Electrical gizmos in '84 190D
 

The electrical gizmos in my car has expanded; They now possess the brakepad-indicator as well! It goes on when I switch off the car, and shuts of when I set the key to ignition - in other words; It does exactly the opposite of what it is supposed to!!! :(

I now have three faults needed to sort out before the 23rd (inspection time!)!

1. malfunctioning windshield washer - doesn't wipe more than once
2. malfunctioning rear window heater - goes on automatically once in a while
3. malfunctioning brakepad-indicator - doing exactly the opposite of what it should do..

I am quite positive that the first two ones are related to the combined relay as I really don't know what else it might be caused by.. But the third one really got me puzzled! I removed fuse 13, which killed the light, but when I then started the car, it came on as usual on ignition, only to fade in and out once the car was started..... When I put the fuse back in (with ignition off) there was a spark, showing what I already know; Power runs through it even when power is off! :(

you wont like this answer nor will most...
 

but how about removing the instrument cluster and seeing what you see and if nothing looks funky- like a bad connection at bulb or anything else- how 'bout you pull that idiot light? that'd be my poor man's way of fixing it if nothing is too obvious or if it's too time consuming to troubleshoot.

cdt

I think you're right; I need to pull the cluster to see whether something is fried back there - My guess is really that something has "tapped into" the light somehow, since it works in a different way when I remove one of the fuses..

Just pulling the light without figuring out what's causing it is no option for me - I need to know that things work properly! One thing is for sure; I am sure as hell going to install the fire-extinguisher I bought recently, electrical problems is no joke!