I am located in Malaysia, in a tropical country. I have an 88 260E with M103 engine.

The rain in the tropic is usually heavy downpour, and the roads usually have covered with water. My car engine will stall whilst travelling during the rain. After the engine stall, you give it a few cranks, and it will start. Travel for a while, it will stallagain. I have to keep repeating the 2 steps, and luckily, I am able to get home, without stranded in the heavy downpour.

The car runs fine in a normal hot sunny day.

I had the problem previously in mid 2004. My mechanic changed the fuel pump relay in Sept 2004 and the car runs fine, until recently. What do you think is the problem with my car?

I have consulted my spare part guys, and he loan me a OVP to test on. The OVP on my car is 201 540 37 45. My loan unit is also 201 540 37 45. Still can't test because there is no rain!

My part guy later consulted some mechanics, and he told me it is better for M103 to use OVP with PN 201 540 32 45.

After going thru' the old post on OVP, many threads have said 201 540 37 45 is an updated OVP of 201 540 32 45.

Question: Both 201 540 37 45 (dual fuse) and also 201 540 32 45 (single fuse) are still in production. My part guy is saying, if an updated part is available, the old part will be discontinued. The old part is still production, it must be there for some reasons.

Any wisdom thought??

Cheers

There was a good article in a MBZ Club mag this Dec in the UK on the OVP relay. At the end of the article is says:

"As far as I know there are at least three different over-voltage relays in circulation. These are the nine-pin type with two internal relays and two fuses as used on the R129, the seven-pin type with one internal relay and one fuse used on early W124s with carburettors or Bosch KE FIE and the diesel models. Later W124s with the Bosch HFM FIE use a nine-pin type with three internal relays and one fuse".

Only number I know is 201 540 37 45 which is the nine-pin 2 fuse one made in Hungary. This now seems to be the one to use when replacing the seven-pin one fuse model - it was for my M104 anyway (note the 2 redundant pins are accommodated in the relays holster but simply have no metal contacts).

Regards,
Neil

MB makes different parts for cars in various parts of the world(in some cases), so I do not know about the 32-45 part.

My MB still has a 7 pin 38-45 single fuse unit. I have searched the WEB(U. S. sites) for a replacement and all are 9 pin dual fuse units.

It would seem that at least in the U. S., the single fuse, 7 pin model is no longer available. Everything I' ve read indicates that the 32-45 part is now the current one.

My local MB parts guy had the same thing to say over the phone.

My 2 cents.

__________________
Mike Murrell
1991 300-SEL - Model 126
M103 - SOHC
"Fräulein"