I'm changing my oil yesterday in the '94 wagon and taking the cap to the filter off and I'm spinning the cap with the socket and extension which then falls into the engine area. I can see it and reach down to grab it and it arcs out really bad! I thought it would start a fire! I reach down again and touch it and it arcs out again badly. I look closely and see it is wedged against the positive pole of the starter and every time I move the extension it shorts to ground against the engine! I finally disconnect the battery and get the socket and extension out but now my dash lights are out but the fuse is still good. Any thoughts? Is there a second fuse box somewhere? The socket took some major heat and melted one side! Live and learn right?

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dtf
1994 E320 Wagon (Died @ 308,669 miles)
1995 E300 Diesel (228,000)
1999 E300 Turbodiesel ( died @ 255,000)
2006 Toyota Tundra SR5 AC 4X4 (115,000 miles) rusted frame - sold to chop shop
2011 Audi A4 Avant (165,000 miles) Seized engine - donated to Salvation Army
BMW 330 xi 6 speed manual (175,034 miles)
2014 E350 4Matic Wagon 128,000 miles
2018 Dodge Ram 21,000 miles

No, you weren't stupid, just got complacent for a moment as we all have. It sounds as if your dash lights took some current through the chassis when the cannister dead shorted the battery, but, not knowing the wiring of that circuit, I don't know. That the dead short and loss of dash lights took place at the same time I would pull the easiest bulb to get at and see if it's still good; also, look for any burned small diameter wires, though any burn through could have taken place in a harness or connecting block. Any other electrical problems develop such as parking lights, etc?

Not that I can tell right now. Wait - I forgot to check my brake lights. I'll check those at lunch.

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dtf
1994 E320 Wagon (Died @ 308,669 miles)
1995 E300 Diesel (228,000)
1999 E300 Turbodiesel ( died @ 255,000)
2006 Toyota Tundra SR5 AC 4X4 (115,000 miles) rusted frame - sold to chop shop
2011 Audi A4 Avant (165,000 miles) Seized engine - donated to Salvation Army
BMW 330 xi 6 speed manual (175,034 miles)
2014 E350 4Matic Wagon 128,000 miles
2018 Dodge Ram 21,000 miles

Now you understand why that first repair step is always written in the manual.

1. Disconnect the battery

- we have all taken this short cut.

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BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif
15 VW Passat TDI
00 E420
98 E300 DT
97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME!
97 S500
97 E300D
86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D
86 300SDL
(o\|/o)

I would never think to disconnect the battery when changing oil. Do you really think the MB techs take the time do that for an oil change? DTF, I'll bet you couldn't do that again if you tried.

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Fred Hoelzle

No Kidding! I'm lucky that I didn't get shocked touching the extension and arcing. I can't figure out why I didn't. It would've knocked my silly. I go back up to the house to get the wrenches for the battery and the wife says " Everrything all right out there?" I say ' yeah - great!" Teaches me to not have a beer in my hand when changing the oil. Still have dead dash lights though...

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dtf
1994 E320 Wagon (Died @ 308,669 miles)
1995 E300 Diesel (228,000)
1999 E300 Turbodiesel ( died @ 255,000)
2006 Toyota Tundra SR5 AC 4X4 (115,000 miles) rusted frame - sold to chop shop
2011 Audi A4 Avant (165,000 miles) Seized engine - donated to Salvation Army
BMW 330 xi 6 speed manual (175,034 miles)
2014 E350 4Matic Wagon 128,000 miles
2018 Dodge Ram 21,000 miles

the only shocks you can get from a DC system are from a circuit amplified by the coil (plug wires) or dragging your ass across the seat and building a static charge. you can touch both battery posts at the same time with your fingers and nothing will happen. in an AC system (you're house wiring) this could kill you.

The hazard is shorting metal across an unprotected (unfused) circuit and having it melt onto (human) body part.

Like jewelry.

I dont know on what study you base that on, high DC current at low voltage can and has known to hurt people, put your tongue across the terminals on a 9 Volt battery, and it does not provide a lot of current

That's an old trick.
Works better than Viagra.

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2007 C 230 Sport.

The fallacy of this kind of thinking is that the resistance enters the formula. With 12 Volts and normal skin resistance being in the thousands of Ohms the current able to pass is in the tens of microamperes. This means you will not be able to pass high current thru human skin with 12 Volts (high current being defined as amperes).
In other words, 12 V won't hurt you. If it could harm you there would be warning stickers all over the battery and the area around the battery and the cigarette lighter and every place like in an electrical breaker box or switch panel.

Electrical safety classes state that voltages above 24 Volts are considered dangerous.
The statement/warning about jewelry is very applicable when it comes to a storage battery however.

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

True, but what about conditions that lower the skin's resistivity, ie sweat, rain, wet clothes, engine fluids and puddles, etc. Don't think for a minute that you cannot get seriously hurt from 12 volt battery voltage. Remember, that storage battery is capable of delivering several hundred to over a thousand amps when shorted... It takes about 70 milliampres to stop the human heart, IIRC.

And the jewelery... Ask anyone who has had the displeasure to have a piece of jewelery (a ring, for instance) short out on a 12 volt circuit. I have an employee who refused to remove his wedding band. One day, while tightening up a battery (12 volt 4D) with a crescent wrench, he had the misfortune to let the ring complete a circuit from his wrench to ground... Several weeks of painful recovery from surgery was his constant reminder...

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RM Smith
1988 560SL

"Where is it again that we are going, and why are we in this handbasket"?

Current = Voltage divided by resistance.

If battery voltage is 12 volts and the typical resistance of the human body from hand to hand is about 1 Megohm then the current that flows is 12 microamps if my math is right.

More if you have sweaty hands but nothing near what it would take to cause heart fibrillation.

Refer to http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/4.html for what lethal currents might be.

That is one GREAT site.

thanks.

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-1983 VW Rabbit LS Diesel (5speed, VNT/Giles build)

I'm sorry but you don't understand the laws of electricity I tried to explain Ohms law but you didn't read it well, or comprehend that even with wet hands the resistance of the human skin can't conduct amperes of current at 12 Volts.
IT DOESN'T HAPPEN. CAPICHE?
Dont mislead people!

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'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!