Can't remove my Cigar lighter and stuck cable to valve in heater core

[pdc]

I have been trying to remove the cigar lighter from my 250SL to have access to the nut from the chrome trim as I am replacing the heater levers.

According to the technical manual http://www.sl113.org/wiki/Electrical/CigarLighter I need to remove a small pin connection on rear of lighter before I can remove the piece with the permanent round pin & flat guide pin, only this small pin connection seems not to be there in my car. You would think if it sin't there I can remove the piece with the permanent round pin & flat guide pin but I can't, it is not moving whatever I try.

Because of this I cant remove the nut that holds the bracket in place and I can't remove the cigar lighter and I am stuck.

For convenience I have made a picture of my cigar lighter and put it side by side to the image from the technical manual, that makes it easy.

I tried to get access to that last nut from the chrome trim but I couldn't access it.

If anyone has any suggestions I would be pleased to hear them so I can move further with my levers.  

[pdc]

ok.... writing this helped me finding the solution.

sprayed some WD 40 on it , used some good force and I was able to remove the piece with permanent round pin.

I am all happy again  , well I will be once I have been able to remove that last nut from the chrome trim. Even without the Cigar lighter it seems difficult to loosen it.

Will keep you posted 

[pdc]

The levers are in and all went reasonably well, except for the cable from the left lower lever. I believe that is the one for heat on / off if I am right. Couldn't get much movement in the cable and don't really know where the cable is attached so I couldn't check the other end. Anyone can give me a hint ?

While having access to the dash I took the speedometer out and to my surprise the rubber piece with the attached nut of about 10 cm from the speedo cable was broken of. The inner cable was intact and the speedometer worked well till now. When I mounted it back I slide the broken of part over the metal cable and attached the nut to the speedometer; and yes after test-drive I was pleased to see the speedo works... I guess I'll might need to replace that cable but as it works I am not in a rush.

While I had the speedometer out I took the glass out and cleaned it. I had read on the forum that the chrome ring could be removed by carefully piercing it open from the back. If I would not have read this I would never dared or even thought about doing it that way. But carefully bit by bit with a small screwdriver I went around till I did the entire tour and I could remove it. The glass was quickly cleaned and I took the advantage of cleaning the black trim and the visible inner side of the speedometer. I put all together but didn't force the chrome ring back; I just moved it over the meter and by mounting it back it came nicely back by the force from  tightening the nut. The speedo looks great now and I am already thinking about the two others .

What was difficult for me was to put the not back from the chrome trim around the levers: it was really difficult to put the nut on the bolt. I figured out after trying way to long that moving the levers that I had just that extra space to put a socket over it. And her is the bad news, I tightened it carefully but with the socket I broke to bolt and that I still need to find a solution for this as well for the  lower left lever cable.
Surprisingly enough the left trim is held but the middle trim so if you don't know you can't tell.

I looked at SLS site but seems that this piece is not available. Anyone knows where this can be found?

Well it was a pretty long day , tomorrow I'll post some pictures that I took along the progress.

[Garry]

On top of the fire wall is a round plug, (top right of picture) which is the inspection opening for the heater on/off tap.  Remove the rubber plug and firstly see if the cable is attached to the lever of the tap and that the tap is infact not seized up but is working ok.



Garry

[pdc]

Thank you Garry ; I 'll look at it tomorrow and inform here how it went.

Wow your engine bay looks like your car is coming straight from the factory !  I love watching how detailed and neat all is .

Pascal

[66andBlue]

The levers are in and all went reasonably well, except for the cable from the left lower lever. ...

Take a look at this photo in the technical manual:
http://www.sl113.org/wiki/uploads/Electrical/Heater_valve_operation.jpg
It should explain how the cables and lever work.

[pdc]

Thank you 66andblue

You and Garry helped guide me in the right direction.
http://www.sl113.org/wiki/Electrical/HeaterControlValve is very straight forward I think. I didn't do it today and will once my body feels less soar from squeezing myself under the dash.
Have done enough for now and the fist thing I want to resolve is the broken nut from the left escutcheon....that unfortunately broke off yesterday. I am not sure how to fix this but my first though would be that it can be welded.. and than grind and tap wire or use a spacer so I can use a nut and tighten it against the spacer... will see.
If anyone broken one of, what did you do? I don't think these escutcheon are available right?

Back to the heater, could it be that the cable is disconnected from the flap, or the flap got stuck? Where in the car can I check this ?

attached some pictures of what I been doing last and this weekend

 

[pdc]

Some more pictures, notice the one with the levers with the print from the technical manual

I would never have been able to do without this information site and people putting so much know how in here. Very grateful I am and I should sign on for full membership.

[pdc]

some more

[66andBlue]

...  Back to the heater, could it be that the cable is disconnected from the flap, or the flap got stuck? Where in the car can I check this ?

Looking at your photos it appears that you are missing one of the washers under the castle nut. The threaded spindle with the wire through it needs to turn a bit and these two washers provide the clamp for the wire but do not prevent rotation. The conical one is still available from Mercedes, the other one is generic.

  I want to resolve is the broken nut from the left escutcheon....that unfortunately broke off yesterday. I am not sure how to fix this but my first though would be that it can be welded..

The escutcheon is pot metal and if you use a welder the heat will discolor the chrome in front. I would search on eBay for a replacement, they come up on occasion.

Very grateful I am and I should sign on for full membership.

What prevents you from doing it NOW?! 

[pdc]

Alfred, thanks for the info about the washer, I already thought is was kind awkward that the wire was held between the plastic stud from the lever and the conical washer. Looks like I have to redo this. Now I know how to I am fine, I'll do it when I feel like it. Worst thing with this kind of work is when you ant to force it to be dine right away.

Anyhow, I have opened the valve access and I noticed immediately  that the position of the valve arm is towards the heat off position if not completely in that position. The funny thing is that the heater in the car is actually on when I run the engine. I also could not get any motion in the arm neither the cable in the dash so I start to think that one or both flaps might be stuck.

I have tried to unscrew the screw from the valve arm but I can't get it loose, I sprays WD 40 on it but no avail so far. I noticed also that by putting pressure on the screw that the entire heat exchanger moves as well as the intake water hose just under the valve access. I could also not remove the rod.

So my project is getting bigger  and unfortunately I am stuck for now, should I try to check the flaps first you think? Do you know if there is any description how to do this ? I haven't found anything yet.

I would appreciate some thoughts .

Oh I'll sign on for membership; tuition for my oldest daughter first; she is in college her second year MD, she passed last year .

[pdc]

Following to the post from a few minutes earlier; here is an image of the valve arm and rod in the heater off position while the heater flaps or probably open since there is heat flowing in the car.

[66andBlue]

Hi pcd,
first, thanks for joining as a full member! 
Second, this looks to me like the valve open (heat on) position. Compare with this image: http://www.sl113.org/wiki/uploads/Electrical/heatvalve13.jpg
showing "heat on" position.

However, looking at the corrosion around the lever I can understand why you are having a tough time getting the screw out. At this point you should not try further but wait until you are ready to take the heater core out completely. With the heater on a bench you have a better chance getting it out without damaging anything. Be sure that you have the correct O-ring in hand when you do this.
You wrote by putting pressure on the screw that the entire heat exchanger moves as well as the intake water hose that indicates to me that the the two brackets on each side of the heater are broken and cannot keep it firmly in place. This photo in the technical manual shows you a broken bracket:
http://www.sl113.org/wiki/uploads/Electrical/Heater_Core_1.jpg
Any experienced radiator shop should be able to solder the brackets on again without putting too much heat into the core and melt the channel solder connections inside.
Lastly, it is only the left flap that controls the heater valve. The right flap only controls air flow into the cabin on the passenger side.
I am curios, did you remove the escutcheon in front of the heater levers and the control levers to gain access to the speedometer?

[pdc]

Hi Alfred,

I somehow expected that I'll have to dive under the dash again. I am not to concerned about it however to solder the brackets back and find someone who can here, well I suppose I have another search to do . It will be good to check all the flaps while taking the heater core out so after all it will be a good thing.

You confused me with your comment of the position of the valve cause the valve pointing towards the front right of the car shows as heat off. And I think that my valve is pointing that way, no ?

Anyway, I did indeed had access to the speedometer after I indeed remove the escutcheon in front of the heater levers and the control levers. It was still very hard to get to it and I don't think this would work for someone with bigger hands. Or short arms because via the glove box it is a pretty far stretch, I even had remove one of the cable holders at the bottom of the dash since it was scratching my arm.  I assume you were wondering because of the picture I attached earlier? That was made before I took everything out. I took plenty of images simply because it is so easy to go back if you don't remember how is was when putting all back again.

Pascal

[pdc]

I finaly started working on the locked valve in the heater core that was stuck. I couldn't get it out as per Alfred's description in the technical manual, very helpful indeed though and I can't thank Alfred enough for doing this. At any case I had to remove the entire heater core and blower and it wasn't to bad actually. I would feel bad for those with an AC though .

While doing that I also replaced the speedo cable and the tachometer I had replaced a while ago. I ordered some parts from sls in Germany before I put everything back in and I should have them by Monday hopefully.

One bracket from the heater core was loose and Alfred was right about that again. Also the cover plate was loose and I had all soldered by a specialist and all was done for 45 €. There is a foam on the top of the cover plate and the heater core that I will need to replace because the original was complete worn out , the man who soldered for me gave me some nice foam FOC. He also pressure tested the heater core and completely cleaned this inside.

When the parts of the dash are out I see there is always work that could be improved or things that could use a replacement but I also learned that working on that dash isn't that of a overwhelming  thing anymore as I thought it was the first time I dived in. It's very satisfying to be able to do things like this especially for a none mechanical person like me.

Back to the valve, well that one was really stuck; I couldn't get any movement in it, even after spraying it two days with WD40 I still couldn't get the screw loose and that with the heater core already completely out of the car. So I heated it and carefully hammered on the screw that was in the valve and it started to move and I eventually could disassemble the valve from the core. The O ring is on it's way and I'll use the file http://www.sl113.org/wiki/Electrical/HeaterControlValve to put all nicely back.

Some inner cables from the heater leavers are to be replaced as one was broken and one is bend and doesn't slide nicely anymore in outer cable. At sls you can order just the inner cable for no money http://www.sls-hh-shop.de/en/230-280SL-W113/83-Heater-System/?force_sid=bct9kv7mn05e5iqq7lrpfpibf0.  

While all is open this is the moment to do it and all levers will work smooth. And that is where it all started, I thought to just renew the levers......  I'll post some picture later one .

[pdc]

Some images

[pdc]

more

[ja17]

Sometimes spraying WD40 or similar into the water pipe going to the valve from the engine bay will work best to free up the valve. If you add a little heat from a hair drier also, success is almost sure. Also, one way to repair that dash escutcheon plate is to drill and tap a hole in the broken stud. Add a smaller diameter new stud into the newly  threaded hole.  Most likely an M4 steel threaded rod.  The 8mm nut is a bit smaller but the threaded rod now being steel instead of pot metal, will work fine. However do not over-tighten in any case.

[pdc]

Here is a picture of the valve that I finally got out and cleaned as good as I could. Joe, I did spray WD 40 as you suggested but only with some heat I got it loose. The O-ring is as you can see damaged and its actually hard as a rock. I'll wait for the new ring to come in and mount the valve back before putting the heater core back in the car. I also put the valve on the opening of the core to verify the open and close position.

As for the broken escutcheon, I previously fixed it but forget to take pictures. Since I had to remove the levers again for what I am working on now I took some pictures so I can share my solution.