Location of front dome light delay relay?

[raueda1]

Both wires to front dome light are live.  One should be, the other shouldn't as it's connected to the door switch through a delay relay.  The relay seems to be frozen in the "on" position.  Despite scouring various wiring diagrams from various sources I can't seem to locate the damn thing on the car. Anybody know where it is?  Hope I don't have to pull the engine to get to it.   

[daantjie]

I am sure more learned members will chime in, but I would check driver side kick panel or under the dash when you remove the "knee roll" you can have a gander under there.  I know for the sure the hazard light blinker relay is under there, and this is one which normally fails giving you rapid flashing of the indicators.

[raueda1]

I am sure more learned members will chime in, but I would check driver side kick panel or under the dash when you remove the "knee roll" you can have a gander under there.  I know for the sure the hazard light blinker relay is under there, and this is one which normally fails giving you rapid flashing of the indicators. 

Hmm, that's where I'm looking but can't find it.  It's got to be there, just don't see it.  But my indicators DO flash fast.  They all work, just fast blinking, so I guess that relay is done too. 

The cruise control amplifier is up in there too.  It doesn't set the speed right.  I was going to pull that and try a capacitor rebuild.  I've done lots of capacitor replacements in old "vintage" electronics.  Then I saw that the job needs hands the size of a rhesus monkey to unscrew the bloody thing.  Oh brother.

I'm discovering why, over the lifetime of such cars, that when some of these small convenience features break they stay broken - the fix is more trouble than restoration of the feature is worth.  My life doesn't end cause the dome light or cruise control don't work.   I wonder how many of these cars have absolutely 100% working everything.   I'm betting very very few.

[raueda1]

I should just post before looking for something and then go look for it.  The act of posting seems to cause me to find it immediately, whether anybody responds or not. 

Anyway, for posterity, the delay relay is located above and slightly to the right of the emergency brake.  It's directly behind a large plug assembly with a cable going up to the steering column.  I opened the relay and nothing was burnt.  For some reason it now works and so does the dome light delay.  This is the worst kind of repair - take something apart, open it up, find nothing obvious wrong, reassemble and it all works.     I've learned to just accept such small gifts.

[rumb]

I fixed mine a while ago by replacing the capacitor

https://forum.w116.org/interiors-and-exteriors/fixing-drivers-door-cabin-light-delay-device/msg135241/#msg135241

[raueda1]

I fixed mine a while ago by replacing the capacitor

https://forum.w116.org/interiors-and-exteriors/fixing-drivers-door-cabin-light-delay-device/msg135241/#msg135241

This is great!  When I eventually found the relay I immediately assumed I'd have to replace the capacitor and maybe transistor as well.  But after setting up a similar test rig the damn thing worked.  If it craps out again at least I'll know where it is. I saw a NOS relay online someplace for about 200EU.  Pretty amazing for about $5 worth of parts. 

[rumb]

I have good spares of both versions if anyone needs them.  the later type is NOS.