[stimpy451]

Ongoing $600 saga of trying to save a 125K-mile SEC with mild rust and scads of other issues. Car sat outside in Royal Oak, MI for glob knows how many years. The rodent damage is actually not that bad, other than the smell. I've done all new brake/fuel lines, just waiting for new rear hoses and clips to finish the job. While it's in the air I started to poke around some other issues:

1. Passenger seat inop. Cleaned the mouse crap out from under the seat and noticed the power connector was disconnected. Plugged it in and the seat immediately moved all the way to the rear and stuck there. Moving the door switch forward just makes a click. Everything else works. Checked the door switch and wiring to the control unit, ok. Memory buttons don't do anything. Getting the seat out is gonna be a b*tch. Looking at the schematic, I should be able to put +12 to the forward/back motor and get at the rear bolts. Will I be able to access the motor plug at the controller from the front? Any ideas on what would make the controller/motor do this? If I leave the power connector plugged in, it makes a clunk now and again like it's trying to go back farther. Looking at the schematic, there's not much that can go wrong other than the controller.

2. Fuses. Aluminum on copper. Cleaned them all, expected things to start working. The antenna just made a grinding noise and I do have puddle lights again. Still no seat belt extenders. Priorities, I guess. Where can I get a set of copper fuses? I'm not paying $3.50 for aluminum from autozone.

3. Aux fan is hard to turn (fuse blown). Read the service manual entry. Got the top two bolts loose under the rad support. Can't seem to get access underneath (the rear is jacked up). Screw it for now. I'm pretty sure the stupid A/C is never gonna work anyways.

4. I've seen posts that mention fuses in the trunk. Is this applicable to the SEC? I'm only seeing an access panel for the antenna and the central lock pump is in the spare tire well, right? It's a swamp back there. Pulled everything out and left it open to dry out for a while. No rust back there yet, except for under the rear window area.

Enough for today. I get kinda down on the car when I start quantifying the negatives.

 

[GreenT]

Where can I get a set of copper fuses? I'm not paying $3.50 for aluminum from autozone.

Mercedes Fuse Kit W126 500SEL 560SEC 380SE 380SEL 300SD 300SDL 280SE 500SE New | eBay


No fuses in trunk.

 

[stimpy451]

Mercedes Fuse Kit W126 500SEL 560SEC 380SE 380SEL 300SD 300SDL 280SE 500SE New | eBay


No fuses in trunk.

That's the ticket, THANKS!

 

[stimpy451]

Small victories today. The passenger seat came out quite easily, contrasting with some of the other threads I've seen. The MB engineers had the foresight to place the fore/aft motor connector at the front rather than with the rest mid-seat. This allowed me to apply +12VDC to pins 1 (Violet) and 2 (Blue) on connector X2. This connector is visible in the attached pic and is the one closest (or to the rightmost - it rotated on upload I think). The next connector is seat power, and the long connector is door switch.

Running the seat all the way forward allowed me to get at the rear bolts with no issue. I didn't need a wobble socket or anything - just a small SnapOn 1/4 ratchet and 10mm socket. I didn't need to run the seat up at all.

I still don't know what's causing the issue but I only had an hour at lunch. Will look at it further tomorrow. I'm quite sure it's a stuck discreet logic latch (equiv to an analog relay) and hopefully the controller isn't potted. If it is, I'll be looking for a new seat base. =)

Also applied 12V to both of my windshield washer motors and they're fragged. Should I buy Merc or URO? There's like a $30 difference. I guess I already know the answer.

Hopefully the seat thing helps some other people. It's not that hard. I'm going to take the D/S seat out tomorrow just so I can steam clean the carpets.

 

[stimpy451]

I have to add a quick public service announcement. This auto was INFESTED with rats. By the droppings it's either roof rats or Norways.

I'm a medic and fortunately have access to N95 fitted masks. There's no other option than vacuuming this stuff up, so I open all the doors on my shop and have at it, wearing the mask. Try to soak everything down in bleach mix first and let it sit.

Hantavirus KILLS! If you've got mice in your car, and have to vacuum, be sure to pick up a N95! They're like $10 at hardware stores.

I have not posted "before" pix because..it's disgusting. The engine compartment was just CAKED with rat feces. It's not as bad inside, thank God.

 

[bondavi]

Rat piss is one of the worst things on this Earth. You may want to take a bleach steam wash to the whole car.

URO parts is almost as bad. Never touch URO crap.

 

[GreenT]

Hantavirus is a nasty critter. Use a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter at least.

 

[stimpy451]

URO = Rat Piss.

Duly noted.

:grin

 

[stimpy451]

Alright, alright alright.

Got both seats out and removed all carpet and underdash panels. Yuk.

Found some junk in the passenger side footwell that I can't ID. The first is directly above the Becker module, looks like some sort of vacuum sensor or vent, but it's not connected to anything vacuumy. The second is to the right of that and connects to a hose coming down from the A-pillar area. See pix below.

Passenger seat issue: got the base off and pulled the controller out. All of the relays look fine, nothing was stuck or corroded but I did notice a burnt circuit trace underneath a resistor and diode that goes under a relay. I pulled the logic board off the other side, and I can't really get to the trace to repair it without some MAJOR work. I'd need to unsolder ALL of the connector pins and somehow get the security screws out....

SO, does anyone have a working passenger seat controller for sale? I'm leaving it out for a few days while the carpets dry but if I can't find one, I'll just put it back in for now.

Interesting aside [nerd content warning]...the seat memory functions are handled by a 80C48 CHMOS and a ADC0809 A/D convertor. Kind of cutting edge for the time, especially for something as retarded as a seat memory function.

The last pic sums up how I feel about having my shop smell like rat crap.

 

[wooky_chew_bacca]

4th pic, the A pillar hose thingy is the sampler blower that hooked to the vent up at the light assembly over the rearview mirror, it works hand in hand with the A/C and is one of those things that goes out every now and then, it's tested by putting a small piece of kleenex over the grill at the light, stays it's good

 

[stimpy451]

4th pic, the A pillar hose thingy is the sampler blower that hooked to the vent up at the light assembly over the rearview mirror, it works hand in hand with the A/C and is one of those things that goes out every now and then, it's tested by putting a small piece of kleenex over the grill at the light, stays it's good

Unclear as to function. Is it so I can have rat piss smell piped directly to my face?

 

[luckymike]

Unclear as to function. Is it so I can have rat piss smell piped directly to my face?

Funny! No, the little fan pulls air FROM the dome light to sample the temp in the car and communicate this to the system.

The vacuumy thing on the floorboard is altitude correction for the injection system.

 

[wooky_chew_bacca]

Unclear as to function. Is it so I can have rat piss smell piped directly to my face?

It samples the air temp up high to see if the A/C has to kick up a notch, my unnerstandin' of the contraption :grin

 

[wooky_chew_bacca]

The vacuumy thing on the floorboard is altitude correction for the injection system.

LMAO, first read I thought you said ATTITUDE correction :eek

 

[stimpy451]

Thanks, guys.

Almost forgot to mention that I started my day by fishing a wire into the window to unlock the damn car. I'm guessing the central lock pump is working again after fuse corrosion removal. Too bad the keys were on the dash.

 

[wooky_chew_bacca]

Thanks, guys.

Too bad the keys were on the dash.

You're Welcome

I CAN'T resist . . . . . . . Rats locked the car ??

 

[stimpy451]

Steam-cleaned/shampooed all carpeting. Rinsed all hard surfaces with Lysol. Conditioned the leather seats. Got the rear seats back in but the front carpets are still wet. Ended up taking out most of the HVAC ducts and rinsing everything with Lysol.

Gotta get this thing back together and drive it a while to make sure it's worth sinking more money into. I have to hold myself back from doing more on the car until I am certain it's a keeper - things like polishing the wheels, starting rust remediation, A/C, seat belt extenders...even fixing the leaking SLS lines.

I'm worried I'll have too much invested. But then again, it's mostly sweat equity with these cars. Thanks for reading.

 

[tusabes]

Looking good !!

 

[stimpy451]

Well, most of the interior is back in and the brake lines finished/bled. I guess I'm just in a bad funk today because I'm not particularly thrilled. I keep obsessing about how much time I have into this car so far but I can't stand doing things half-assed.

Brakes are AWESOME, but the ABS light keeps going on periodically for no good reason known to me yet. Once it went on immediately when starting the car (not touching the brakes). Maybe I should do another round of bleeding. Hopefully it's not a knackered wheel speed sensor or something.

At least the mouse smell is gone.

No trans kickdown. The bowden linkage has recently been adjusted which raises a red flag, but I haven't checked the accelerator switch yet. I still have the d/s carpet out so I'll check it tomorrow. Hopefully getting a whole new linkage setup from a parts car...this is just disgusting:

 

[GreenT]

That screw in the middle of the slider is easy to break. With all the rust I'd be careful and soak it for some time.