David,

Sorry for the confusion. Some gray market cars have a WDB prefix added to their chassis number to emulate the 17 character VIN. When the WDB prefix started in 80 or 81, the last 14 digits no longer took the form of aaabbbcdeeeeee where a = chassis designation, b = model, c = fuel type, d = transmission type, e = serial number. I could be wrong but it's something like that. FWIW, the 14 digit VIN didn't always match the chassis number either.

Brett,

The alarm controller I'm familiar with is where you're looking but it has two electrical connectors with about 12 pins each. I guess yours is different. It sounds to me as though some of the alarm switches that are part of your door locks are bad. There are two switches in each lock and it gets confusing when one of the two quits. In my case, only the driver's door has a working switch and only in the lock position. So I unlock the door, open the door and turn the key back to lock the door (which doesn't lock the car since the door is open).

Your situation is more complex because something's triggering the alarm. There might have been a wire to the radio that you didn't reconnect.

I'll check the manual again to see what's different between the 84 and 91 cars. I'm sorry I can't be of more help.

Sixto
91 300SE
81 300SD