harati

Yes, the seals are installes correctly. It's not from them. The previous were installed upside-down the sticky side.

Maj. Dundee

Then I don't know what to tell you other than to break out the garden hose and try to find the location of the leak.

texterted

How do the seals fit, sticky to the body or the light unit?

Maj. Dundee

Sticky to the body.

harati

Almost 3 months nothing and after the 3 days under the rain yet again the same problem. This time rear SAM is dry and clean; rear tailgate module is dray and clean.... i thing there might be a bad ground somewhre. Can anyone give me the groinding points for the front SAM and engine compartment to check them all, please?

Maj. Dundee

Where is the water located? What problems are you having?

harati

Here the video again :
And battery drain when this occurs.
There was moisture in the SAM compartment, water in the compartment behind left tail light; water/moisture in the rear tailgate plug and motor compartment.
Now everything above is dry and clean.
There was rain again for two days, but everything is dry. But the problem starts again

Maj. Dundee

What do you mean by "motor compartment"?

harati

Sorry - power rear tailgate compartment in the trunk.

Maj. Dundee

I will check the wiring diagrams and let you know what might be causing the problem. It may take a few hours.

Have you checked for water where the battery and the front SAM are located?

harati

Thank you!
Yes and i think there is no water in the battery and front SAM compartment.

Maj. Dundee

The ground (W29/2) for the Inst. Cluster is at the right side kick panel.

Two fuses power up the Inst. Cluster:

1. fuse #11 in the Cockpit fuse box at the right side. That fuse also powers up the Exterior Light Sw.

2. fuse #55 in the Cargo Area fuse box.

harati

Thank you!
With removal of fuse 55 the flickering stops (my test last night). This morning i left the car to my mechanic and he will test for parasitic battery drains, SAM checks and so
My question is what module; ground; corrrosive things can send signals to those fuses - 10 and 55?
Can it be a CAN problem or something?
Bad wiring somewhere ?

Maj. Dundee

Anything is possible. I would start with the rear where the water entered.

harati

Well..... Most annoying thing is that now, there is no dashboard flickering cluster lights, no battery drain at all, all day. The car is at my mechanic garage. We'll see what will happen next days.

flybd5

Many years ago, I was working as volunteer at an aviation museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and since my specialty is avionics and aircraft electrical systems, I was asked to adopt the museum's B-17G Pathfinder bomber's systems. One day I was asked to figure out why the starters for engines 1 and 3 were intermittent, but the ones for engines 2 and 4 were good. After looking at the schematics and scratching my bald spot for a while, I joined the owner of the museum and his crew on the ramp, and asked them to show me what was going on. They showed me the problem, and I determined the starter switch was good, so I took a wire brush, removed the who-knows-how-old humungous fuse from the fuse panel, wire-brushed the fuse holder and the ends of the fuse, and reinstalled it. Problem gone.

I mention this story because your mention of moisture inside the vehicle, along with the video of the symptom, suggests a hail-mary longshot to me... moisture-induced corrosion in the ignition switch/contacts?

harati

Well... it could be! But which contacts to look for? So many plugs in this car...
But still - the fuse holders can be spray with contact cleaner, right?

flybd5

Start with the one to the ignition switch, because that video looks to me like what you would see if you quickly tried to operate it from off to acc and back. Contact cleaner works. I also use WD-40 because it is NOT a lubricant, it is designed to keep moisture away and corrosion from starting. The "WD" stands for "water displacement." Works wonders to protect things in the engine compartment too, if you let it dry to a film. It attracts dust, but as opposed to corrosion, power spray takes it all off and you just respray.

If nothing there, then I would check connectors to anything that leads to the start switch, but I am not an MB maintenance guru like Maj Dundee. I would, however, pull connectors that may even be remotely related and look for evidence of corrosion, such as any powdery film, usually white- or grey-colored.

And while you're at it, go get yourself a couple of large dessicant bags and hide them under the seats to get that moisture out of the cabin. If it is the cause of the problem, it will only get worse if you don't get things bone-dry, pronto.

harati

OK. Today my mechanic, who also have ML W164, change the dashboards between the 2 ML's. My dashboard was working perfect with his car, but his dashboard on my car was as video above shows.
So the problem is that something (module, front SAM) send signals to the dashboard to flicker the cluster lights.
I need a wiring diagram from the dashboard to the other modules that have access to the dashboard. Can someone give me wiring scheme or something?
What is connected to the dashboard, except the front SAM module?

Maj. Dundee

Here is the wiring diag. and legend. You must print it out and tape it together.

harati

Thank you very much, Maj, Dundee!

harati

A bit of update - there was a broken minus plug for the battery and a front SAM module was green in most of the connectors.
The minus plug for the battery was changed, the SAM cleaned.
Now the weather is rainy and there is a "live"test now.

Maj. Dundee

What is a minus plug?

harati

Minus plug is the plug you attach to the battery - i don't know how to explain it/word of it.
Minus plug and Plus plug - both plugs attached to the Minus and/or Plus connectors of the battery.

Maj. Dundee

OK now I understand, but they are called POSITIVE and NEGATIVE posts and cables.

The water entry is caused by faulty tail lamp seals or a drainage problem at the sunroof.