work better with the light tunnel setup on the dash. I'm just replacing the two T10 lights. In the future I might replace the T5 for the highbeam indicator and also for the reserve fuel.

The new T10 LEDs also come with twist holders that are wired to take regular bulbs, rather than the special MB bulbs. I'll report back when I install them.

Current status (excellent)
 

Just Found This Thread
 

11.30.2018

I'm subscribed and looking forward to reading all the niggly little bits as this is what I do too ~ resurrect junkers .

Replaced the steering box with a remanufactured one and put new front tires on.

I had about 6" of play in the steering wheel and wore my front tires on the inside shoulders. It also started pulling to the left. Now the steering is nice and tight!

More fixes
 

Installed the wiper arm for the rear wiper.
Installed the relay for the rear wiper.
Installed a rear wiper blade.
Installed a grommet for the rear window, where the wiper rod passes through it.

My car came with the rear wiper motor, but no grommet, no wiper arm and no wiper relay.
Now it has all of those and the rear wiper works great!
The rear window washer works now too!

The motor does flop around a little, and I realize that it's supposed to have a bracket that helps secure it. That's next on my "to-do" list.

I also realized that there's supposed to be a switch in the inside of the hatch that turns on the interior light when the hatch is opened. My car does not have one, so that's also on my "to-do" list.

I just took the car on a 2000 mile trip and it was great to have a working rear wiper and washer.

Thinking about hooking the cruise control up. The new engine came with the module, but I don't have the interior control arm, and I'm not sure if any other bits are missing.

Thinking about getting 9003/HB2 headlights for my car and also replacing the headlight doors as they are cracked to hell.

I get great heat for a minute or two and then it peters out. I know it's not the monovalve because I bypassed it. I'm guessing the heater core is clogged, so if it ever stops raining I'll flush it with water, soapy water, more water, citric acid, and more water and see if that helps.

Moving Right Along !
 

The plastic headlight surrounds are called "doors" .

Uro brand actually had decent ones, MB stopped making one side a while back .

Check the auxiliary electric water pump and the thermostat too ~ I had the same problems of heat / cool / heat / cool in my Coupe and all it was, was the 'stat going bad, installed a new one after a good flush and I now have plenty of heat in two blocks after cold start in 39* F temps, the gauge also went from 40 ~ 60* C to 83* C and stays there, the engine has noticeably more power and I gained 5 MPG so I'm well pleased .

Thanks, I edited my post to reflect that the surrounds are called "doors". I'll check out some URO headlight doors.


I think the T-stat is probably good. On the previous engine I had the same problem both before and after installing a new T-stat. And now I'm on a new engine, so I've had the same problem across three T-stats. My temp comes up to ~80C pretty quick and stays in the operating zone at all times.


How do I check the electric aux pump? Just bypass it?

As long as the temperature gauge goes above 80* C you're good to go .

The auxiliary water pump is on the right frame rail back of the headlight, it has a long cord usually wrapped around it with at staggered two prong plug ~ find it and unplug it by pulling the plug bodies -not- the wires, now that you know what it looks like, go to the nearest Pick-A-Part and look at _every_ Mercedes until you see the same plug, unplug it and cut off as much of the wire as you can, use this to make a direct connection to your battery, the BROWN wire is negative, the BLACK wire is positive, the pump when running, makes a very faint hum, you can feel it running is it's any good .

SAVE the extra plug and wire ! use it when doing routine cooling system maintenance or changing the coolant, I put two small clips on it and leave it running when I'm flushing or adding coolant, the pump running will burp out any air in the system .

Often these pumps fail .

BOSCH ones stopped production, they were $100 now I can't find them anywhere, I bought some Chinese copies for $40 each, so far not needed, this little item is important .

My car has leaked as long as I've had it. The rear hatch was grossly misaligned and that let the majority of the water in. I'm still getting a little water under the third row seat. So today I snaked all 4 sunroof drains. Both rear drains and one front drain were pretty clogged. I cleared the drains under the hood, and pulled the battery to check for firewall holes. There were no holes, but a little rust. When it stops raining I'll sand the rust down and hit it with Rustoleum or something. The plastic drains behind the front wheels were super clogged. I have never actually cleaned those before.



I pulled the air filter to make it easier to get the battery out, and noticed that the air filter bracket is broken. It appear to have broken and been welded in the past.

Today I ordered a new air filter bracket, a used bracket for the rear wiper motor, and a new switch for automatically turning on the interior light when the rear hatch is open. I pulled the third row seat and it's drying by the wood stove. I'll probably just leave it out for a month or two until the rains stop.

Just a few fixes
 

• I replaced the round, 7" (sealed) headlights with Hellas (HB2/9003). They seem brighter.
• Installed the bracket for the rear wiper and the switch that turns the rear light on when the hatch is open.
• Installed the rear hatch interior handle + lock rod. The rear hatch is now 100% functional.
• Flushed the heater box and I'm pretty sure a huge amount of rust came out. For good measure, I also bypassed the aux pump and replaced the monovalve with a vacuum actuated full port valve. Now the heater will melt my face if I like, or hold a lesser temp if I like. It's basically perfect.
• Replaced the SLS linkage between the chassis and the valve. The old one had worn out bushings.
• Replaced the main vacuum tube from the pump to the booster as it was leaking and making my brakes SUPER weak, especially on a cold start.
• Replaced a few rotten rubber Y connectors with plastic T's and silicone tubing which is cheaper and should last longer.
• Replaced a leaky vacuum pod on a door lock. Replaced the rubber lines to the pod with silicone while I was in there.

Next moves:

• About to have a new starter motor installed. The current one occasionally doesn't engage the engine.
• Might rebuild the SLS valve. It tends to lose it's height overnight.
• Might replace the rear springs.
• Might get a sheepskin seat cover. :-)
• Need to replace a burnt license bulb. I bought LED ones.

? Where did you find the hatch's internal handle ? .

I've been looking for one for my gray market 300TD ever since I bought it .

Vonsmog.com. I ended up not needing it! Mine broke so I bought a new one, but as it turns out, the handle didn't break, what broke is what the handle attaches to. So I had to replace the entire internal locking mechanism. :-/



That means I have an extra handle if you want to buy it. I paid $45 including shipping.

PING ! :) .

Few fixes; more needed
 

• I had a new starter installed.
• Installed Bilstein HD shocks on the front.
• Not sure if I mentioned that I installed the Curt tow hitch made for this car. It's been handy.

• The front end is seriously creaky. I figure I'll replace the whole front end in the next few months.
• Rear passenger door hinge is pretty creaky too. I have a spare and will install that soon.
• The Off button on the heater no longer works properly. First it did nothing, so the heater ran all the time. But with enough fiddling I got it to turn the heat off. Now the heater won't work unless I pull the Off button out a tiny bit (it won't come out any further than a few mm). I'll tear it apart this week.
• I might be leaking a little oil from the filter. The car's pretty tight on oil, so it's not much, but it's something that I'd rather fix before it gets messy or catastrophic.
• Looks like I've lost a tiny bit of brake fluid in the past few years; will top it off tomorrow.

Going on a 3000 mile road trip this week with the car quite loaded (1000+ pounds of soundsystem and camping gear). It's made the trip several times; should be nicer this time with the new shocks.

Still Enjoying It
 

Consider flushing the brake fluid, it absorbs water, why it turns black .

Did you try greasing the squeaky door hinge ? the good folks here told me to buy a chain saw grease gun, it fits the grease ports in Mercedes doors .