SL55 AMG (2003) Electronics

[lovemerc]

It looks like something sad lonely men would have used for DIY satisfaction, i'm sure I've seen them advertised in the back of a 1970's mucky book

Simon, before you did all that work cleaning up all the contacts as per yours and wiz's other thread, did they look worse than these below? They, to me at least, don't look in poor condition but I'm not sure if this would be causing my dash to go crazy like yours and Wizs did...

I haven't gone as far as removing the seat today, just peeled carpet back from kick panel. The black trunking floor was moist but wires looked dry. But I suspect I'm not to expect to see that particular area flooded except foams are soden...

Any thoughts guys?

 

[television]

That is alive with corrosion and must be cleaned up or they will all fall apart.

 

[lovemerc]

Wow it looks that bad eh! Ok, how do I remove the the individual wires/spades from the cam, will they just pull out after I remove the tiny black sheath covers on them individually? They look tricky and I don't won't to damage anything...

 

[television]

Wow it looks that bad eh! Ok, how do I remove the the individual wires/spades from the cam, will they just pull out after I remove the tiny black sheath covers on them individually? They look tricky and I don't won't to damage anything...

I am sure that I can see green/blue algae in the pins, if there is just pour some lighter fuel over the whole thing, then when dry follow up with a non drying switch cleaner.

If I am wrong and no algae just give them a spray of the switch cleaner.

 

[lovemerc]

Ooh ok, so I don't have to remove the pin connectors then
Will WD40 suffice as a switch cleaner or is that different?

 

[vauxhallmaniac]

Hi Mark, cleaning mine ended up being a temporary fix as the pins were badly corroded inside the plugs, from memory there is a black plastic locking clamp on the multiplug you remove that and then you can remove each plug ( the pin inside is where you will see the bulk of the corrosion some wont even come apart if the corrosion is bad & break) best fix is to cut the plug out altogether if you look at the bar inside there are only two tracks I soldered all the brown wires together then shrink wrapped and likewise with the brown/red no more problems and no chance of it happening again. Purists will tell you this will make diagnostics more difficult as plugs cannot be removed for testing purposes in reality it is highly unlikely your Indy/Main Agent will need to get in there except for this very common water ingress fault Hope this helps Simon

 

[lovemerc]

Excellent, yes it does thanks Simon. I will explore the contacts a little further then but not sure how the black plastic connector comes apart. Will have a play.

The main thing is that, as your symptoms sounded like my dash needles going to zero, warning lights coming on, flat/low consumer battery all happening momentary when driving, this procedure should fix it by the sounds of things, after sorting out the blocked drain which I have.

I suspect the R230 was designed by a whiskey drinker as there seems to be enough water in them to go with it

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[vauxhallmaniac]

I'm pretty sure the plastic clamp is a tease up with a small electrical screwdriver effort!!! Best of Luck Simon

 

[television]

Ooh ok, so I don't have to remove the pin connectors then
Will WD40 suffice as a switch cleaner or is that different?

Wd40 will have some cleaning effect but will no last like a one drying switch cleaner.

 

[lovemerc]

I'm pretty sure the plastic clamp is a tease up with a small electrical screwdriver effort!!! Best of Luck Simon

Yes I see. Thanks.

 

[lovemerc]

Wd40 will have some cleaning effect but will no last like a one drying switch cleaner.

Ah! That's the difference. Ok thanks.

 

[Cole@MBS]

If the tiny pins in that block have been wet for to long, they break away, your have to remove each pug to see how bad they are.....

 

[lovemerc]

If the tiny pins in that block have been wet for to long, they break away, your have to remove each pug to see how bad they are.....

Thanks for this. Is it a case of 'pulling' off the little black hard plastic shroud that covers the top of them and then pointy nose pliers to pull them out?

 

[Cole@MBS]

With the cover off, the plugs pull out by hand, if you use pliers your prob break them.....

 

[lovemerc]

Ok thanks. The pair in the image that I looked at today were very stiff so perhaps that is a further sign that something is wrong with the contact.

Thank you.

 

[television]

There is a little prong on them, I insert a fine needle to push the prong in so that the pins lift out, if they are all whole some then I leave them in. the other snag as Colin says is they get brittle and loose their strength

You can buy the new pins from MB

When you get down to the blue wake up wires and the brown/red wake up, these will all need to be checked and cleaned, the first bunch is passenger side up front, the second set is behind the passenger seat , but still in the sill wells and these may be OK. In my SL there were no plugs and socket as all of the wires were soldered together and sleeved.

CAN and wake up are critical, they must be good as these cables carry no current at all.

 

[lovemerc]

Great stuff, thanks Malcolm. All of these advices make members like me feel more confident about tackling these things as we then know what to look out for

Will crack on over the next few day and update after drying foams, cleaning contacts etc and then waiting to see if all is well.

Cheers.

 

[dannyfiveforty]

Mark, how long were your dials playing up for? How often would the fault occur?

Thanks

 

[lovemerc]

On Saturday I drove the car approx 10 miles without issue. As it was a dry sunny day I took the roof down for the return trip and to help with the wet carpet. During this 10 mile, 20 mins return trip, the dash craziness occurred half way through for about 3secs! Then normal for say 10sec or so, then crazy for another 3secs and back to normal before it duplicated the same very short behaviour I think at least one more time.
The behaviour is so quick but it includes roof open, dials to zero, battery symbol, and may be more but it's quite disturbing... All very quickly before it disappears and resumes normality!!

I've driven it a few times since and it happened on I think one more occasion this week. The only other thing is now I am encountering a high consumer battery drain overnight although she starts and recharges at the moment.

I'm just hoping that it's all due to the wet floor, wiring and connections that I need now to check.

 

[vauxhallmaniac]

On Saturday I drove the car approx 10 miles without issue. As it was a dry sunny day I took the roof down for the return trip and to help with the wet carpet. During this 10 mile, 20 mins return trip, the dash craziness occurred half way through for about 3secs! Then normal for say 10sec or so, then crazy for another 3secs and back to normal before it duplicated the same very short behaviour I think at least one more time.
The behaviour is so quick but it includes roof open, dials to zero, battery symbol, and may be more but it's quite disturbing... All very quickly before it disappears and resumes normality!!

I've driven it a few times since and it happened on I think one more occasion this week. The only other thing is now I am encountering a high consumer battery drain overnight although she starts and recharges at the moment.

I'm just hoping that it's all due to the wet floor, wiring and connections that I need now to check.

Exactly the same faults as mine Mark this will be the fault