on my 88 300e, it seems as though the switches for both front seat adjustments only work when they want to, they definetly won't work if the door is open, and only works sometimes when the door is shut , in order to get them to work i normally have to play around with switch for the roof ( i have no clue as to how the roof is connected to the seat switches). Does anyone have any ideas ?

Pull the switches, take them apart CAREFULLY and inspect them. They've got metal roller arms and ball bearings inside that do the switching mechanically. These can become dirty/corroded and cause faulty switching. Clean and re-assemble.

Could also be the wires. I believe some of the wiring runs through the door, near the hinges. With your opening/closing door problem, it could be some of the wires have cracks in them at or near the door hinge area and this could also be causing your problem. Good luck!

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Chris
2007 E550 4Matic - 61,000 Km - Iridium Silver, black leather, Sport package, Premium 2 package
2007 GL450 4Matic - 62,000 Km - Obsidian Black Metallic, black leather, all options
1998 E430 - sold
1989 300E - 333,000 Km - sold
1977 280E - sold
1971 250 - retired

"And a frign hat. They gave me a hat at the annual benefits meeting. I said. how does this benefit me. I dont have anything from the company.. So they gave me a hat." - TheDon

the thing that controls being able to move the seats when the door is open is called the "contact bridge", also called the power seat diode, which is in the part of the fuse box where all the relays are (you have to remove 4 screws to see the relays, it is the one all the way in the back a little plastic grey thing that plugs in with 2 prongs that you can't see (very easy to spot, the other things in there are square metal or plastic relays that are much larger). It costs about $15. It can be hard to reach because it is all the way back in the relay box and there is very little room to pull it out. If you replace this, you may find the seats will work normally again.

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2005 Mercedes C230k sport sedan, 6 speed
1987 Porsche 924S - 968-engined track car

thanks for the inputs, i'll look into it over the weekend

I just fixed this problem on a 300TDT 1987. It was the two prong diode mentioned above. Fastlane has them, but I think it's identified as a "bridge connector."
Matt