Below is a list of some of the abnormalities I have observed with my 87 300TD. Hopefully someone will have an idea where I should start looking.

Gremlin#1. While driving the radio stopped playing and the antenna retracted. I attempted to raise the antenna with the switch, but nothing happened. When I checked the fuse box, the radio is not listed on any of the fuses. In checking other systems to see if anything else was not working I found that the right headlight, low beam was not functioning. I checked all fuses and they appear to be OK. On the drive home my radio suddenly started functioning (and antenna). When I pulled into the driveway I noticed my RH headlight low beam was now working!

Gremlin#2. On a prolonged drive at night after approx. 4 hours the "SRS" (airbag) light began to flicker intermittently. This lasted for about one hour and has not happened since.

Gremlin#3. Occasionally when turning the ignition switch to "ON" the sunroof will open. I close the sunroof and when I release the switch, the sunroof opens again. This will go on for four or five cycles and then the sunroof stays closed. Sometimes when I have had the sunroof tilted up (at the back) and I go to close it down, the back closes and the the sunroof slides open, etc.

Gremlin#4. Occasionally when turning on the ignition I will hear a strange annoying buzzer (or alarm) from somewhere behind the drivers seat to the left. The alarm (if that is what it is) does not sound healthy at all, more of a strangled sound. The alarm should not be sounding though, as I have just unlocked the car with the Master Key.

The local dealer tells me I have a bad ignition switch and tumbler. He said that when the ignition switch is turned to on and wiggled that strange electrical things happen. He also tells me I have a bad alternator and battery. The battery is recent and I am looking back through service records to see if the alternator has ever been changed on this car. The red alternator fail light comes on when you first turn the ignition switch to on, but then goes out when you start the car. I would have thought if the alternator was bad that the "fail" light would be on. I hooked up a charger to the battery when I came home from the dealer and the battery immediately started taking a 9 amp charge. After 5 seconds this had dropped to 5 amps and after 30 minutes to zero.

Can any of the above problems be related to the ignition switch?

What other suggestions might fit the type of problems I am observing?

Thanks for your help,

Steve A

Steve:

You have a bad alternator -- the light is just a voltage signal, hooked up to the diodes so that the lamp grounds if no current at all is being generated. You have bad diodes, so you don't have sufficient voltage. Low voltage does strange things in these cars, like turning the radio off, rinning the wipers, etc, from current loop feedback.

You also have some bad fuses -- pull them out and you will find a ring cut into the base and two small holes punched into the top from the clips. The fuse box isn't completely watertight, so condesation forms on the fuses and corrodes them!

The radio is on fuse #1 on my 87 300D.

The SRS light intermittantly coming on for random times is worn sliprings in the steering column -- another fix I need to do on the 300TE!

Peter

__________________
1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!