Hello all. New here, and hope I can get some good advice.
First a bit of introduction. I am a retired tech writer and college prof. Been around 73 years. Been a Mercedes fan and user for about 45 years.
I have owned a couple of 190Dc, a 220D, 280S, 450SE, 190SL, ML320 and still have a ML430.
Now I have bought (on the internet) a 1996 W210 E300D. She is haunted.
She is going to my favorite MB dealer Tuesday to resolve a "check engine, electronics" light, but there is more, and that is why I am here.
Stopped for fuel at Wally World the other day. After filling I hit the "reset trip odometer" button. No speedometer, no odometer, ABS and ETS lights on, no cruise control. Drove about 5 miles, then the yellow alarm triangle with "!" in it flashed. The speedo and odometer came back on and the ABS and ETS lights went out. Cruise still dead.
Drove to the post office yesterday. Cruise working again. When I cranked up to leave ABS and ETS lights came on for about 5 seconds, the alarm triangle flashed and they went out.
Somewhere in my memory there is recall of an uproar about Mercedes vehicles having wierd, intermittent electrical troubles. Don't remember when this was. My intuition is that the computer that processes input from numerous sensors and issues cautions, as well as running the engine and cruise control is freaking out.
This car has a bit over 100K miles and all from one owner. My guess is that this problem drove him to trade it in for a Lincoln. CarFax is clean.
Can someone offer me some insight into this poltergeist?
to have the engine wiring harness checked out. During the period from the early to mid 1990s DB contracted with a vendor to produce a "green," biodegradable wiring harness; unfortunately, the harnesses bio-degraded while still in place on the cars. W124 cars are famous for this, I had to replace mine on a 1993, 400E, and it was not cheap. I have not heard too many complaints on this with the W210, but with a 1996, you might want to have the matter looked into.
Yes, it was fixed on later years, and the replacement harness [mine was made by Delphi] were no longer made "green". This is something DB should have stepped up to, but as usual the owner paid the price... in this case a very expensive one.
I hate to add even more confusion to this but, the cruise control issue made me think of this. I had many of the same symptoms and it turned out to be the brake light switch. (It also controls the cruise, abs, etc.) My car is a '99 E320 however and I'm not sure if it would be the same. The good news is that the switch is inexpensive and easy to replace. Do a search for "brake light switch" in this forum and you can make your own decisions. Hope this helps. Regards, Peter
another thing is to check is the neutral safety switch, or inhibitor switch as it is called in some places. They can get worn/corroded contacts and cause fits with the ASR traction and cruise controls.
Lastly, if you have ASR, you most likely have a "throttle actuator," which can also fail.
Step one is getting the harness checked and codes pulled. A quick change of the stop light switch is a very cost effective method of eliminating that issue; use only an OEM switch, some of the after market switches will cause faults.
Rabbit, the brake light switch was the cause of the intermittent haunting. Being changed (I gave up doing my own wrenching a few years ago). The wiring harness checks out okay.
Parts are on order to fix the causes of the check engine light. Several things wrong, and by my measure damned expensive. I will detail them in a later post.
I hate to pony up several more grand, but I am confident I will have a "new" '96 E300D when I get her back. I will also have new questions about how to deal with those miserable headlight lenses and maybe one or two other items.
I picked up the car this morning. I live about 70 miles from the dealer, who has serviced my MBs for 10 years.
They replaced the engine wiring harness, the brake light switch, a bunch of parts in the FI and a few routine maintenance items. Just under $3K.
On the way home the "Check engine" light flashed on and off twice and the cruise control quit. When I got to the post office she wouldn't start.. .acted like a cold engine with no glo-plugs. . . After about 5 minutes I tried again and she started, the cruise came back on and there were no warning lights.
I called my Service advisor and he is bringing me a loaner tomorrow (Sunday) and will take the E300D back to the shop.
Seems to me that one problem. . .the permanent "check engine" light . . .is fixed, the intermittent is not and a new one . . .no start. . .has been introduced.
I am confident that Park Place will fix it, but I would appreciate any guidance that y'all can give me to pass on to them.
This sounds all to familiar... I had just about every issue you have on my 97 E300 Diesel. After 8 hours of investigation at the dealer it turned out to be a faulty ignition switch. Hope this will help, & good luck!
Poltergeist in the 'puter?? 
Linear Mode
