Nicensleazy
Active Member
The vehicle is a 1998 Elegance in quartz blue with just under 90k on the clock, all documented and in fairly good order. Bought it on a whim about 7 weeks ago and all has been fine and dandy until last Thursday afternoon.
It was a glorious spring time day here in Sheffield when I decided to visit the local car wash (the sort where Eastern European types jet wash, hand shampoo and dry the car for you) this may or may not be significant. On leaving with a nice shiny car I noticed that the indicators were suddenly not working, nor the windscreen wipers and headlamp flash. In fact all functions on the one stalk, apart from the headlamp high beam, were, well non-functional. I limped home as best I could with no indicators and visited the local garage at the end of my street for some help. He suggested a local specialist auto-electrician who had all the gear for working on Mercs, BMW’s and the like.
I gave them a ring and was quite impressed when he said he would be right round and check on it. Within 20 minutes he was on my doorstep and soon plugged a laptop into the car, checked all the fuses (which I’d done already) and eventually came to the conclusion that the indicator stalk had suddenly failed and would need replacing. By this time it was late afternoon and he suggested that I drive round to his premises the following day and we could see about getting a replacement.
The following morning I took the car to him and after finding the exorbitant price the Main Stealer wanted for one, I rang Mercman in Cornwall who had a reasonably priced new one and could courier it but it wouldn’t be there until Monday. Not a problem at that time because I didn’t need a car over the weekend, so I waited for Monday.
The part arrived yesterday lunchtime, I took it down and left it and the car with the AE. On my way there I found that my indicators and windscreen wipers were again working but not the headlamp flash?? I mentioned this as I handed over the car and parts and was told that it can be the case that parts can apparently start to seemingly work, only to fail again. My nightmare, or at the very least a bad dream, started then. Mid-afternoon they call to say that the retaining bolt for the steering wheel would not shift under any circumstances. He suggested that it be left overnight, liberally coated with some easing fluid, to hopefully free off the following day. He was worried, and I have to agree with him, that excessive force might result in it snapping off and the ££’s turning to ££££’s.
So today, I received the call to say that after bathing in exotic oils overnight, the bolt still refused to shift and would have to be drilled out. ‘Ok, not a problem’ I said, ‘do what you’ve got to do’. I offered to pick up a replacement bolt from the main stealership (cost £4.08) and ferry it over to them so that they could finish off the job, which I did. So after everything was put back, I cheerfully pay for the labour and go to drive off to find apart from the fact that my pristine Orion Grey leather driver’s seat now has grease stains on it, that…………………..
Yes despite having a brand new stalk fitted it’s still not bloody working! They said that it must have triggered a fault with SAM, whoever he is, and that they will have to now remove that and investigate looking at doing some sort of re-soldering as contacts may have ‘overheated’??
I don’t know, maybe I’m worrying unduly, but I’m beginning to wonder, firstly , do the auto-electricians know what they are doing and secondly, did I know what I was doing buying a 13 year old CLK!
If anyone can offer any kind of advice regarding this electrical fault I would be grateful because I’m beginning to think that this could end up a significant hit to my wallet.
If nothing else, thank you for listening and allowing me to voice my worries.
best regards
It was a glorious spring time day here in Sheffield when I decided to visit the local car wash (the sort where Eastern European types jet wash, hand shampoo and dry the car for you) this may or may not be significant. On leaving with a nice shiny car I noticed that the indicators were suddenly not working, nor the windscreen wipers and headlamp flash. In fact all functions on the one stalk, apart from the headlamp high beam, were, well non-functional. I limped home as best I could with no indicators and visited the local garage at the end of my street for some help. He suggested a local specialist auto-electrician who had all the gear for working on Mercs, BMW’s and the like.
I gave them a ring and was quite impressed when he said he would be right round and check on it. Within 20 minutes he was on my doorstep and soon plugged a laptop into the car, checked all the fuses (which I’d done already) and eventually came to the conclusion that the indicator stalk had suddenly failed and would need replacing. By this time it was late afternoon and he suggested that I drive round to his premises the following day and we could see about getting a replacement.
The following morning I took the car to him and after finding the exorbitant price the Main Stealer wanted for one, I rang Mercman in Cornwall who had a reasonably priced new one and could courier it but it wouldn’t be there until Monday. Not a problem at that time because I didn’t need a car over the weekend, so I waited for Monday.
The part arrived yesterday lunchtime, I took it down and left it and the car with the AE. On my way there I found that my indicators and windscreen wipers were again working but not the headlamp flash?? I mentioned this as I handed over the car and parts and was told that it can be the case that parts can apparently start to seemingly work, only to fail again. My nightmare, or at the very least a bad dream, started then. Mid-afternoon they call to say that the retaining bolt for the steering wheel would not shift under any circumstances. He suggested that it be left overnight, liberally coated with some easing fluid, to hopefully free off the following day. He was worried, and I have to agree with him, that excessive force might result in it snapping off and the ££’s turning to ££££’s.
So today, I received the call to say that after bathing in exotic oils overnight, the bolt still refused to shift and would have to be drilled out. ‘Ok, not a problem’ I said, ‘do what you’ve got to do’. I offered to pick up a replacement bolt from the main stealership (cost £4.08) and ferry it over to them so that they could finish off the job, which I did. So after everything was put back, I cheerfully pay for the labour and go to drive off to find apart from the fact that my pristine Orion Grey leather driver’s seat now has grease stains on it, that…………………..
Yes despite having a brand new stalk fitted it’s still not bloody working! They said that it must have triggered a fault with SAM, whoever he is, and that they will have to now remove that and investigate looking at doing some sort of re-soldering as contacts may have ‘overheated’??
I don’t know, maybe I’m worrying unduly, but I’m beginning to wonder, firstly , do the auto-electricians know what they are doing and secondly, did I know what I was doing buying a 13 year old CLK!
If anyone can offer any kind of advice regarding this electrical fault I would be grateful because I’m beginning to think that this could end up a significant hit to my wallet.
If nothing else, thank you for listening and allowing me to voice my worries.
best regards
