Central locking problem

[w124uk]

Hi everyone,
Bad luck....today my central locking packed up..well I guess it's only the switch that sits in the driver's side door (when I unlock the boot or passenger side door the central locking opens all doors). I'll be stripping another w124 tomorrow (but will have very limited time, then the car goes to the scrap yard) so I need help. What do I look for? Is it together with the actuator or is it an additional switch?
Thanks in advance!

[St3ve]

Inside the door there's a steel rod that runs from the door lock pillar (not sure that's the correct name but it's the thing that's up when unlocked and down when locked) that steel rod attaches to a black plastic unit which is bolted to the inside of the door. Pop the steel rod out. The unit has a bladder at the top, power running to it (3 cables I recall) and a yellow vacuum hose. I believe that unit is the actuator and may be the part you need to replace. Post back here if it works then I can replace mine.

...when I have the cash

[augapfel]

The part that you're looking for is a vacuum servo with a builtin switch. It's covered by the white thing in this pic:

http://bos-engel.com/benz/servo.jpg

You may want to consider a new part though. Your car is now 16 years old and the servos have been operated thousands of times. The rubber diaphragms are getting hard. I doubt that a new part is that expensive for the amount of effort to get at it.

[w124uk]

Originally Posted by augapfel

The part that you're looking for is a vacuum servo with a builtin switch. It's covered by the white thing in this pic:

http://bos-engel.com/benz/servo.jpg

You may want to consider a new part though. Your car is now 16 years old and the servos have been operated thousands of times. The rubber diaphragms are getting hard. I doubt that a new part is that expensive for the amount of effort to get at it.

Guess you are right. In fact that must be a switch somewhere in that servo that's gone...because if I try unlocking it using the key in the passenger door or trunk, it unlocks all the doors! For the time being I'll use the second hand part and probably wire up central locking - this way even if the switch goes in the other one it will still unlock and lock all the doors!
Wish me luck ;-)

[w124uk]

I've just been lazy and installed remote central locking instead ;-) Now I just press a button on the remote to unlock or lock the car. It's actually a whole alarm system but I didn't have time to wire it all up properly...it even has remote start and output for remote boot release.

[jpinsticks]

Originally Posted by w124uk

I've just been lazy and installed remote central locking instead ;-) Now I just press a button on the remote to unlock or lock the car. It's actually a whole alarm system but I didn't have time to wire it all up properly...it even has remote start and output for remote boot release.

That is exactly what I want to do. Would you give me some info on the system you got....manufacturer, model, and price if you don't mind?
Thanks.

[w124uk]

AutoWatch as far as I remember RLI288 or something similar. Can't remember the price, bought it over a year ago and had it fitted to my BMW, then removed it and just started fitting it to the merc.
The manufacturer is South African (and believe me, car theft is a big problem in SA, some of my customers come from SA)