Fenalaar
Elite Veteran
Date registered: May 2006
Location: Narvik, Norway
Vehicle(s): 2001 ML270CDI, Polaris 400L Big Boss
Posts: 826
| Short circuit in the instrument panel
The other day, I was starting up the car after visiting a customer, and I got white, acrid smoke coming up from what seemed to be the lower ventilation duct in the passenger footwell.
After shutting down the car and verifying the smoke disappeared, I figured this was some debris getting into the heater or something... I tried starting up again, and the car ran as usual. I went home, parked the car and noticed as I took out the key that the daytime driving lights and the lights in the instrument panel didn't shut down as normal. WTF, I was thinking - a Zombie merc?
Anyways, I had to go to the dealer to get the mechanics to look over what was wrong.
The mechanics found the following components related to the smoke: A burnt chip in the instrumentation, a wire with completely fried isolation (that's where the smoke came from, I guess) and a relay. None of these were in the schematics they got from Mercedes. (WTF???) If the instrument cluster is disconnected, the car will start up, and the lights will not stay on. Maybe this is something related to the daylight driving lights which is specific for Norway.
Mercedes procedure is to dismantle the entire dashboard, tear up the entire wiring harness and check everything. This'll take up at least 4-5 days of work and an estimated cost of at least NOK50K ($7500) in work money only.
It's obvious that something shorted out, and the resulting current burnt out the chip and wire. Either the wire itself was faulty or whatever is upstream of the wire and relay is the culprit.
Now, in my opinion, Mercedes should be able to cough up an explanation as to what the hell this stuff is connected to, so one could check the connected equipment for shorts.
Of course, an option could be to replace the chip, wire and relay, gamble on the wire being faulty and see what happens when you start up.
Opinions on this?
Johan-Kr |
Fenalaar
Elite Veteran
Date registered: May 2006
Location: Narvik, Norway
Vehicle(s): 2001 ML270CDI, Polaris 400L Big Boss
Posts: 826
| RE: Short circuit in the instrument panel
Good news - the dealer has been talking with my insurance company and the insurance company accepts this as an electrical fire, and the repairs will be covered on the insurance. |
