So, the other day i took out the big clock in my 87 240DL, and replaced it with the large tach, and small clock in the dash, the parts coming from a wrecker yard in ohio. The small clock never worked when i put it in, and upon putting it all back together, the wires attached to the back of the small clock came undone. They touched something and i heard some relays click, and some sparks. When i got everything connected the first time everything worked. When i took apart and heard the relays and sparks from the clock wires touching each other, i lost my dash lights only to the dials, AND i have the small upshift arrow on now. So while im driving the upshift arrow will glow, and theres a low buzz sound coming from the door ajar noise maker. The car is also very hard to start now from cold. The weather is warm here, but when the car sits, to start it takes a while. I have to start and gas it or it will die, and when you rev it, it chokes and usually dies when it idles down. Then when you wait a second and restart its usually a little better and drives, however during all this hard starting the exhaust smells very rich. There is a leaky exhaust on the car, i am having it replaced this summer, but the car ran fine until i had the FUEL FILTER replaced. Always started right up no problem, the shop replaced the fuel filter, and now it takes forever. I have heard it could be a fuel pressure regulater, which would explain hard starts, and would make sense since the fuel lines were relieved of all pressure, something in the pressure reg could have given way that was just held in place by the constant pressure.

The shift up arrow is wierd, when i hit the button on the shifter, nothing happens, when i turn a corner it will go off, then come back on, seems electrical only related to dash. Also, now that i have no dash lights, if the dimmer switch is turned up to anything but the lowest setting, the tach drops to zero and loses signal, but the rest of the indicator lights glow as bright as the switch is set to. Any help would be great, maybe its just a bad instrument cluster, fried by the clock wires touching?

the hard starting is the other bothersome problem that i never had before changing the fuel filter!!

Thanks guys

Lee

I would start by cleaning and inspecting all of the fuses and the holders, including the one under the hood by the battery.

WARNING WARNING


TINKERING IS THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE FORM OF MAINTENANCE!!!!

Especially when you think you know what you're doing & find out you don't the hard way. Shorting things out can get very expensive very quickly, even without including the specialized knowledge of someone familiar with your systems & competent to fix them. Loose wires with unshielded ends will always be dangerous for shorts, & I know how difficult it is to work on an instrument cluster. It would take some time to find out all the damage, and longer to fix it. you could easily be looking at days in the workshop unless you have a person as listed above-& it will prob take him several long, expensive hours to do it anyway. DIY is possible IFF you KNOW or are qualified in the electronics field, and can spend a few weeks spare time twisting your body into the small cavities in the car to get access to the wiring and bits. If you're OS or larger-forget it-you won't fit. Arthritis, myopia or large hands/fingers/parkinsons'will also ruin any chance of fixing it yourself-or anything like them. I hope you haven't cooked your EMU, but I fear you have-pray hard, consult the bank, see whether you really can afford to keep this car. It's approaching that level of magnitude, I would say.

I get no joy writing death notices for vehicles, but it's something I have had to do to many of my friends' disappointment & unbelief, usually until they got the bill or a professional estimate. I hate being right, and for your sake, I hope I'm wrong this time. Good management, mein freund, because luck no long is in play.