Ok folks, need your help again

[rickmuzick]

To refresh I have a 1980 W-116 (450SEL) that I bought on e-bay that has spent it's entire life in the desert (no rust)

Anyway... I ran it through the automatic car wash the other day and now I have the following electrical issues:

Tach/fuel gauge/temp gauge/brake lights and turn signals have ALL stopped working.

I have tail lights.

I checked the obvious fuse panel and have no problems there.

I am open to suggestions.


THANKS!!!

Rick

[alabbasi]

Check your trunk seal and electrical wiring. All that desert heat is great for the sheet metal but the wiring insulation may have become dry and cracked. After running the car through the car wash, you may have caused shorts.

You may want to spray the wiring area with WD40 or some other form of water repelent.

[OzBenzHead]

... I ran it through the automatic car wash ...

Shock! Horror!   

Okay - I'll admit to using a drive-through wash about twice a year, when I'm desperately short of time and the car is just too filthy to bear. Mind you, I never go near one that uses brushes - water-jets only. I'd rather my Benz were dirty than scratched.

[michaeld]

Rickmuzick,
I'd bet you got water forced into your console by way of the vent on the hood (near the windshield).  I suspect this because a lot of your problems are occuring at the gauges, which are in the console.  Often when water gets into something it shouldn't all you have to do is let it dry out.  You could speed up the process by putting a blow drier into the console via the driver's side footwell or even the hood vent; but don't go overboard and use too much heat.
I certainly agree that the desert is good for resisting rust in sheetmetal, but BAD for rubber. vinyl, leather, and wiring insulation.
I also agree that automatic car washes are generally a bad idea.  They scratch the paint, indiscriminitely spray water, and once broke off an antenna in one of my other cars (I will never forgive them for that ).

[rickmuzick]

Thanks guys... and I think the forced water issue is probably a good bet. This automatic had one of those gale force blower/dryer things!

I generally would not consider an autmatic, but the paint is cracked so I need a new paintjob anyway so I figured it could do nothing worse.