Tried "Search"; Still Stumped
 

Today, I lost the use of my fuel guage, temp guage, tach, turn signals, and brake lights in my 1980 300SD. Clock still works. Underhood fuses seem to be intact. I need help. While I'm at it, there are two inline fuses inside the fuse box, separate from the buss. Where can I purchase spares of those fuses before I find out the hard way what they control?
Thanks

Have you been able to start you car since you lost power to all these components? If not and your battery is dead, I suspect your voltage regulator on your alternator has gone bad. Lots of posts on how to replace this $20 part.

Not battery or alternator
 

Vehicle starts strong as ever. The only problem is the guages, and I can't find a blown fuse anywhere. Are there fuses or relays in some faraway spot on the car that might have something to do with my problem?

If your fuses are the aluminum strip type fuse (as opposed to copper), I suggest that you remove the fuse and inspect the ends of each fuse very closely. Visually, the fuse may appear to be OK, but the Mercedes aluminum fuses are bad about corroding on the ends. This results in poor contact with the fuse post and may break the current flow. I've had it happen a couple of times--finally replaced all fuses with cooper style, and have had no further problems.

I have also found a little blast with WD40 (it allows conduction) also helps keep the aluminum fuses behaving.

The copper fuses, often listed on Ebay Fuses , seem like they work quite well. I am slowly converting over the cars.




Haasman

Thanks
 

I have the copper strip fuses in the glove box; found them locally. I had not changed out the aluminum because I figured I'd do that as needed. At first light, I'll switch them all out and post the results. Wish me luck.

AOK, now
 

Thanks, all, problem solved. Cleaned everything with fine steel wool, and installed new copper-strip fuses. Could not own this car without this group.