Techno Duck

Hello, my father recently purchased a '94 E320 with about 65k miles on it. The car sat for a number of years outside the previous owners home and aside from a few basic things like a new battery and a oil change its running great. My father however does have a few questions regarding the car considering it came with no owners manual or anything.

1. What is this switch for on the dash? This is not our cars interior, just i did not have a picture of it handy. My guess is for the dome light, but the button seems to have no function.



2. I am aware that the radio requires a code in order to be unlocked after the battery was disconnected. The screen says "C-error..." or something like that, i cant remember. What does that mean? I have read that inputting to many incorrect codes leads to the radio locking itself for up to 24 hours, is this the case here? As soon as we put the new battery in we got this code.

If that does mean the radio is in locked mode, is the amount of time the radio is locked cumlative (as in you can unpower the radio and repower it) or does the radio need to be constantly powered for 24hrs?

3. The transmission does not shift into 3rd gear when the car is cold, is that a sign of any problems with the transmission? After a few minutes it shifts perfectly and very smoothly. We have not changed the fluid yet, but will get around to it in the coming weeks.

4. On the headlight switch, off is the position facing upwards. turning the knob counter clockwise has two other positions one with a "P" or smething like that labeled. What are those for..? Parking lights or something?

5. Also the headlight wipers dont seem to work, how are these turned on? Do they come on with the windshield wiper?

Here are a few pictures of the car,

400E fan

0. Phone Mercedes-Benz USA at 1-800-FOR-MERCEDES (1-800-367-6372) to order an owner’s manual ($15.00 or so, if memory serves). It’s the best investment you can make in getting ‘up to speed’ with the car. The answers to all these questions, and many more, are in it. The repair manual &/or CD may be useful to you, too.

1. That switch controls the rear dome light. If nothing happens when you press it, the bulb may be burned out. The light should also come on when the rear doors are opened. Maybe they were open when you tried it?

2. Yes the radio requires a code to re-activate. Contact your dealer, pink slip in hand, & they’ll take walk you through the procedure. Maybe you can do it while you're on the phone to MBz USA, I dunno'.

3. If, when cold, the transmission does not shift into third at all, no matter what -- then there’s a problem. If it delays shifting longer than when warm, but does eventually shift, then that’s normal. That gets the car up to operating temperature quicker on chilly mornings.

4. The leftward positions of the headlight switch are, indeed, parking lights. You can control the two sides independently, although I’ve never understood why someone would want to.

5. [edit] The headlight wipers only come on with the windshield washer, not with the wipers per se. There should also be a stream of fluid directed at each lens at the same time as the 4 jets for the windshield. These plug up fairly regularly. [/edit]

The car looks great, but what’s up with those wires hanging from the dash? Steering column adjuster?

Techno Duck

400E, thank you for the help. Ill pass that information along to my father. Its very helpful.

Those hanging wires were for a LED light bar that was mounted above the steering colum, part as the visual anti-theft stuff. I think my father taped it off somewhere out of sight until he decides which alarm system he wants to put into the car.

Again, thank you for the help!

ashman

the leftware positions are for when you are parking. in europe, this is to show where the side of the car is on skinny roads so people don't side swipe the car.

400E fan

Ashman --

Ok... I understand that. But how is it better to have half of the lights lit, rather than all of them?

As I see it, there are two possibilities to someone inching along a narrow street in the dark and the fog -- that the lights on the streeet side are lit, or that the the driver made a mistake and turned on the wrong side. Wouldn't having both lit eliminates the guesswork? I can't imagine that the current draw would be enough more to matter.

Not trying to start an argument, I just don't understand... The one option that can't possibly be right, no matter what, is ramming another car. Wouldn't having both sides on eliminate that, at least?

ShoreBenz

The thought process may have been road side saftey on dark foggy roads. The single light might indicate a car on the roadside. Too many times in serverely foggy conditons drivers look for tail lights & follow them to their doom. But now for my disclaimer; although I found these lights amusing, I am not sure of their true purpose.

neanderthal

ashman just stated what thier purpose is.

its to leave on so people wont run into your car. you can switch just one side on as necessary. the streets in europe arent as wide as those her in some of the old cities. in some cases people have to park with one set of wheels on the curb and leave the parking lights on at night.

remember how narrow some of the streets were in ronin?

lkchris

TWO things required for headlight wipers to work.

1. Headlights on.

2. Windshield wash activated.

mhorn

nice car looks great. If you pull out the headlight knob two "clicks" you will see the light in the center of the knob illuminate. This tells you that the "Anti collision" light is on in the back. This is an extra tail light on one side of the car that is supposed to help prevent people from rear ending you in foggy conditions. How that one extra light does any good is beyond me, but there you go.

Techno Duck

mhorn, i figured there was a rear foglight on the car somewhere!

Thank you all for the help. It answered basically all the questions. Defenetley will be buying the owners manual, would make a nice Christmas present for my father i guess.

Thanks everyone!

shadowgriffen

I have never really found the headlight wipers to be very useful anyways...I feel like they are there just for show...they dont really work

mhorn

I don't know this for sure, but I always guessed the headlight wipers were for when you are driving on roads that have been treated with salt. As anybody who's ever driven on the freeway after a road has been de-iced knows, the water mist that cars in front of you put into the air tends to have a lot of chemicals which causes your windshield to become almost impossible to see through very quickly. Wiping alone won't clear it off, you have to hit it with washer fluid to get it off. The same thing happens with your headlights, the road salt coats your headlights and reduces the light they put out, but more importantly, it probably causes a severe amount of heat to build up since that light is now being blocked/absorbed by the headlight cover. I guess it could potentially melt or crack the headlight if it got coated enough. That's my guess.

Techno Duck

Hey guys, two more question. My father asked me to find out how to control the level of brightness for the gauge lights, he says they are a bit to dim for his liking and hopefully there is some adjustment for it. Where is the dial to adjust them?

Or are the dim lights a symptom of an older car possibly? I know my '87 944 was prone to dim gauge cluster lights due to the reflective material degrading over time. Solutions where to use aluminum tape, over wattage bulbs and a clever LED bar (which i have right now).

Also what is the button on the dash with three arrows in a circular formation for? I assume the recirc button for the HVAC? We defenetley need to get the manual for this thing!

Kestas

The dimmer is one of those black shafts protruding on the dash cluster, I think it's the left one.

You're right about the button being for HVAC recirculation.

Techno Duck

Thanks Kestas, worked like a charm .

Heres another question to throw out there, the radio still says 'C-Error' even though my fathers left it powered for a few days now. He plans to pull the radio next and leave it powered with a 12v supply to see if that works maybe.

The radio has a button that says CD on it, however we cannot seem to find the CD-changer (if there is one). Where is its location, in the trunk i guess?

Arnie

My radio says "code" after I re-connect the battery. You have to enter the 5-digit code and then press "sc" button. If it indeed says C-error, I don't know what it could be.

CD changer was an option. The car is usually pre-wired for it. The end of the cable should be located in the trunk. A $275 Alpine 6-disk changer with a $60 adaptor will work (beats dealer's $700 for the same thing with Mercedes logo on it).