W208 Seat Adjustment Control

[RhodieBill]

Hi.
As some of you may know I was having an issue with my Door Check Strap - anyway, that is solved. (I hope).

But in doing such repair I had to remove the Door Panel, and to do that I had to remove some plug-in connections.

Now somehow when removing or replacing the Socket for the Seat Control one of the Pins broke off, Number 5 to be exact. (See Photo).
Now of course my Seats do not work at all so I'm presuming it is the Live or the Earth Supply as the Seats are dead - nothing will move.

Now I was hoping to do some sort of repair but the PCB won't come out as the Buttons are still connected on the other side and seem reluctant to come off....??? Is there a special way to get them off?

Any ideas chaps - or does anybody have a spare one please? (PN#210 820 90 10).

Thanks in advance?

 

[RhodieBill]

Well, a quick update. I've managed to do a sort of "fix" in the meantime.

What I did was stick a bit of stiff solid copper wire more or less the thickness of the missing pin in until there is about a mm protruding from the female socket. As you will see from the photo where the pin broke off there is some of it slightly protruding from the unit's male end.
I was hoping that the two would reach each other when I connected the Socket - and they did, and it WORKS!!! Plus it seems very secure aswell......

You see, living in Africa all those years had its advantages...... We could always "Make a Plan". Usually because we had no other choice!

 

[Blobcat]

Well, a quick update. I've managed to do a sort of "fix" in the meantime.

What I did was stick a bit of stiff solid copper wire more or less the thickness of the missing pin in until there is about a mm protruding from the female socket. As you will see from the photo where the pin broke off there is some of it slightly protruding from the unit's male end.
I was hoping that the two would reach each other when I connected the Socket - and they did, and it WORKS!!! Plus it seems very secure aswell......

You see, living in Africa all those years had its advantages...... We could always "Make a Plan". Usually because we had no other choice!

I was going to suggest soldering a pin or bit of wire to the broken off stump

 

[RhodieBill]

I was going to suggest soldering a pin or bit of wire to the broken off stump

Hi.

I had thought of that but it is very tight to get to and I was worried that with the heat it might upset something else....

Like I chose Fusion over Fission...lol.

 

[Blobcat]

Hi.

I had thought of that but it is very tight to get to and I was worried that with the heat it might upset something else....

Like I chose Fusion over Fission...lol.

The pins are soldered in originally so as long as you’re not completely ham-fisted in applying the heat it shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[RhodieBill]

The pins are soldered in originally so as long as you’re not completely ham-fisted in applying the heat it shouldn’t be an issue.

Again, I did think of that but as stated you cannot remove the PCB because the adjuster buttons are connected and they didn't want to come off. (The buttons have to be removed to take out the PCB). And to solder on a new pin you have to get to the back of the PCB, or rather the side that you cannot see).
Basically what I came up with was a "last resort" solution. Short of buying a replacement!

Annoyed does not cover it......

 

[Wearsafoxhat]

But it works. May give you time to source a replacement at a decent price. Good idea.
Don’t think I would have attempted soldering either, a lot of heat needed to get that pin hot and quite likely to upset something at the other end.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[davemercedes]

Well done Rhodbill - as the saying goes. necessity is the mother of invention. The best Service Manager I ever worked with had no truck with parts shortages - unless it was a visual sort of item such as a trim part, they made it. He liked to joke about a mechanic with the Desert Rats filling in a ‘Waiting for Parts’ job report!

Of course it’s not always possible but you’ve shown how determination can be the best tool in the box!

 

[ajlsl600]

i pass trucks here with cranks lying on the road under the truck 3/4 days later its gone( the truck ) i have seen merc trucks with a million wires hanging out twisted and taped up then driven off 2/3 days later , N .F STAR HERE. so tho devoid if aesthetics these guys do get stuff moving ...

 

[RhodieBill]

Well done Rhodbill - as the saying goes. necessity is the mother of invention. The best Service Manager I ever worked with had no truck with parts shortages - unless it was a visual sort of item such as a trim part, they made it. He liked to joke about a mechanic with the Desert Rats filling in a ‘Waiting for Parts’ job report!

Of course it’s not always possible but you’ve shown how determination can be the best tool in the box!

Thank you Dave - that's very kind of you to say!