Type 44 Vacuum Reservoirs WAS Diff locks color tubing decoded

[Alex Kowalski]

Kent wrote:

>Max Hoepli wrote:
>* Just what is the blue tank seen by the front left passenger door
*>* behind the hinges?
*
>When I first got my '89 200, I thought it was the "bomb", but I was
>told it was a vacuum reservoir, for the door locks.

I'd like to get this particular bit of errata nailed down now.  The blue,
bulbous tripartite container behind the LF fender is a vacuum reservoir that
connects to the dashboard vent (climate control) system.  There is a second
vacuum reservoir, smaller, a single chamber, attached to the differential
locking system in the trunk.  Is this correct?  I don't know why the car
would have a vacuum reservoir for the door locks when it has a completely
separate system with a dedicated pump, but maybe I'm wrong.  The climate
control diagrams in my Bentley show the blue bulby thingy behind the LF
fender as being attached to the intake manifold vacuum through a check
valve.

So unless I'm mistaken, there are three separate vacuum systems, two of
which have reservoirs:

1) For the climate control system, with the blue reservoir behind the LF
fender
2) For the differential locking system, with the smaller reservoir in the
luggage compartment
3) For the central locking system, which doesn't have a reservoir per se,
because it has a pump

Also, that reservoir behind the fender is IMPOSSIBLE to get at without
removing the fender.  It's very well protected, to the point of being
unmaintainable without removing the fender.

Alex Kowalski
'86 5KCSTQ
'87 5KCSTQ