Guys!

I just get my car back 3 days ago after such a long time of waiting since the car has been in storage for 6 months and during these 3 days we had over 4 inches of rain! The battery compartment in my 89 300ce had water in it. This is the second time I see water get in there. Looks like I need to get a new battery tray while I'm at it. I hate to see my nice Optima battery sitting on that rusted tray.



What could be causing this?

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1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz

Check the drain at the end of the front windshield sill on that side. In the lip above the black plastic cover over the OVP... The line for that drain runs down along the battery tray. Edit: The drain could be plugged or the line could have a tear.

Also there is a collant line that runs past the front of the battery tray into the expansion tank through the inner firewall. Edit: That line could have a tear if it's coolant in there.

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-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831799&postcount=13
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831807&postcount=14

To the left of that picture you should see a tube running down into the fender. The tube directs water from the corner of the windscreen down through the fender. Sometimes the tube is knocked off to the side, other times its full of dead leaves and other rotten organic material and needs to be cleaned out.

Are you talking about this tube?

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1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz

Yep thats the tube. How does it look?

It looks fine. I followed it from the top to the bottom, but I can't see where it ends. Maybe the inner fender plastic trim has to be removed?? I'm going to do a proper test with some water tomorrow morning.

I did find ap lug when I was cleaning in there and I'm not sure what's it's for

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1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz

The compartmnet was filthy so I decided to clean it up. Here are some before and after pics of the compartment:






Here are some pics of the Battery Tray. I washed it, sanded it with some 220 wet sand paper and I couldn't find some black paint, so I settled for the some "Stove Bright" high temperature paint that is HoneyGlowBrown. Basically, I used stuff that I found lying around the house and it took me 30 minutes. Here's how it turned out:



That saved me $78.75 for a new battery tray from the dealer.

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1989 300CE Astralsilber/Schwarz
1992 300CE Schwarz/Schwarz

Nice job.
I hope all the big red wires coming off the battery terminal are fused.

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2007 C 230 Sport.