[cmj912]

Hi,
I am the new owner of a 1988 190D 2.5 (nonturbo) with 200,000 miles.

I have a couple of questions and I did search the forum but I didn't find anything exactly on the mark...

Anyway,

1) The glove box light is always on because the door's warped. Does anyone have a solution for this?

2) With the battery connected, no matter what it seems there was power to the windows and radio no matter what, even with the key out and the ignition off. Is this normal? I don't have the manual...

3) I noticed some fluid around the 'MANN' filter next to the oil filter housing which I think is the spin on fuel filter. Looks like it might be a bit of diesel. If it is old, which it might be, perhaps it leaks? Or there is a leak from someplace else.

4) The locks are possessed. They work, but did not unlock until ten minutes after I had fiddled with the key. I had seen vacuum leak issue forums but I wasn't sure why the car would 'wait that long'.

5) The car is slow to go into reverse. I am sure this is probably extremely bad. LOL **although actually the guy that sold it to me said something about bushings. which i just found in the conveniently lit glovebox. lol

 

[insame1]

1) The glove box light is always on because the door's warped. Does anyone have a solution for this?

I would disconnect the switch.

2) With the battery connected, no matter what it seems there was power to the windows and radio no matter what, even with the key out and the ignition off. Is this normal? I don't have the manual...

This isn't right. I am guessing that someone did some bad re wiring.

Sorry that's all i got for ya.

 

[cmj912]

I might be mistaken. When I leaned into the car, I touched the window switch. In order for me to be leaning into the car, I had to have the door open. I just read in a UK MB forum that you can, in fact open the windows with the key out of the ignition (or that this is not abnormal).

As for the radio, that was the odd bit.

I will have to be a little bit more methodical about checking to see whether the key was in while the glovebox lamp was lit or not. If it goes out when you shut the door with the key out, then I am even dumber than I give myself credit for.

Mysterious owning the car without a manual and looking everything up on the internet. LOL

 

[insame1]

I haven't driven my 201 in a while but i believe with the door open you should be able to move the seat with the key out but I don't think the windows work. The radio I bet is hooked up wrong. The wiring is not US specs. I bet they don't have a switched power hooked up.

 

[Jippi]

the glove box light is only on with the key in the ignition

 

[cmj912]

I think there are some wiring things that are funky:
The SRS light blinks when you open the door.
The dome light works at the switch but not with the doors.
I think the guy that shipped the car said the glove box light was always on because the car was shipped with the key in the ignition. The light doesn't turn off because the door won't close enough to compress the switch.
I found a vacuum line disconnected (black) right before going through the firewall. The locking pump must have a leak (it loses reserve).
I can't find the emergency shutoff lever for the engine.

I love the car though. I drove it around a little today and it is more powerful than I was expecting. Interestingly all of the interior lighting - right down to the sunroof switch - still works.

On the plus side: the interior is in pretty good shape although the driver's seat needs some repair. The engine runs very well. All of the windows and the sunroof work very well. There is no significant rust anywhere on the car, just lightly oxidated spots that are just beginning.

 

[mxfrank]

The dome light isn't just a bulb and a socket. It has a board inside that delays the off for a few seconds after the door closes. If the board is toast, then there's no way to get it out of the fixture. You can live with it, replace the fixture, or short the contacts on the circuit (bypassing the delay function).

There is a diode that allows power to go to the seats when the door is open. (When the car is running, the seats are always powered.) The diode prevents current from "leaking" back into the system. If it was replaced with a straight piece of wire, you could power a lot of things when the door is opened.

These two parts may be related...maybe a failure of the diode caused the PO to replace it with a piece of wire, which caused the dome light to be on all the time...something like that.

 

[cmj912]

The dome light isn't just a bulb and a socket. It has a board inside that delays the off for a few seconds after the door closes. If the board is toast, then there's no way to get it out of the fixture. You can live with it, replace the fixture, or short the contacts on the circuit (bypassing the delay function).

There is a diode that allows power to go to the seats when the door is open. (When the car is running, the seats are always powered.) The diode prevents current from "leaking" back into the system. If it was replaced with a straight piece of wire, you could power a lot of things when the door is opened.

These two parts may be related...maybe a failure of the diode caused the PO to replace it with a piece of wire, which caused the dome light to be on all the time...something like that.

I agree with you, I think some of it has to do with the radio, too, which works all the time. Key in, key out, and I would have thought it would not work if the battery was disconnected/reconnected.

I am, however, being confusing about the interior lights. The dome light will work if you move the switch to reading light, full light, off etc., but if you have it on 'door' it does not seem to work with the opening and closing of the door.

The light that is ALWAYS lit when the key's in is the glovebox lamp because the glovebox door doesn't close all the way.

 

[cmj912]

After a few more days with the car, some things I have noticed:

Yes, my windshield washers work. Everything in the car works including the air conditioning, the sunroof, the radio, all 4 windows, and the cruise control. Incredible. Fewer rattles than my brand new car and it was 21 degrees outside this morning. Note to self: MBTex is indestructible but rather cold on the backside.

Okay, well the door locks don't always work and the driver's side doesn't work with the key. You have to unlock the passenger side. Some minutes later, maybe soon, maybe never, you will hear the rest of them unlock.

I bought a used NAM headlamp on Amazon because the driver's side has a crack in it. Following the instructions I pop the hood and lo and behold I can't get the headlight out. The tab thingy with the wheel should unscrew and the light and turn signal should slide right out, yes? No. The light is GLUED IN.

Well, that explains why it hasn't been replaced up until now. I am going to have to buy a whole new assembly and literally chip the old one out.

*In other news, I know my drivers seat is collapsed. All the way along the door side so I sit tilted toward the door. I envision having to swap the seat cushions but I think I'll just buy a replacement so the passenger doesn't have to sit on the floor. Is it hard to get the seat bottom out? I haven't seen too many posts on just getting that piece out without having to disassemble the whole seat. All I want to do is put in a new seat bottom so I don't feel like I'm three feet tall. Otherwise, the interior is in okay shape other than the totally delaminated center switch panel.

*The engine runs quite well. All of the filters and the oil are new, the engine is clean for its age and warms up nicely. I hit the cruise lever when I was on the highway and it must have been "Resume". Bad idea. But it works...
Runs more quietly at speed than I would have expected. The pressure drops to about 1.5/1.75 at idle when the engine is all warmed up. I don't want to assume this is normal, but it does return to 3 as soon as you hit the accelerator.

One thing I noticed is that probably every tenth start or so I don't get the glow plug light. The car is always warm when this happens. Last night I went to Petco and the car was parked for about 20 minutes. When I got in, no light. The car started immediately with no smoke. Still, that weirds me out a little. Is this a sign of bad plugs or a bad relay? It happens I would say 1 in ten times, and only when the car is restarted after just being driven.

Otherwise I am in need of the following:
Parking brake button and spring
Shift Bushings
A new set of matching higher quality tires
Various dumb cosmetics like a dashpad

Otherwise I would say I am relatively impressed with how well she has weathered the years. Perhaps no surprise to you but being my first Mercedes and all...

 

[cmj912]

here is a photo

 

[mxfrank]

The first sign of bad plugs is that the light doesn't come on when you start, but comes on steady when you are driving awhile. Sounds like one of your plugs may be on the way out. I wouldn't worry about it unless it gets worse.

Your oil pressure is normal...it should drop to 1.5 plus or minus when you're idling warm.

There are several manufacturers making dash covers...I found the best to be Coverlay. No matter what brand you buy, there will be some trimming and fine adjustment needed.

Driver's side not opening with a key usually means the stirrup at the end of the lock is broken. You can test this by swapping locks left and right. However, it's possible that the lock mechanism in the door is frozen, and that would cause the stirrup to break. So be gentle.

The fact that central locking reacts slowly means either that your pump is weak or that there's a leaky vacuum pod in a door, the trunk, or the gas filler. The pump is located under the rear seat on the right side. You'd have to start there and trace the vacuum system.

The tabs that hold the side marker to the main headlamp sometimes break, so someone may have fixed that with glue. I may have a spare yellow side lamp that you can have, but I can't check until next week, and it wouldn't be perfect.

 

[cmj912]

Nope. Just on every tenth or so start, when the engine is warm and you go to restart the car the light won't come on. It doesn't come on when driving. 99% of the time it comes on with the key and does its thing. It doesn't smoke at all at startup, little bit of blue-black smoke under heavy throttle load.

I try to drive the car every day now that it is winter here to keep it from sitting but I know I won't be able to once the snow gets bad. Plus, the engine seems much happier once it is warmed up...quieter, smoother, and less 'abrupt' so I like to get her chugging at least once per day. I put some LubroMoly diesel tank treatment in when I got it a little over 100 miles ago.

The vacuum lock pump doesn't always seem to run. I hear it occasionally so it is probably weak and dying. There is also that capped tube in the engine compartment. I traced it as far as I could see and it goes down under the engine. I don't want to take the screw out because if that's the magic one that will make it run forever (and I can't find the STOP lever) then ... um, no.

The driver's door key just turns left to right. There is little resistance. I will be you are right that the stirrup is broken. The other door meets with more chuff and pushes the button up and down. The drivers door doesn't.

Thank you for the offer of the lamp! I may take you up on it. No worries or hurry. It doesn't need to be perfect; mine is glued to the body and covered with duct tape marks. As long as it isn't physically broken and will attach properly to the headlight (so I can get the headlight out!) that would be very cool. All my lights work so I'm not in a hurry.

I'd love to take the winter and rebuild the drivers seat, since I think I'd be good at that. I am more carpenter than electrician. I wish the seats were manual, though, because I looked under there and was displeased at the number of connections. I have read every seat-related post on here I think. I'd like to buy a new seat frame only and rebuild from there but I guess I'd have to take the whole seat out and apart to get it back to perfect I guess.

Thanks again...

 

[cmj912]

I just noticed this on another board and I wonder if it is true...

"If you restart a hot engine, you might not notice the preglow indicator come on because it'll go off very quickly even if the plugs are still energized. I don't know if preglow cycle time varies with engine temp or is different from the maximum cycle time of a conventional relay."

 

[cmj912]

The first sign of bad plugs is that the light doesn't come on when you start, but comes on steady when you are driving awhile. Sounds like one of your plugs may be on the way out. I wouldn't worry about it unless it gets worse.

I'm also reading lots of fun information that because the injection pump is worn (i.e., on the way out) the car *needs* the glow cycle to start when hot. If the engine is hot, the relay says "no glow" or "short glow" but that is not enough juice to start the engine quickly.

Last night my second two trips were no-glow. The car cranked a couple times. I don't crank long (less than 5 seconds). This is because when I DO get glow, the car barely even turns over before it starts...like 1.5 cranks. The second try, when I pressed the accelerator a little, the car started immediately.