They may have used the same part from side to side. A good thing to do on these is replacing all the fuses one by one. Cleaning all the contacts in the fuse box perhaps with a fine nail file and giving it a gentle vacuum, would a good idea.
Hey Ian:
Like your name too! It's also for sentimental reasons.
Thank you also for your help. I attempted to remove the passenger ashtray/ash tray to NO AVAIL! It is meant to stay put I guess.
I wanted to try and swap them out to see if the driver's tray would work and vice versa, but I didn't want to break the working one.
Something I noticed was the working tray seemed to be more "in" the slot than the nonworking tray. SO, perhaps the nonworking tray may not be properly set in as it should be?
The knuckleheads at the storage warehouse was NOT SUPPOSED TO TOUCH ANYTHING. I said, "DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING, DO YOU HEAR ME?!!!!" But of course, EVERYTHING WAS MOVED AND ALL OF THE ELECTRONIC SEATS AND HEADRESTS WERE NOT WHERE I LEFT THEM... so I am assuming they touched the tray and now it's not working. They may have broken it, which I think they used it bc they are all smokers. I'm not a smoker, so I didn't use it. I was working when I put it in storage with those stupid knuckleheads.
I don't know if I can replace the ashtray/ash tray. It's a standard light gray that came out in mass production that year. In fact, there just happens to be a stretch limo model that is in the parking garage that looks very similar to mine only super long. That Benz only moves 1x a year and it has a piece hanging down in the driver's front underside meaning it too has the same need of an exhaust replacement... just like mine.
Plus, the back window was down for a few weeks, which happened to my car as well, but mine was in a closed garage at the time. I used suction cups at the bottom to hold the window closed until I could get it in the shop for the repair.
That stretch had the exact same "injuries" as my Benz I noticed. I wished the owner had thought of the suction cups to put at the bottom of the window to hold it closed because it rained and while it was parked in a closed top garage, it is an open aired garage. The suction cups did not completely seal the window shut, but it closed the window into the well where nothing could get inside. It helped quite a bit actually.
I'll have to figure out the fuses. I'm not savvy with fuses, so I'll have to take it to someone to get that figured out. I don't know if that's under the dash or at the tray it's self. And I'm not sure what to file. That goes beyond my scope of things. I did see a diagram of the fuse online and it was WAY OVER MY HEAD. I did get the tray out and it was a nightmare popping the lighter out. I had to use the back side of a knife blade to pull it up to get it out of the slot. I will post photos.
This afternoon I have to get power steering fluid for my minivan. It's LOW. I checked it early this AM. "CARS, CARS, CARS..." courtesy of Motley Crue. More like "BILLS, BILLS, BILLS..." Or "WORK, WORK, WORK" or it can be "LEARN, LEARN, LEARN" and "FUN, FUN, FUN" when things are up and running in "mint condish," courtesy of Ned Schneevely (Jack Black) from "School of Rock," LOL...
If I post photos of the engine of my Benz can someone help point out what some of the fluids are and what to get? The owner's manual only reads: RECOMMENDED TO GET MERCEDES BENZ TRANSMISSION FLUID or something similar. I did find that DOT 4 is a Mercedes Benz brake fluid equal. I went to Auto Zone and asked what a particular fluid was in my Benz and the associate had NO IDEA.
He was very condescending anyway. I didn't like him. There was another older gentleman who was very kind though. He doesn't work very often, unfortunately. I purchased an expensive battery at Advanced Auto Parts for my minivan. They had a very good recommendation on Yelp and Google, so I patronized their business. Half the employees were very kind and the other half only did what they needed to get by and that was it. I'm not sure I trust their knowledge on Mercedes equivalent products though. I trust everyone here who have vintage Mercedes.
Thanks so much for all of your help. It's very much appreciated. Photos to come

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SmoothRider