[R129 SL] 98 SL500 Electrical Gremlins

[gregorio at weststargroup.net]

Peter;

I've recently noticed some electrical Gremlins myself on my 1991 500 SL, that I am trying to track down.  My local MBZ mechanic was left scratching his head on this one.  While motoring down the road with the A/C on, the will suddenly stop air from coming through the front vents and will then go out the top vents, then back again. Other times, I'll get a clicking noise where the A/C will go off altogether and then turn back on, in some instances, the car will die, but can be started right back up. 

Any of you SL guys have a similar problem I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks, 
Greg 
West Hills, CA
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Peter Cowie 
  To: r129list at mbcoupes.com 
  Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 11:06 PM
  Subject: [R129 SL] 98 SL500 Electrical Gremlins


  A few weeks ago the windscreen washer on my 98 Sl 500 (49000km) was a very lazy squirt, the wiper was very sluggish for about 1/4 of the screen and then everything was OK

  Last weekend it did the same thing only the wiper stopped at the 2 0 clock position, the washer didn't work and the SRS light was feebly alight.

  Stopping the car and turning the ignition off solved the problem.

  Same thing happened today only turning things off didn't fix the problem and, addition to the earlier problems the turn indicator only operated the left side lights. That's right, using the indicator stalk to turn right operated the left indicators. The left worked OK.

  As the SRS light issue is a likely safety issue I had it checked by the local dealer at lunch today.

  Their first suggestion was that the wiper mechanism needed lubrication (bit of a worry aren't they)

  A bit of pressure had them put it on their diagnostic computer and that revealed an over or under voltage error on the SRS system and that they felt that the voltage regulator in the alternator needed replacing as it was charging at 14V (should be 13.7... I would have thought that it could handle an error of 2%)

  They also recommended replacing the combination indicator/ wiper switch on the steering column.

  Although both the problems happening at the same time twice seemed a bit of a coincidence I ordered the voltage regulator and said we would try that first.

  After driving back to work and thinking it over I thought I would try the other combination switch functions and flashed the headlights. 

  The wiper came to life and parked itself, the SRS light went out and the washer and indicators work perfectly again.

  Amazing!

  Has anyone got any clues as to how all of those problems are related and how I should go about stopping a recurrence


  Thanks very much,

  Peter Cowie
  Sydney, Australia 


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