Hey Ya'll . I've been reading some of these posts and am quite impressed with the feedback to questions.
Finally decided to sign up.
Got a problem with electrics. Fuse 3, under the back seat marked" lights/cpu" keeps blowing out and killing all of my interior lights. l
am at the same time having issues with the hi speed fan on the heating unit. Somehow I think they are related, but have no proof of that, and am dumbfounded as to where to start. Lighting is important, but in this Chitown climate, heat is also a big priority, but I am getting lower speed heating fan speeds. Replacing the fuse does not increase the fan speed. and the fuse is blowing faster than it did previously. I cant find any action(changing lighting conditions or heating conditions) that changes the time the fuse blows.

Love the Benz, Frustrated with little ghosts in the machine, and refuse to use dealers for repairs. They are brutal on costs.
Got 2 Benz's
the E-320 and a 91 190E. Both have been fabulous so far, but the E-320, I've only had for 6 months. Not good in snow conditions.

Thanks in advance

 

Here a solution for your heater fan problem. Your fan relay is faulty. This is common problem with this medel year. Here is a link to some good information and how to DYI: http://forums.mbworld.org/forums/sho...d.php?t=153918

 

Hey k_alavia
Thanks for the feedback.
The job doesn't look too awful bad. I have to ask though. I get fan speeds on all speeds except the top 2 speeds. The top 2 work but just don't increase in speed when you click em on. It just holds the speed of the lower fan speed. I have to ask if you still suspect it is the same problem. (thank God it's not a computer issue like on my old 190e when the heat totally died)
You mentioned a model change when the part was attached to the housing. Are you referring to the model change of car, from 95 to 96 where an entire car body change took place, or are you being specific to the heating unit? In the mean time , I'll save this link so it doesn't get lost.
I kinda didn't think the lighting problem was related, even though they happened at nearly the same time. That just was too strange. Any feedback on that from anyone would surely be appreciated as well.

If I get a warm day I think I'll look into that fix. in the mean time my garage is full of mothballed vehicles, and it makes it rough to use the garage at this time.(cant please the wife when you're a car guy)

Thanks
Aardvark.
Love the Benz, Hate some of the gremlins in the machine.

 

Yes I would say it is your fan relay. If you can live with the lower speed fan, then fine. If it bothers you then you can do the fix.

 

Thanks.
Gonna jump on it the first warm day so I guess I need to get the part ordered.

 

Anybody with thoughts on the lack of interior lights? and the blowing of F3 fuse under the seat?
The fuse , if replaced will sometimes work for awhile, and blow, sometimes it blows immediately.
Nothing I do, seems to matter.

Frustrating. One person suggested uping the fuse amperage. That seems like a chance I don't want to attempt, in fear of further damage.

Aardvark

 

aardvark you wrote<<refuse to use dealers for repairs. They are brutal on costs.>>

I won't try to recommend you to your Factory Authorized Dealer to fix your problems, I will only ask you to consider the fact that the Dealers Overhead is what dictates their pricing structures. The quality of their personel and the cost of their training coupled with the costs of government regulations that constrain them all is passed on to the client. Sorry about it but profit margins is what keeps the doors open.

When business slows they lay people off like me, and try to keep the doors open as long as possible. Eventually they close thier doors and their clients have no where to go for repairs when they get tired of chasing their tales. Hopefully you won't experience that difficulty.

As to your Airconditioning blower problem, it is true that Mercedes lost access to the original blower regulator making it necessary to modify to the later version regulator which also requires the replacement of the blower motor and the lower cover plate. This is documented in the illustration as well as the internal note from MB to the Dealer warning of the increased cost for the modification so as to facillitate forwarning the customer.

Mercedes-Benz doesn't want any customer surprises any more than the Dealer does. It is unfortunate that the supplier of the original regulator was no longer able to supply the part but fortunate that Mercedes-Benz didn't abandon it's clients and came up with a fix.

The idea of modifying the system by installing a w140 regulator in it's place may sound good to you and I hope it works for you but with the other electrical problems you have going I don't know if that's wise.

One thing for sure, if you cart that modified thing to the Dealer after that installation it may be them running away from you rather than the other way arround.




Here's an internal note from the EPC:

 

Hope you have your job, or similar employment for many years to come.

It's a thinning of the crop going on in this economy. Thin the crop so other stronger crops get more sunlight and essential rain. I've lived it before, and it's not pretty.
I lived in Detroit growing up and watched the Japanese invasion of automobiles devastate the "Big 3". They deserved it in the '70's due to bad quality, and in the '80's due to economics similar to todays recession. Dealers close, and belts get tightened. It is a necessary evil, and free market driven.
We both sell/maintain luxo items. I as an architect have watched my business drop off 80% and your business is in dire straits as well. The only survival technique is thinning and cutting back until we are hopefully one of those crops left to soak up the sun and water as the survivors.

On the repair front. A Benz is a fine auto, and I bow down in front of it in worship. It is a false god, and is cruel, even with all the pleasure derived from driving it. The resale value is poor. Some poor sucker bought this car for $55.000 (at 1996 prices), and I picked it up at 1/2 life for 1/10th of that ($5400.oo). That said, and understanding I am not a man of means, repairs need to be reasonable. When the cost of repairs looks as if it will start exceeding the value of the vehicle, the god is no longer worshiped, and discarded to a junk yard or tore apart for parts to feed other worshipers. Common sense must prevail over the false religion.
The cost of dealer repairs and their parts make the worship less palatable. The repairs in many cases on this particular car would have discarded this god, if I had not done lots of homework and found alternative measures to repair her. Front end repairs and wiring demons would have already put this car in parts mode. Luckily my Detroit motorhead car restoration skills have prevailed. Without general knowledge in automotive, I would haver opted for a cheaper car to own , and still might have to do so.

Cars in general have gotten far to complex, and parts too costly. If you are a man of means, this means little. I feed off of their scraps as they hit the floor.
My repair costs have been 1/4 of dealer costs, and out of necessity. Dealer prices are high, and yes I understand the overhead. Still, if there is going to be a used car market for your new car clients to sell to after their warranty runs out. some compensations need made or their losses will be even greater than what they are now. If not for the home garage mechanics, their resale value would be even less than it is currently.

I do hope Benz survives, and that you maintain work with a dealer, but if a layoff is in your future, consider repairing for us on the outside. I use a 30 year Benz mechanic, who started his own place. When I get in trouble. He comes in at 1/2 of the dealers price. He is busy and makes a very good living, off of the table scraps dropped down from above (dealers).

Thanks for the diagrams and info.

Love the Benz . Hate the gremlins
Aardvark

 

Thanks, actually I was already laid off the day after Thanksgiving and so far have been unable to re-employ.

The current economic crisis is due to human greed, we all want more and more so that the international debt has been said to be four times the international product, a situation which collapses when a large segmant defaults. Unless we have an international reset, which isn't going to happen, our governments will do the only thing they can think to do for short term relief, PRINT MONEY, which results in runaway inflation and the devaluation of currency.

In the meantime we run around trying to survive, cut back as much as possible and look for ways to become self reliant.

Maybe a business converting these space shuttles back to repairable profiles would do the trick, yes breaker point ignition and a carburator and I can fix it under the tree.[sm=smiley20.gif]

 

Sorry to hear.
Hope your Job search ends well. If you're a good mechanic, work will appear.

Yeah, they've made cars too complex. I long for simple vehicles which are easy to diagnose, and work on. It wouldn't effect your work, since most people just wouldn't work on their cars themselves anyways. It does make resale on a Benz better as well. Most people won't touch a used Benz, out of fear of mechanical failure expenses.

I still work on the old cars for fun. The new cars are certainly not that. They are tedious and expensive to modify.

I also service the greed. I give customers bigger and better houses. More than they would ever need, but I live in a small but unique home that is affordable. Otherwise I would be in financial hurt like others in my age group (mid 50's). I try and save my money and live cheap. Why? I've lived through 3 recessions of major size in the past. A learning experience.

Back to car stuff.
Really love the old rattley 91 190E. It is bulletproof, and just won't quit. No bugs , no gremlins, starts religiously, and won't die. Easy to diagnose, except for the birdsnest of vaccume hoses under the intake manifold.
Something got lost between 1991 and this current 1996 e-320, which has sooo many ghosts and gremlins, I almost fear keeping it. After a good long roadtrip and a few hi speed runs, I fall in love again however. A love hate relationship. A pretty girl with a bad attitude.

aardvark
Good luck, friend, and a prayer out for ya.