230te rear compartment lights.

[yeadonchap]

Hello all,
Got a bit of a problem with the 4 rear interior lights in my 1991 230te.
Driving along today and they all came on. Stopped & had a wipe round with a cloth (around the tailgate lock) & they went out.
Came back to the car later & they were all on again.
I have had to resort to removing the bulbs.
I know there is a connector into the tailgate lock which when disconnected, stops these interior lights coming on.
The auto shut mechanism dosn't work (which dosn't really bother me). Is there anything I can do th liven up these lights without resorting to a new lock setup - which i imagine will be expensive?
Thanking you...

 

[television]

Isnt this just a matter of checking or changing the light switch

 

[yeadonchap]

do you mean the dashboard switch?
As far as i know this is working ok.

 

[television]

do you mean the dashboard switch?
As far as i know this is working ok.

No, the one on the rear door, they often go out of line

 

[yeadonchap]

Sorry Malcolm,
Could you be a bit more specific?
Is this a switch in the tailgate you are refering to?
As far as I am aware, it is all tied in with the lock set up.
But as I'm sure you can tell, I'm a complete novice.

Thanks.

 

[television]

This is the complete door

I had a feeling that the switch was in the hinge ass, I will post back

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb1.as....218++++++++++++++717.413&CT=F&Cat=15U&SID=74

 

[yeadonchap]

Malcolm,
I got to thinking in response to your first reply.
Possibly the dash switch?
Because this switch can be set to:
Lights to come on with opening doors
Lights to be constantly on
Lights to be constantly off.
If the mechanism in the rear got itself confused, and thought a door was open, putting the lights on - The dash switch set to 'off' would surely over-ride?
The switch was having no effect at all. The lights just stayed on.
Make me think it could be this switch.
Funnily enough, I have just had the rear compartment light switch fail in my 190.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[television]

I think that this all depends on what the dash switch does to turn the lights off, if it kills all grounds, then a short in the rear would override that, if it kill the + voltage it would not.

We have some post somewhere where the wiring goes on the rear hinge.

I will try and find some more info

 

[yeadonchap]

Been messing with this today.
The switch is definately in the lock assembly.
Thought it was fixed but then they all came on again.
Disconnected the power from the lock - but the lights remain on...
Anybody got any ideas??

 

[Dec]

Could this not be relates to passanger door switches?

Dec

 

[yeadonchap]

Pretty sure the passenger door switches are ok. Intermittant fault. When its all working, EVERYTHING works as it should.
Then the lights just come on. Then they will not respond to the dash switch or any of the door switches.
Are they earthing via somewhere else and somehow over riding the other switches??

 

[Dec]

Well I only suggest this because I had a similar problem on my C180, dome and back seat lights kept coming on randomly, brought it to MB dealer, turned out to be a loose wire shorting inside the B pillar. I’m not suggesting you take the B pillar apart. Wait and see what Malcolm comes up with. You could also check the part of the doors that are responsible for pushing the door switches inwards to make sure the are not lose. Don’t know your car well enough to comment further.

Dec

 

[yeadonchap]

Thanks Dec.

I will give your suggestion a go.
Intermittant faults are so frustrating arn't they?
You end up willing it to go wrong so you can show somebody exactly what you mean.

Any other advice/help wil be gratefully recieved.

 

[television]

Please pm me with your Email address and I will send the rear lock set up info

 

[Andy Cottrell]

Hi,

Would agree with Dec that the wires are shorting inside the tailgate or roof area. The wires that go to the light switch on the boot lock are on a terminal strip above the headlining in the rear left hand side ( as you look in from the back), there is a plastic cover ( 5 cross heads ) and a small amount of headlining to remove to gain access to it. I found that the wires on mine went open circuit as you opened/closed the tailgate. Once the tailgate was in either the closed position or the open position everything would work correctly, it was only the action of moving the tailgate that caused the fault.

Hope this helps.

 

[yeadonchap]

Malcolm,
I don't have the option at the moment to do the private messaging thing.
I will try get it sorted and get back to you.
Thanks for your legwork on my behalf.

 

[yeadonchap]

Andy,
Thanks for the tip.
I have been in there not 3 weeks ago, replacing the water pipe for the rear wash/wipe(on the right hand side). Looks like I will be in there again.
Kind regards.

 

[television]

If you have the edit possibility we do do this later in the day at a fixed time, so you can put your Email up and remove under the edit 5 mins later

 

[yeadonchap]

Malcolm,
Can do it now if you like, I have access to the edit function..

Regards

 

[television]

I am here now