1984 Mercedes 380SL R107 Bouncing temperature & fuel gauge repair

[@grantbellinger7403]

Lovely video, very good Common Sense mate,thank you, Beautiful!

[@sophiathe380sl]

Thanks for watching

[@Robert-kp2ks]

I just had the exact same issue. I ran out of gas because of the reading and my temp gauge was @ 120. Thx for the videos

[@sophiathe380sl]

Wow.. I hope this helps. Thanks for watching.

[@Robert-kp2ks]

Forgot to comment that ur engine bay is looking great. The cleaning and polishing has paid off.

[@sophiathe380sl]

@@Robert-kp2ks Thanks! Check out the engine bay cleaning by chrisfix. I followed his steps. Came out great.

[@michaeldfleet]

My 1984 380SL. Did everything Sophia videos showed but fuel & temp gauge remained high and flickering. Remedy was to tighten the 3/4 7mm nuts (on studs) at rear of the gauges brown PCB. Been bad for over 30 years! All ok now.

[@sophiathe380sl]

That’s great! Glad everything worked out.

[@grantbellinger7403]

By thy way cobba,What a Beautiful car, old mercs are just Magfuknnificent!full stop, Smiln while Drivn at the highest of levels, Luv em,Absolutely adore them,you have a lovely day mate!

[@sophiathe380sl]

Thanks brother. You too.

[@apio3810]

Save yourself a lot of time, unplug the fuel sender and take a jumper wire from the #3 pin socket to the #2 pin socket turn on the ignition and you should see the warning light on the fuel gauge come on. Next take the wire and place it in the #3 socket and the # 1 pin socket and the fuel gauge will read full. Now you know it's not the grounding on the instrument cluster but rather a problem with the sending unit. My sending unit (1987 560sl) also looked very clean, turned out the ground pin had no conductivity. Tried heating it, cleaning it to no avail so hence a new unit.

[@ronalddean3630]

I was just going to say, it is most likely a grounding issue. My 380SL had the same issue, and went all the way to 120. Fortunately, I was only about 2 miles from my shop so I took it in. When I got there the gauges were bouncing around like crazy. Two days later I got the car back and it was as they thought, the grounding. One of them was corroded so Luis fixed that one and added a 3rd, the way you did. They did not mention anything about sensor. I have not had any issues since. Oh, your Oxygen sensor light was on when you were driving near the end. Thanks for the video.

[@mazenkhazaal698]

Hi, i have a 1984 SL380. i am also following ur steps hahhah keep up the good work. i can help you to run cooler than 95-100 degrees C as mine was running same till my Mechanic closed the hose at the thermostat that was connected with the expansion tank through a T-junction along with the radiator. it dropped now till 81. Also, my car was reaching to 105 on its first cold start then drop fast to the normal operating temperature and i did a small trick to solve this issue incase you are having it.

[@sophiathe380sl]

Thanks for watching. All good now. My gauges were inaccurately reading.

[@jolacafa]

My car is showing running hot as well and I did the temp gun and it all showed about 90. But can you send me pictures of what you are talking about that the mechanic closed the hose? I'm trying to follow what you are saying visually :)

[@mazenkhazaal698]

@@jolacafa hi, if u can share ur wtsapp number and will send u a video

[@jolacafa]

Thank you for all your videos and how thorough you are in explaining what you are doing. I too am having issues with overheating and just can't seem to pinpoint what exactly it is. I have done the following: changed out water pump, thermostat, both sensors on the thermostat housing, thermostat relays, aux fan (which I noticed, doesn't seem to turn on), clutch fan, and next week it will be a new radiator and instrument cluster. So I'm hoping one of these last couple items will fix the issue. Couple things I noticed in this video is your thermostat sensor connector looks a lot different than mine. Did you happen to change that out? Mine is loose as well and I crimped it a bit more to get a firm hold. Second, what is the tripod you are using to hold the instrument cluster up (what a genius thought!). Is it possible to connect with you if I keep having these heating issues? Thank you again for all your helpful videos, cheers!

[@sophiathe380sl]

Thanks man. I appreciate you watching and I’m glad it’s helping. That’s why I continue to make these videos. You are welcome to ask and connect but I’m obviously not an expert. 😂 I used my cell phone tripod to hold the cluster so it doesn’t stress the wires. Use whatever you have. Did you get a temperature gun to verify the temperature? I would do that first. How hot is it getting? Does it go down when moving? Does the AC make a difference? I haven’t changed the wires. Good luck.

[@jolacafa]

@@sophiathe380sl Yup, I have a temp gun and after the dash unit shows the needle in the 90-120 range, and the temp gun does show about 90 celsius. I've done all kinds of work aside from the radiator switch (which I will be doing on Monday). Hoping that helps. I also order a new Instrument cluster as well. If both of those options don't work, have you run into any issues possibly being the Aux Pump? I just can't seem to find the issue lol.

[@sophiathe380sl]

@@jolacafa so temp gun always shows 90? Is it consistent with the gauge?

[@jolacafa]

@@sophiathe380sl Yup. I ended up getting a new more efficient radiator and now the temp is perfect! Drove it around for about an hour over the weekend with no overheating issues! I will still be taking the dash apart since some of the gauges bounce around. Hoping to get those fixed. Ty again for your time :)

[@XxwookiedancerxX]

i will be doing some similar work shortly. my tachometer and oil pressure gauges aren't working correctly on my 84 380sl

[@sophiathe380sl]

Good luck!

[@judgesmails855]

great video. you don't happen to have any info on the wire colors for the 15 pin cluster that you cleaned do you? I accidentally opened the cluster instead of just removing it and am not sure which colored wires go back to which pin. 1984 380SL. any info would be greatly appreciated.

[@sophiathe380sl]

Thank you. Ohh boy. I was so worried about those wires moving and losing track of what goes where. I’ll look for a diagram and get back to you. I need to get back in there soon so I’ll take a picture when I do.

[@judgesmails855]

@@sophiathe380sl Thanks for the offer but I got it figured out (with help from a lot of on line MB guys) 1983-1985 SL380 15 pin cluster Bu/Gr 1: Fuel sender low light Bk/Bu 2: Power F5 Gr 3: Coolant temp sender Bu/Bk 4: Fuel gauge sender Br/Gr 5: Oil pressure sender Bk/Wt 6: LH turn signal light Br/Rd 7: To plug C180 brake wear sensor Bu 8: Charging system - alternator Bu/Rd 9: Battery + charge light 10: Open Wt/Bu 11: High beam light Br/Wt 12: Warning system Bk/Gr 13: RH turn signal light Gy/Vi or Gy/Bu 14: Center console lights, radio Gy/Rd 15: Center console lights IV= Ivory Gy= Grey Or=Orange Pk=Pink Vi=Purple Wt=White Tr=Translucent or neutral Rd=Red Yl=Yellow Br=Brown Bk=Black Bu=Blue Gr=Green

[@diggabledave]

I wish I had known these tricks the last few times I’ve had the cluster out. But what’s one more time? 😅. Thanks for the video! Did you ever have issues with the fuel light coming on with plenty of gas?

[@sophiathe380sl]

Luckily, I haven’t encountered that yet. 😂 Thanks for watching.

[@A1-AwesomeClips]

I did exactly what you mentioned but now my Temp gauge is not working and oil Pressure pegged above 3. What do you think I did wrong or I should do different

[@sophiathe380sl]

Wish I knew. As you can tell, I’m just pretending to be a mechanic. Fuses? Ask on the benzworld forum. Lots of helpful people there. Good luck!

[@DominikBialczyk]

Hi there, is your car still running around 100*C-105*C after checking out the grounding isue? We changed the thermosttat and the fab clutch but the engine still is around a 100-105...

[@sophiathe380sl]

Hello. Not really. It’s now perfect unless in extreme conditions. It’ll only go to 100 if in traffic, AC on, and a really hot day.

[@AD-uq4pz]

Predator

[@castnblast334]

Thanks for your videos sir. You have been a fantastic aide in my journey since I got my Bluebird (82 380sl) last December. Looking forward to the next video ✌️

[@sophiathe380sl]

That’s great to hear! I appreciate knowing that it’s helping people out there. Thanks for the comment. 😊

[@Design_everything_gio]

Having this issue now. Replaced thermostat and sensor..still acting up. We tested with temp gun and it is normal but incorrect temperature reading

[@sophiathe380sl]

Wow, ya. Did you fix the gauge?

[@inovahightechltd]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@MinkMood]

Great video mate! Such a common SL issue from this R107’s. Lots will benefit!!!! Thanks for sharing

[@njlarry100]

These are really great how to videos. Please increase the audio levels as they are the only youtubes that the volume is so low. Thank you.

[@sophiathe380sl]

Thanks Larry. You’ve mentioned that before but when I go back to watch them, they seem fine to me. 🤷‍♂️

[@XxwookiedancerxX]

hello sir - what do you use to lift your car? i found that the clearance is quite tight for the R107 models... do you use car ramps at all? i am worried they do not give enough clearance for the car.

[@XxwookiedancerxX]

i have a jack and jack stands but i didn't know if another solution is better /easier?

[@sophiathe380sl]

@@XxwookiedancerxX I use jack and jack stands or sometimes the drive up ramps depending on the project. My jack fits under the car fine. I think it’s a 3 ton jack. They do sell low profile jacks if needed. I used to have 6 ton jack stands and those were extremely high so I traded for the 3 ton.