It really is the bane of the 124 series. Even my '87 suffers from it. -- Max Dillon Charleston, SC '95 E300, '87 300TD, '73 Balboa 20
Dan Penoff <d...@penoff.com> wrote: >Gotta love those quick and easy fixes.... > >I thought only the W140 chassis had the self-destructing wiring >harnesses? And boy, I understand what people mean about these, too. >When I rebuilt my lower engine harness nearly all of the insulation was >gone on all of the smaller wires. What little was left literally fell >off when I handled the harness. > >I can't imagine what they were thinking when they spec'ed out the >materials for these harnesses. > >Dan > > >On Jun 2, 2013, at 5:45 PM, Alex Chamberlain wrote: > >> A few days ago the dashboard illumination on my car quit working. I >looked >> in the fuse box, saw that a fuse was out (#3, I think it was), and >replaced >> it, but it blew again as soon as I turned on the headlights again. >> >> I'm lazy and cheap enough that I would be willing to live without a >lit-up >> speedometer if fixing it was difficult or expensive, but I noticed >that, >> according to the handy reference card in the lid of the fuse box, the >right >> taillight and license plate lights are on the same circuit. Bad idea >to go >> driving around for too long without either of those working. I have >a >> printed copy of the 124 chassis electrical troubleshooting manual >with all >> the nice schematics, so I got that out along with a good voltmeter >and >> prepared to start tracing the circuits looking for shorts to ground >that >> shouldn't be there. First, though, I had a hunch to look in the >> trunk---I've had a lot of trouble with the wires in the door jambs >that >> connect to the power seat switches, and maybe there was something >like that >> in the trunk hinge. >> >> Sure enough, there's a bundle of wires back in the left side of the >trunk >> in the 124 sedan that connect the body to the trunklid, and the >bundle was >> suspiciously kinked near the hinge. I cut and loosened the woven >covering >> on either side of the kink. There's only four wires inside--one for >the >> light inside the trunklid, one for the license plate lights, and two >> grounds. On my car, the insulation on all four at the kinked place >was dry >> and crumbly, and had flaked off enough that grounds and hot wires >were >> obviously able to make contact willy-nilly. On a couple of the >wires, the >> copper strands inside had also begun to break. I taped everything up >as a >> temporary fix. Doing it right will require cutting the damaged wire >away >> and soldering in a short jumper to allow each of the four the same >range of >> movement as before when the trunk lid swings up and down--I need to >think >> for a while how best to approach that, since I'm not excited about >lying on >> my back in the trunk trying to solder above my head. >> >> However, my hunch was right, and I didn't need to trace any circuits. > Once >> the four damaged wires were insulated from each other, the dash >lights >> worked fine, as did the tail and license plate lights. I love it >when the >> easy fix turns out to be the right one! >> >> Alex >> _______________________________________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >> To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > >_______________________________________ >http://www.okiebenz.com >For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > >To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
