Re: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you drive, lots....
prev post said: Seat heater problems CAN knock out a
battery and exceed the capacity of the alternator
Had this happen to me with the rear window defogger - left it on the W108
elec sys couldn't handle it for long. The manual said 20 min max.
Sincerely,
Larry T ('74 911, '67 MGB, 78 240D)
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- Original Message -
From: John M McIntosh [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Mercedes mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you
drive,lots
On 17-Nov-05, at 11:52 AM, Marshall Booth wrote:
Did I correctly interpret heat seater lights as an indication
that you
have seat heaters in the car? Seat heater problems CAN knock out a
battery and exceed the capacity of the alternator I'm told, but I've
never dealt with that problem as I don't have seat heaters in ANY
of my
cars. I'm PRETTY sure there were revisions to the seat heater circuits
but I'm NOT sure when they occurred.
Heated cloth orthopaedic seats, wife said write the cheque don't
argue about the price the fellow wants for the car.
btw right seat heater wasn't working 20/30? amp fuse crumbled in my
hand when I checked an hour after purchase,
12+ years old, mantra replace all the fuses
Both the heated seats and rear defrost switches will flash when
voltage goes low, as documented.
Turning those three on, plus lights, plus blower, after sucking 60
seconds or so of glow plug heating sent battery over the edge.
As mentioned in earlier note voltage regulator was bad, no amps
coming from alternator according to diagnostics.
We guess the battery (new) did hold up for a few days or so before
everything quit, was lucky there was enough juice to start the engine
that morning.
Mind it would have been less hassle if it didn't start because end
result would have been a tow anyways and I would have just grabbed
another
vehicle that morning.
John
1983 300TDt 358k Kilometers (mobil 1 Delvac)
1990 300TDt 154k Kilometers (mobil 1 Delvac)
1993 500SEL 168k Kilometers (mobil 1 0w40)
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Re: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you drive, lots....
Yes, the newer ones will keep running, but will have NO power. Dave M. wrote: That's the great thing about the old, mechanical OM60x engines. Once the engine is started, it requires zero electrical connections to STAY running. You will lose wipers, lights, climate control, etc... but the engine will run until the fuel tank is emptied. The 1990-up models that have vacuum-operated wategates may suffer power loss (no boost), but they also should keep running. :-) +dm -- Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 13:13:27 -0800 From: John M McIntosh [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you drive, lots For excitement this morning, got in w124 wagon, started up drove off to highway, then notice heat seater lights blinking, heated rear window switch blinking. Mmm, charging issue, or battery (new battery tho). Yes the serpentine belts is still there, make decision surely I can make it to dealer 20 miles away, shut everything electrical off, that or stop car on highway and deal with it. Nah lets assume the alternator isn't working, should have enough amps to get there. Let's see ABS light comes on, SRS light, ASD light, wipers quit, lights go dim... Still runs tho, I wonder is that diesel lift pump is mechanical or electric? 5 miles to go, starts to rain. I'm toast, wiper won't function, find a nice large parking lot to pull into and arrange car for towing. Wait an hour for tow truck etc... If it' hadn't started to rain I would have made the dealer, in thinking back it must be the glow plug relay stuck pulling more amps than what the 65Amp alternator could deal with and sucked everything dry within 30 minutes, should have thought of that and pulled the glowplug connector, sigh... PS well I might have stopped once I started to enter the city it was unclear how bright (not) the brake lights were. Still it appears you can run a w124 diesel a long way with faulty electrical system. John 1983 300TDt 358k Kilometers (mobil 1 Delvac) 1990 300TDt 154k Kilometers (mobil 1 Delvac) 1993 500SEL 168k Kilometers (mobil 1 0w40) ___ For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net -- Kaleb C. Striplin/Claremore, OK 89 560SEL, 87 300SDL, 85 380SE, 85 300D, 84 250 LWB, 83 300TD, 81 300TD, 81 240D, 81 240D, 76 450SEL, 76 240D, 76 300D, 74 240D, 69 250 Okie Benz Auto parts-email for used parts
Re: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you drive, lots....
I drove my turbodiesel vanagon from Chicago to Scranton, PA with no alternator, even using the wipers and lights the last two hours. Still had enough juice to roll start the next morning. Dan Still it appears you can run a w124 diesel a long way with faulty electrical system. John -- Dan Weeks 82 VW Westfalia 1.6 TD conversion 182k 82 Mercedes 300SD, 275k
Re: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you drive, lots....
Voltage regulator, bad. Did not charge the battery. By observing the issues the few days before, this happened over a few days and that morning glowing, heaters etc managed to suck the last amps out of the battery. PS funny thing is that last week when I was diagnosing my climate controls issues I had a volt meter test on the voltage to various parts of the cc logic when idling and was thinking, gee the voltage seems low if the system is suppose to be charging the battery, but warning bells didn't go off. On 16-Nov-05, at 1:13 PM, John M McIntosh wrote: For excitement this morning, got in w124 wagon, started up drove off to highway, then notice heat seater lights blinking, heated rear window switch blinking. -- === John M. McIntosh [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1-800-477-2659 Corporate Smalltalk Consulting Ltd. http://www.smalltalkconsulting.com ===
Re: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you drive, lots....
That's not quite right. You probably have 50-60 hours of life at 1 amp. When the battery gets much over 50% discharged, it probably won't have enough juice to run the starter, and the lights will be noticeably dim. The radio will probably run a lot longer, but not much else. Ron Dwelle On Nov 17, 2005, at 12:12 PM, Loren Faeth wrote: If your battery has 100 Amp hours available, and you can draw only 1 amp, then you have 100 hours of lifemore or less
Re: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you drive, lots....
That is correct, but I was talking theory, and with a relatively small current drain, as in running a diesel down the road with lights and all un-necessary electric consumers off. Hitting the starter changes the underlying assumptions. In practice, if you have 100 Amp hours, you might only get 70-80 hours of 1 amp draw due to operating losses. In practice, a 100 Amp hour battery may only have 50-60 amp hours available. At 11:50 AM 11/17/2005, you wrote: That's not quite right. You probably have 50-60 hours of life at 1 amp. When the battery gets much over 50% discharged, it probably won't have enough juice to run the starter, and the lights will be noticeably dim. The radio will probably run a lot longer, but not much else. Ron Dwelle On Nov 17, 2005, at 12:12 PM, Loren Faeth wrote: If your battery has 100 Amp hours available, and you can draw only 1 amp, then you have 100 hours of lifemore or less ___ For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://striplin.net/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_striplin.net
Re: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you drive, lots....
Of course the sad thing here is a huge discussion of battery charging/ voltage. And last week when I was doing diagnostics on my climate controls system, and looking at the voltmeter I'm thinking *gee that voltage seems low if the car is sitting here idling and charging (not) the battery * Nah, couldn't be anything wrong with the charging system... On 17-Nov-05, at 7:23 AM, John M McIntosh wrote: Voltage regulator, bad. Did not charge the battery. By observing the John 1983 300TDt 358k Kilometers (mobil 1 Delvac) 1990 300TDt 154k Kilometers (mobil 1 Delvac) 1993 500SEL 168k Kilometers (mobil 1 0w40)
Re: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you drive, lots....
John M McIntosh wrote: PS well I might have stopped once I started to enter the city it was unclear how bright (not) the brake lights were. Still it appears you can run a w124 diesel a long way with faulty electrical system. I've driven from Pittsburgh to Washington DC (and back ~250 mi each way) several times without a working alternator and my daughter made the trip from Harrisburg PA to Pittsburgh (200 miles) without an alternator. I've never counted on more than a few hours of electrical function (lights, heater fan, wipers, radio, etc.) and I don't turn the engine off (just lock the car with the engine running when making a rest stop). I always tried to leave EARLY in the morning or at least 5-6 hours BEFORE dusk and a RainX treatment of the windows makes it possible to drive in all but the worst weather without wipers (can get tough in snow though). Once moving there's plenty of heat even without the blowers on. Did I correctly interpret heat seater lights as an indication that you have seat heaters in the car? Seat heater problems CAN knock out a battery and exceed the capacity of the alternator I'm told, but I've never dealt with that problem as I don't have seat heaters in ANY of my cars. I'm PRETTY sure there were revisions to the seat heater circuits but I'm NOT sure when they occurred. Marshall -- Marshall Booth (who doesn't respond to unsigned questions) der Dieseling Doktor [EMAIL PROTECTED] '87 300TD 182Kmi, '84 190D 2.2 229Kmi, '85 190D 2.0 161Kmi, '87 190D 2.5 turbo 237kmi
Re: [MBZ] W124 charging system fails, how far can you drive, lots....
In my 560(which I have not driven in a long time because its cursed), when the alternator was not charnged and you turned on the heated seats, the lights in the switches would flash I guess to let you know you have a problem. Marshall Booth wrote: John M McIntosh wrote: PS well I might have stopped once I started to enter the city it was unclear how bright (not) the brake lights were. Still it appears you can run a w124 diesel a long way with faulty electrical system. I've driven from Pittsburgh to Washington DC (and back ~250 mi each way) several times without a working alternator and my daughter made the trip from Harrisburg PA to Pittsburgh (200 miles) without an alternator. I've never counted on more than a few hours of electrical function (lights, heater fan, wipers, radio, etc.) and I don't turn the engine off (just lock the car with the engine running when making a rest stop). I always tried to leave EARLY in the morning or at least 5-6 hours BEFORE dusk and a RainX treatment of the windows makes it possible to drive in all but the worst weather without wipers (can get tough in snow though). Once moving there's plenty of heat even without the blowers on. Did I correctly interpret heat seater lights as an indication that you have seat heaters in the car? Seat heater problems CAN knock out a battery and exceed the capacity of the alternator I'm told, but I've never dealt with that problem as I don't have seat heaters in ANY of my cars. I'm PRETTY sure there were revisions to the seat heater circuits but I'm NOT sure when they occurred. Marshall -- Kaleb C. Striplin/Claremore, OK 89 560SEL, 87 300SDL, 85 380SE, 85 300D, 84 250 LWB, 83 300TD, 81 300TD, 81 240D, 81 240D, 76 450SEL, 76 240D, 76 300D, 74 240D, 69 250 Okie Benz Auto parts-email for used parts
