For information...my local MB shop informed me of a potential hazard. The area in my 560SEL under the master cylinder is a great place to collect leaves and pine needles. Unfortunately, there is a resistor in there which produces heat. The shop had a car similar to mine, having the master cylinder and the surrounding wiring replaced after the leaves caught fire. Luckily for the owner, a trucker saw and stopped, packing a fire extinguisher.
I cleaned that area out on mine using a shop vac with some PVC pipe taped to the end. Worked fine. Also hit the area under the battery.

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1989 560SEL
1971 Cutlass convt. (sold)
1978 Olds Toronado (sold)
the rest are boring

You're right - W126 cars seem to collect leaves and other combustible materials near the firewall, especially in the corners. I blow/suck these areas with a shop vac a couple of times a year.

Mike Murrell
'91 300-SEL

Good tip. I was wondering if I was the only one to collect biomatter in this area.

ya i have herd that if you are rellay affraid of it you can probley get a extingsher from a euro model and mount it on the driver seat
just my2 cents

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Dan Younes
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1985 euro 500sel 223k
1986 420sel 86k soon 2 be
1981 300sd 285k sold
1979 240d 298k sold
1983 300sd 272k sold
1989 chrysler 2.2l Turbo
Leabaron 140k
1989 Dodge Carvan Se 295k
1994 S500
(hopefully someday)

I just cleaned out mine last week. I found the mess while looking for a vacum leak. I thought that this was a strange place to place a resistor. Anybody know what it does? I was wondering if it is working.

If it is working I feel lucky because I found leaves from trees I did not recognize from around here and I have owned the car for about 1 1/2 years. It looks like it can handle a lot of watts. Looks like a coiled wire heater element. I did not look under the battery is there another resistor under there?

I believe the resistor is for the aux fan, but the M Benz pros can verify this. It is a big coil in my car also. Probably generates some good heat under load.

I do not know what resides under the battery, but I am pretty sure the leaves can do no good under there.

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1989 560SEL
1971 Cutlass convt. (sold)
1978 Olds Toronado (sold)
the rest are boring