Hey everyone, I just recently got back into the benz habit, I had a 190D a couple years ago that a poor driver decided to rid me off at around 40mph, I just recently purchased a 300d, with only 104k miles in the southwest. This car is great I am absolutely in love with it.

However... *drum roll*

As I fully expect to have many little problems along the way, I'm current stumped on this one, and since its a dust storm outside right now I'm better off posting here then trying to figure it out when I have sand in my eyes.

2 days ago, during a single trip, I went to start the car after an hour drive, and it started fine, but I noticed the dash lights no longer worked. And that the brake pedal was very hard to use. I can stop the car, but it took considerable effort. After getting back home I also notice that it would not shut off when I turned the ignition off. I'm not a total bone head, I suspected a vacuum system or fuse issue. But after spending a couple hours on it, I am still stumped!

I traced that big mess of vacuum hoses near the master cylinder/oil filter back to a couple pumps? located just behind the passenger head lights, I noticed the bigger of the pumps(?) was unplugged, I plugged it back in, and still nothing. I do not have a vacuum gauge, but will go buy one tonight if all else fails.

I seem to be able to find lots of issues on the web about the engine not stopping etc, but nothing that seems to tie all three of my symptoms to a single issue.

Loss of dash lights, brake booster and engine shut off. At the exact same time. Any ideas what I can look for?

This is a great forum I'm happy to be here!

*********ADDED LATER********


Ok, I have some more info, I spent most of the day tinkering with it, I believe the dash lights are related to somthing else. But I was able to get the brakes and the engine to shut off properly. I replaced the Brake Booster vacuum line (that connects directly to the vacuum pump) with a ghetto rigged setup made from fuel line hose and a bunch of connectors. Some-how in the process of trouble shooting I either fixed the problem, or the original vacuum line along with the in-line one way valve was the problem I am not sure. So at this point, I am likely going to order a new vacuum line from here:

http://catalog.drivewire.com/drivewi...hassis=002136-

But I am hoping my rigged up system will get me by, for about the next thousand miles. Do you think that the lack of of the one-way-valve is going to hurt anything for a short time?

Also I have one injector that is fairly leaky, It is leaking enough that I want to do something about it. I can likely get one from a junker. I know ideally I should replace them all very soon as I am doing a veggie oil conversion. But I don't have time to do it this week. Would I encounter any problems changing just the leaky injector and going for another thousand miles before putting all new ones in?

Thanks!

 

Why not get abooster line from the junk pile also? I've had success.
The one way keeps the vacuum tank empty. Removal has no short term effect except loss of some vacuum functions until the pump evacuates the system. A weak pump however will take a while to evacuate and if you need to turn off the engine you'll need to open the hood.
The injector is nothing but a relief valve. All good RV's get calibrated for performance: cracking, flow, and reseat. The only difference with an injector is spray pattern. If one goes then replace it. Are you sure the injector return lines aren't leaking instead?

 

Its going to take a little bit of time to know, Everytime I clean it off really well it gets a thin coat of fuel on it all over making it impossible for me to tell where it is coming from. It could be the return lines as it seems to cover at least half of the physical injector itself not just settle around the bottom.

I'm having more important issues right now, I'm having a hell of a time trying to bleed the system.

 

Hi All, also a newby here, but here is my solution to the dash light problem, or at least what I did on mine...I have had this problem, no lights for night driving, so use a cigarette lighter every so often, just to check that all the gauges are showing what they shoud be, and of course to do a check on the speed.
People kept talking about the dimmer that is faulty, and I promise you, I looked for this dimmer, but could never find it. Well, last night, took the whole instrument panel out, and found that the dimmer and the trip odometer, are operated from one and the same thing, jees, was I dumb or what. If you press it in, it resets the KM, and if you turn it, well, it dims the lights, now that is top secret German engineering for you.
All in all, found that the rheostat was totally toast. I knew a new one was gonna cost a bit... so all I did was bridge the 2 pins at the back of the PC board, and bob's your uncle, suddenly all the lights came on for the heater and hazard lights and of course the instrument panel. It is just perfect, you really don't even need the dimmer... so I am now one very happy camper, who can see how fast or slow I am going in the night.