I survived a near disaster a couple of weeks ago (fan belt ripped apart on the highway, sliced through a line carrying tranny fluid; coasted to a garage in the middle of nowhere and was fixed up in two hours) but my luck has changed. I have two problems that have occurred within days of each other, both (I think) electrical. I don't think that they're related, but here goes:
1) Turn signals didn't work for the first few minutes the car was running, then they did work. After a couple of days of that, they have stopped working altogether. Hazard light button does not bring them up either. Checked the fuse in the engine compartment fuse box (can't remember the number) and it looked fine. Replaced it anyway, but still no signals. All other functions related to that fuse still work. Recall from pumping gas 15 years ago that a "flasher" is like a fuse for the turn signals. Called Mercedes parts and they said that its over $200 Canadian for the "relay", the second biggest black block in the fuse box. Everything else works, so would this be it? Does it only control the turn signals? Can one be sourced elsewhere for a cheaper price? Been without signals for a couple of days now and I'm starting to exasperate my fellow commuters...2) A couple of days before that, the A/C blower stopped working. Same thing at first, wouldn't work for the first few minutes, then it would. Now it blows no air at all, hot or cold. I can hear the A/C compressor kick in and at highway speed I can feel a little cold air coming out through the vents. Again, checked the fuse in the fusebox and it was fine, no other fnctions from that fuse were impaired. Any ideas? I hate to think how much Merceds will scr - I mean, charge me for this. Thirty-five degrees Celcius (40 with humidity) here in Toronto last week with more to come, so I'll need to find some way to fix this soon.
Thanks in advance, Brent