[W126 Coupe] Ignition & Brakes

[Mister McGoo]

Itrat,

On the issue of the brake light.....

The warning light "BRAKE" indicates that either your parking brake is "on" 
or the brake fluid is low.  The former you would know if the parking brake 
pedal has not released (up) and the latter you can check visually by 
checking that your brake fluid level in the reservoir is up to the fill 
line.  If your fluid level is down, be sure to have that checked before any 
trip.  It often means a leak somewhere and could also have caused your brake 
pedal to feel "spongy".

If the brake light warning kight coming on is the circle with the dotted 
lines surrounding, then the brake pads are worn down to the wear sensors.  
You need new brake pads and sensors... not a huge job, and it doesn't mean 
your brakes are going to totally fail unless you get them replaced 
immediately.  But nobody will ever ADVISE you not to bother to change them 
before a trip.

On the issue of the engine cutting out.........

Many of the symptoms you describe point to a fuel pump relay failure.  Often 
this is a fatigued solder point in the relay that causes an intermittant 
failure.  Occasionally you can "reset" it when it fails by rapping on the 
case.

Repairing it is not usually rocket science.  It means pulling the cover off 
and resoldering the offending point.  Sometimes it is difficult to see.

IF the relay is the problem, you can absolutely count on it happening again 
and the more it happens the more frequently it will.

-Bellamy


>From: "Rattie S" <mbcoupe126 at hotmail.com>
>Reply-To: Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists <mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com>
>To: mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com
>Subject: [W126 Coupe] Ignition & Brakes
>Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 15:18:36 +0000
>
>Hello,
>
>Hope all is well. My mechanic is on vacation and I need to travel about 600 
>miles this weekend. Some help on the following would be appreciated.
>
>1)
>
>My brake light just came on. Does that mean the brake pads need replacing 
>or is the fluid? Can I travel 600 miles without having them changed?
>
>2)
>
>6 months ago - I was away for a 6 week vacation and when I came back, the 
>car would "kick" for a 5-10 minutes after being started up. The rpm 
>indicator would flicker slightly and the car would hesitate a little to run 
>from a complete stop when it was cold. The rpm would go down before coming 
>back up as I stepped on the gas pedal.
>
>2 months ago - I drove my car from the garage (a block away) to where I 
>live and parked it. When I tried to restart, it wouldn't start. It 
>restarted after trying 15 minutes and ran just fine afterwards. At this 
>point, I still had the kicking and hesitation problem.
>
>1 month ago - We were returning from a late night dinner and the car the 
>died in the middle of the street! I had stopped in traffic and when traffic 
>started moving, I stepped on the gas pedal. There was the usual hesitation 
>and then the car just died. It wouldn't start. I had it towed to my 
>mechanic. He changed the ignition module, the coil and the plug (I sent an 
>email to the group about this). The car ran just fine after this.
>
>This past weekend - I was driving around with my family. We parked the car 
>on the street. When I tried to restart it, it wouldn't start. After trying 
>for a couple of minutes, it started back up. This happened twice.
>
>Yesterday - The car started at the first try and it drove just fine.
>
>My mechanic is on vacation. But I would love to get your opinion on this 
>anyway. I'm afraid of a repeat of my car dying on my on the highway this 
>weekend.
>
>Thanks for your time and as always I appreciate your expert opinion.
>
>Itrat.
>
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