W124 electrics please help!

[Mr Livered]

I absolutely bloody hate electrics. It's one of the reasons I prefer old cars: looking after anything post-2000ish would have me electrocuting myself for sure, either accidentally or deliberately, out of despair.

 

On my W124 estate, the following electrical faults all appeared at once:

Nearside rear indicator not working

Offside rear light not working

Instrument panel illumination not working

Buzzer for lights on+door open not working

 

It certainly seems that these faults appeared at exactly the same time, so I wondered if all those things were on the same fuse, which had blown.

 

Those things are not on the same fuse, and anyway the fuses all appear fine.

 

So... er... I don't even know what to check next.

 

My 8 year old fried my multimeter a couple of weeks ago so I've ordered a replacement. Whilst I wait for it to arrive, may I tap into the assembled Autoshite expertise and ask for advice/pointers?

 

Ta in advance.

[Barry Cade]

Best thing you can do to avoid electrical issues on a W124 is remove each fuse 1 by 1, bend the terminals in slightly, give them a wee scrape with sandpaper then fit a NEW fuse. Well worth doing before diving in looking for problems.

[Mr Livered]

Best thing you can do to avoid electrical issues on a W124 is remove each fuse 1 by 1, bend the terminals in slightly, give them a wee scrape with sandpaper then fit a NEW fuse. Well worth doing before diving in looking for problems.

Oh ok that sounds like a good plan. The fuses (you'll already know this) are of the type that has the wire on the outside, and my assumption was that if it looks ok it probably is ok.

 

Rong?

 

I'll buy a few more and do as you suggest. Thanks for the reply

[HMC]

Its hard to tell Sometimes, I had similar niggles on a w124 and i removed the fuses and cleaned the fuse retainers with electrical contact cleaner which sorted things out.

[twosmoke300]

Your panel lights, tail light and buzzer are all connected, probably on the same sidelight fuse. Has the car got or had a Tow bar? I'm betting it's the 7 pin socket full of water/corrosion blowing fuses

[Timewaster]

Towbar electrics is a good call. Failing that maybe tail light full of water or a crappy earth on the lights.

[richardmorris]

Fuses are the terrible ceramic + wire on the outside sort. Take them all out and clean  / replace them all and clean the contacts up.

[mercrocker]

My W124 and W201 both suffer/ed the same with the fuse  box, about this time of year with cold damp/warm damp fluctuations....Theres a lot of the little buggers but its  worth starting with those - I changed all mine at the same time.

[Mr Livered]

Thanks guys.

 

I've just discovered, having left it for a couple of days, that the battery is flat so something's draining it. Could this be - to someone possessed of more brains than I - be a clue to the fault?