I am a newbie to this list, however not new to MBz ownership. Although I now have only two--'75 240D and '82 380SL--both with well under 100,000 miles showing, it's never been necessary for me to do much more than basic maintenance procedures or very light repair to either and in spite of the fact that both are garage queens most of the time, I wouldn't hesitate to drive either one anywhere, anytime. However, each has developed some annoying little quirks, and ever since I had a very unfortunate experience years ago which ended up costing me a lot of money and resulted in my having to sell a very nice 300D that somebody else screwed up for me, I don't allow any other person or shop to work on them.
My question for now--The door/trunk lock system has never worked on the 240 in the 15 years I've owned the car. Are there any suggestions on the best way to approach this situation? I feel I've got better than a mid-range mechanical ability and probably either already possess or can obtain any tools necessary--I just lack the motivation to attempt diagnosis of the problem, probably because I fear tearing the car apart unnecessarily trying to figure out how the system works before I attempt to fix the problem. There is only one local shop that I would even consider MBz knowledgeable enough to allow to work on the cars if I had to, but I'd rather do it myself if I can--not only because I enjoy working on these cars, but because it bolsters my ego a little to imagine that I'm doing the same work a shop would charge $90-$125 per hour to do. I'm sure most people in this group will understand that concept. Anyway, I've been a silent reader of this forum for too long now. From what I've read there are many very knowledgeable MBz owners out there with hands-on experience in dealing with these cars who might be be able to point me in the right direction. And who knows--I might even be able to answer a question for somebody too. Thanks. Mick
