Fanfare horn problem( twice please with salt and vinegar)
I need fish and chips !
I have been in Germany for a few months now and found my horn does not work. I opened the SAM 100 fuse compartment and proceeded to press the horn and found the relay "A" was clicking on activation. Anyway I tested the horns and they both work when attached to a 12 v supply directly sooo I bought a relay from MB and still nothing just the clicking of the relay. So I checked the fuse tray and found 43A and 43B missing. Am I dreaming ? Five MOT's later and driving without the horn.
I have noticed the fuse housing is longer than the rest and looks like one big and one smaller fuse? Can anyone tell me what they or it looks like and any recommendations are greatly welcomed and appreciated.
Regards,
M.
Look for any other burnt fuses. Sometimes the fuse charts are inaccurate.
The pictures shows a single 15A fuse in that position.
They are standard fuses. you can usually buy from filling stations or any motor factor.
Don't get me started. For nearly two decades we have manufactured everything in China to save a few pennies - at least for the global corporations - but it's been at the cost of local employment and now we have the wealthy Chinese coming back to buy-up everything in the west, and now that everyone is in debt from having bought cheap i-phones and being out of work, the economy is in a mess.
Some countries like Brazil tried to get it right by establishing high import taxes, forcing global corporations to set up local 'manufacture' - or at least assembly - but in the case of Europe or the USA, there'll now be a price to pay.
Anyway, back to the subject: For around £20 GBP on eBay you can buy complete used SAM modules from contemporary vehicles W203, W220 W211 etc, which come populated with a complement of same fuses and relays (Made in Germany).
The SAM itself may not be useful (W203 might?) but the relays, modules and fuse parts from it will. Good to have one as a source of spares.
I don't think Chinese quality is necessarily bad, quite the contrary, particularly if the production is run and managed to proper QA standards, which in most cases it now is. The advantage is generally cheaper labour, although that is now changing. (However, I have come across some horror stories, where in one case iron castings for a deep sea oil application were found to contain flint stones and other fillers, to save on the cast iron.)
If the i-phone said 'Made in USA', I would buy it, even at twice the price Instead I have an LG which is Korean and doesn't pretend doe be any different. If you are in Germany, you'll see many old, family-owned, engineering firms being bought-up by the Chinese. In Italy the white-goods and leather goods industries are largely Chinese owned (Made in Italy is just the label) and the vineyards are going the same way too. In the UK, many prominent buildings, including the Lloyds building are Chinese owned, as well as a number of rail companies. My argument wasn't about inferior quality, it was just that eventually there's a price to pay for globalisation, which may not be obvious initially when you buy your new trainers for 9.99 (or milling machine at half the price) and think you've got a good deal.
You drive a Mercedes because of, presumably, perceived German quality and German attention to detail and reputation in cars. Every country is good at something that is borne of its culture and tradition. That distinction is now being eroded and we'll soon reach the lowest common denominator.
Glad you sorted it, with some spare parts to boot. It's good to recycle.
I think that Fuse 43 A/B is designed to take either a standard fuse or one of the larger fuses, depending on how the wiring is configured on the fuse-holder, behind the slots in the plastic. The larger fuse might be for a different option like air-horns , I don't know.
Regards.
Dear Arnie,
Many thanks.
So it's off to MB Monday for the fuse. I checked all the other fuses and they are ok. I noticed the relays all say made in China with the MB logo on. The new one says made in Portugal, a little bit of useless information.
Thank you once again.
Morpheus