Crazy Japanese Import 1990 Mercedes Issues

[War_Wagon]

I love station wagons, who doesn't really? A few years ago I bought a '90 Mercedes 300TE. It didn't run, and only had 134k KMs (83k miles). It's an ex-Japan car, but it's left hand drive. I finally got around to getting it to the shop, we got it running and sorted out some issues it had. But there is a mystery light on on the dashboard. All the manuals I have for it are in Japanese, so I watched some youtube videos etc trying to figure out what exactly this light is, but it makes no sense.

The spot on the dash that is lit up is supposed to be the SRS light. But 1. there is no factory lettering over the spot to say what it's supposed to be, just like the spot beside it that is supposed to be for the 4Matic service light, so it makes sense that it's not labeled as this car doesn't have 4Matic and 2. This car never came with airbags (SRS). You could get airbags as an option on these cars, but mine didn't have them. I pulled the horn cover off the steering wheel just to make sure - nope, never had an airbag, and has a non-airbag horn cover.

So, my airbag light is on, on a car that doesn't have airbags. And isn't even labeled for airbags. The only other thing that doesn't work on this car are the dash lights. I know it's a long shot (24 year old ex-Japan car) but does anyone have any idea what is going on with this thing?

[2000mc]

In a newer car you could have something like this if a module was incorrectly programmed with the wrong options, or if you replace / reprogram a module, you have to set-up / learn other modules to it. Maybe it's a cluster from a different car, or maybe the original was sent in for repairs, and the rebuilder did something wrong.... But that doesn't really help, since if it were anything along those lines there wouldn't be much todo without dealer info / tools

As for what to do about it, disconnect the battery(s) for 10min, I don't know how many batteries you may have, and see if it has any affect.

[Xist]

Obviously, it is a "warning light is functioning" light!

No, of course I do not know, but I hope that you can figure it out! The light is just connected to a computer and without hacking the chip, you could not see what triggers it, could you?

[Cobb]

Try releasing the parking brake and or checking fluid in master cylinder.

[2000mc]

No airbags, but does the car have seatbelt pretensioners?

[Simonas]

Does it have an alarm? Could it be to inform you if it is hooked up and working?

[user removed]

It may be related to the nonfunctioning dash lights. Maybe a poor ground connection that is feeding current through the "srs" light trying to ground itself through another circuit.

regards
mech

[Miller88]

Can you get a picture of it not lit up with the engine off?

[BobS]

War Wagon
Since there is no marking on that light, I believe that the light is part of an aftermarket installation. I would look under the hood for anything not factory. I presume you will be going into the dash to fix the lighting, so get the wire color and it's cabin exit point so that it can be traced. If it does go to an ECU, try to find which western countries that it was sold in and you might find someone who would print out that page for you in a language that can more easily be translated.
Good luck.

[War_Wagon]

Ya I am starting to think it's related to the fact that the dash lights don't work. I have seen pictures of other dashes and they all have the SRS light there, and it's labeled. The brake warning lights all work, they are on the other side of the dash. The ABS light never comes on, even when you first turn the key on, but I don't know if that's a Mercedes thing where it won't come on until theres a problem. Sadly, one of the movie set companies we deal with likes the car, so that means it will probably end up getting blown up or something. Kind of a shame, but it would save me fixing the light haha.