Of course, if it's still dark outside I can't do those other tasks, so if I'm up at 4 AM I can justify working on the car, right? Time to check the Bucket-O-Death.
It's done a fine job on the part that fit into the bucket. But the grille is large and looks like it needs about four treatments. The other end can go into the bucket and won't need long to treat, but there is some rust inside along the top and bottom. I think I can just lay the grille on its face and fill the channels with electrolyte and suspend sacrificial anode wire in them. We'll see. I put the other end of the grille into the bucket for now, we'll deal with the middle parts later. I put some metallic gray paint on the glued cracks in the plastic grille pieces. That disguises them a bit. Still dark outside. I went to the car and tested the kickdown solenoid (using the handy new Harbor Freight meter), which can be diagnosed from the (still-exposed) fuel pump relay socket. When actuated it measures about 15 ohms from pin 87k to 31 and infinity when not actuated, which sounds about right, and when the meter is connected on the 10A scale between pins 87k and 30 it records 870mA when actuated and you can hear a quiet 'click' from the transmission. If the fuel pump relay is enabling the 87k output and the kickdown switch isn't working there's nothing to blame except the transmission itself. (The handy new cheap meter is very slow to react, unlike the decidedly not-cheap Fluke that I usually use.) So I got some phone wire and lassoed pins 31 and 87k of the fuel pump relay and plugged the it back in. I hooked the voltmeter to the wires and started the car. It measured power, and when I poked the kickdown switch with my toe I could see the voltage drop a few hundred millivolts indicating that the solenoid was drawing current. Well, if it's not doing what I expect (forcing a downshift from 2-1 when I poke the switch with my toe) either the tranny is ill or it's not _supposed_ to do that. (This trick does work on everything else I've tried it on, but MB has incorporated a lot of minor variations into their various transmissions.) I'll test it again on the road this morning, but most likely I'm done with this. Oh look, it's light. Time to do something else. -- Jim _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
