Hello all M-B Owners.

I am excited to finally have a Mercedes Benz of my own, and I have recently purchased a solid 1993 190E 2.3L Mercedes for a good price. Thus far I have had no real issues, but there are some things that have come up that I wanted to put out there and see what anyone else thought of them.

Until then, I just want to thank everyone on here who is helping one another out. It is great to see this type of forum out there and I look forward to everyones input over the next while. Cheers!

Qs...

1. The main (centre of the dashboard) air blower has recently been making a very annoying noise since winter started, and it sounds like it is either displaced, something is jammed or it's falling apart. Some days its not that bad, but anything after option 2 on the speed of the air coming out, it starts making skreetching, sqweeking and sometimes rumbling noises. Does anyone know a solution for this or has anyone faced similar problems? My first reaction was to try and blow out anything that could be causing the noise (air pressured the blower but nothing changed).

2. Since the temperatures have dropped this winter (here in Toronto to -1C to -15C) I noticed my car is lagging battery power. It takes a slight bit more to start up, stopping at lights sometimes dims the interior lights and headlights, and I've even had the car ONCE rumble softly at a light, slowly losing power and then rumbling to a stall. Any ideas? New battery, spark plug?

3. Tips? Tricks? Let me know, I'm all ears and eyes with my lovely new car.

Cheers.

 

UPDATE!!!

In regards to the air blower noise problem, I had some time to make a quick video and post it on YouTube. Please check it out if you think you have had the same problem, or know what the problem could be. I have been told several things already and I am hoping that someone here has had the same problem, and then had it fixed with successful results.

HERE IS THE LINK >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_DDk1s9rB8

Thanks agian for the help!

 

Regarding point 2, I doubt a faulty spark plug would affect dimming lights etc.
There are two possibilities that come to mind: 1) Your alternator is not putting out enough amps for the amount of accessories you may have running, e.g. rear defroster, radio, headlights, heated seats etc. or it is slowly dying OR 2) your idle speed is two low and the engineis starving. I have had a car stall as you described after a long run on the highway that ended in a very quick stop when the throttle control was unable to keep up with the rapid drop in the engine speed.
One car I owned had a weak dying alternator that took months to finally die. On the last run to the garage (after a jump start) all the accessories had died, the brake lights wouldn't even come on and the car engine died as I rolled up to the garage bay door.
Of course, if the alternator is OK you may just need a new battery.

 

Regarding point 1: The video certainly helped describe your problem. It sounds like the blower fan blades have moved on the fan shaft and they are now hitting the sides of the housing. OR something else has come undone and has blocked the opening and is hitting the fan blades. OR the fan mounts have moved or loosened and once again the fan blades are hitting the housing.
Unfortunately, I have never had to clean the fan and I had my 1987 190E for 15 years.
The only thing that went often on my car was the muffler from rustout. I fortunately had a lifetime guarantee and had it replaced for free three ?? times during my ownership. I am sure a large part of the problem was the short city trips and low mileage per trip. After 15 years it still only had 110,000km (68,000mi). There was also a lot of frame rust.

 

Hey thanks for the tip - but it is tough to find a guide that can show even a simple idea as to how to get to that ara of the car. I've heard it's not that easy and it involves taking out the firewall, but I'm not sure how accurate that is.

Unfortunately I have to bare with this for the start of the winter, but I am looking to go to my mechanic, who can hopefully open this up for us and get in there to see exactly what is wrong. I'm looking to do this at my next oil change - which reminds me - what kind of oil do you cold-weathered Mercedes 190e drivers use? I think right now I am using 4w 40.

 

It looks like the blower is accessible from the engine side of the firewall. The little blower wheels (squirle cages) on the motor shaft are plastic and they become brittle and will eventually come apart making a nice racket (noise).



Isn't it amazing what we can do with the internet these days (youtube)?

If you send me your VIN number I will get you a price for the blower motor or call your local dealer.

As for the electrical problem start with the battery. Here in Florida those things become suspect after about 36 months and your charging system won't put out enough with a weak battery.

 

Alright! It's fixed. Here is how it all went down.

Being my first Benz (and car) and I didn't want to risk doing this job myself, so I got my mom's mechanic to take a look at the blower. He told her that he had done the job before and it would take about 2 or 3 hours and he would charge $200 just to get in there and see what was going on. With the winter already here and hot air needed, with proper ventilation a must, I decided sure, worst case I spend like $300 or so max.

We opened it up by first taking down the wiper blade motor, the control arm that moves it and all the trimmings that helped protect and guard various parts leading into the blower area. This took about 30-40 minutes to get to before we took out the motor and the vents on each side of it.

It turns out that my problem was the rod as point out by the YELLOW ARROW. That rod goes from one end to the other, and it was not only rusted out, but really dry and not lubricated. This rod was loose inside and rubbed all inside the motor creating that horrible sound. We cleand it out, greased up the parts that needed greasing and made sure everything was in tact.

*The GREY ARROW is pointing to these little metal clips that around on the fans - anyone know what they are for?

The second picture just shows what the area looks like when you take it out. It was a bit dusty and full of leaves, so we air preassured it all out of there and now everything works super fine! As though it were made and built yesterday.

Thanks to everyone for their help and assistance. Now that I know how to do all this I will be doing this type of job on my own to help save money. I basically spent $200 to find out how to fix this and how to get at it. Thanks again guys.

 

Here are the pictures.

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/g...standing01.jpg

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/g...orstanding.jpg

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/DSC07942.jpg

http://i540.photobucket.com/albums/g...n/DSC07953.jpg

 

Cool deal, congradulations.

I think those clips are like wheel weights to help ballance the spinning squirrle cages.
[&:]

 

Les4Parts - thank you for the kind words and help throughout that problem.

While the problem has been fixed, I recently went over the battery issue by
getting a new battery through my mechanic. After a $220 CDN bill, I was given
a brand new name-brand battery that came with a good warrenty and included
the install ($220CDN = 190USD). Not sure if it was a good deal, but my mechanic
has yet to give me the run around.

As for those weights on the squirrle cages, I am not sure what they are for, but
when I looked at them they didn't provide much use based on seeing them and their
positioning. Could be weights, I have no clue.

I got another issue right now regarding some interior trimming that has come loose
and looks tackey if left unfixed. I'll make a new thread for that issue though.

Thanks again!