I don't know what happened, but today when I was driving my w140 to another mechanic to check the hard hot starting problem, I noticed that my left turn signal indicator was not illuminating when I turned it on as I was turning in... then all of a sudden it would flash in uneven flashes, then went back out and didn't come back on. I thought maybe the flasher went bad, but the right hand side signal works fine, so I do not think that is the problem. I stopped and turned the left hand signal on again and it would not illuminate on the dash indicator, nor on the front exterior light or rear exterior light. I recall my uncles '92 300SE doing this before when I was behind him one day, but didn't mention it or think anything of it.

Please tell me this is not going to be another $$$ repair. Knowing that it is a W140, it probably is.

Thanks!

Hmmm... must be a rare problem? Naturally it would happen to me.

I don't know about a 140 but on older cars, the problem is usually the emergency flasher switch. Turn the emergency switch on and off about 10 times and then try the turn signals. If it doesn't work, try again but this time leave the switch in the emergency position and see of all the turn signal lights work on both sides. If not, fix the ones that don't work. Then try again.
If this doesn't work, I'm sorry. It has worked on both my 84 126 and 91 124.

Paul

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

Thanks! I will give it a try. I will try anything! Yeah, these W140s are some strange beasts! It worked fine then this happened... first thought was flasher, but the passenger side worked fine, so I thought something else. I didn't think it was a bulb, because I would think it would have the "fast flash". My moms '88 has this feature like the newer cars have where it will flash fast when a bulb is blown, surely the W140 does as well, but who knows. My uncles '93 300SE did the same thing, but I don't know what he did to repair... I may need to see if I can get ahold of him, but he lives out of state and quite a busy man and hard to reach.

Thanks!

flashers can go out suddenly.My model has flasher under and behind fuse box.

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1999 w140, quit voting to old, and to old to fight, a god damned veteran

86560SEL, if a lamp is burnt out your W140 should have a "Lamp Defective" indicator on the instrument panel. I'm not familiar with that particular automobile ... so either a lit warning light, or the words "Lamp Defective" on the panel. Otherwise, the problem is elsewhere. It's likely something other than a lamp problem because the turn signal would flash faster with only a lamp burnt out.

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Fred Hoelzle

That is what I thought, but the strange thing is the passenger side still works fine. I wonder if I can still blame the flasher?

Thanks! Yeah, no warning lights on. I got the car back from a shop today that did some other repairs and I tried it again... at first it didn't come on, then it did, flashed "off-tempo" like 4 times, then went back out and didn't come back on at all. Passenger side turn signal still working fine. When it was working however, sometimes I could hear it clicking, then I couldn't hear the click, but it was still flashing and working on the outside.

Do the emergency flashers work or both sides or only on the passenger side when it is failing?

Paul

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84 500 SEL (307,xxx miles)

Thanks. I am not sure, I am going to check that today, but another strange issue has happened today while I had it out on two separate trips.

Today was the first time I have driven the car in awhile due to the engine issues (which is seems to be running fine for now and not stalling and running smooth). Today on the first trip out, the signal was working fine!!!

Well today the radio was turning off on its on after being on for about 3 minutes. I tried about 4 times and gave up when it turned off. Now here is where it gets weird. When I turned in the left turn signal on to switch lanes, the radio turned back on and when the signal switch was off, the radio turned back off!!! Now the signal is going crazy again and only working occasionally, but coming home on my second trip out, the radio worked fine. Not sure if it means anything, but I had to enter the radio code yesterday where I had the battery off of the car a few weeks ago to charge where it had been setting.

I get more and more confused and I pray it is nothing major. I am going to get the Mercedes tech to check that out next week... if it is the main wiring harness going out, I guess I will be trading it in on something else before it completely fails. The engine harness has already been replaced and I heard that failure of the main one inside the car is rarely an issue.