R230 SL55 central locking radio receiver amplifier

Botus

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that's an interesting find.

these car are renowned for having electrics that once they play up are extremely complex to resolve and many Merc dealers take 3 weeks having swapped out multiple control units hundreds of times and if fortunate give you a £5k bill !!!
(that's if they do you a massive favour and forget much of the labour charges)

from what I've read on the few detailed posts that tend to keep going though many months of fighting, is most eventually come down to a small amount of damp in the left front footwell causing "invisible" corrosion on connections linked to the can bus network

the fact it behaves if the radio is on interesting. I suggest having the radio on causes systems to wake. Thus the lost connection on keyless is up an running via a different route. If that's correct, something sounds like its causing the keyless and CGW to fail to communicate... probably leading back to the linked fault with corrosion in some can bus related system. Whilst following the correct way to shut stuff down, remake all the connections to any modules and get a lot of ACF 50 on any electrical connection anywhere on the car, remake earth points and after fully charging the batteries connect and wake the car with STAR support...

NOTE a flat or disconnected battery on these cars ALWAYS gets you back to the point in my second paragraph above.
 
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SImon Ambler

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Hi All

Sorry to jump on an old post, but has anyone every got to the bottom of this problem as this has started happening on my car and when the dealer used Star it shows no faults. They suggested changing the right radio receiver amplifier

IR very hit and miss on both keys, lock and unlock on both side
RF not at all
Manual key works as does button on dash
 

LostKiwi

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Yes probably a bad connection, amplifier or faulty overhead control panel.
 

SImon Ambler

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Yes probably a bad connection, amplifier or faulty overhead control panel.
Thanks for responding, but as the car has more than one amplifier which one do you change? Would one cause a fault of all? To change the front 2 you need to remove the dash and MB do not have stock and they are a back order product.
Found a reference to the central door lights if it is the overhead control panel issue and they works fine.
There is no other fault with the car that I can see or that the Star system shows, so I guess checking all the fuse/connectors around the RF, but again I have done that.

Has anyone taken it to a dealer and they have fixed it?
 

LostKiwi

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Thanks for responding, but as the car has more than one amplifier which one do you change? Would one cause a fault of all? To change the front 2 you need to remove the dash and MB do not have stock and they are a back order product.
Found a reference to the central door lights if it is the overhead control panel issue and they works fine.
There is no other fault with the car that I can see or that the Star system shows, so I guess checking all the fuse/connectors around the RF, but again I have done that.

Has anyone taken it to a dealer and they have fixed it?
Here's a description of all the antennas and amplifiers and what they do and how they're related.
 

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SImon Ambler

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Here's a description of all the antennas and amplifiers and what they do and how they're related.
thanks
So based on that document it would support the diags that the right antenna amplifier could be the cause or is this just where they are on the back window?
The RRCL signal is demodulated in the right antenna amplifier module
(A2/65), digitized and sent via a data output to the overhead control
panel (N70).
 
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LostKiwi

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thanks
So based on that document it would support the diags that the right antenna amplifier could be the cause?
The RRCL signal is demodulated in the right antenna amplifier module
(A2/65), digitized and sent via a data output to the overhead control
panel (N70).
Yes, but as always check connections before replacing parts.
 

SImon Ambler

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No, I took it to small Indy and they couldn’t resolve it, but suggested this part might fix it, they were very busy with the lock down and didn’t really have the time to do more looking. No fault on the Star.

Phoned another Indy for a 2nd option and they checked all the electric and came to the same conclusion, but said they could get to the part without removing the dash, although that was what Mercedes WIS said you needed to do.

The part is on back order with Mercedes in Germany, £246 excl Vat, they didn’t have any idea how long it would take, so I found them on EBay and bought 2 in case. One from Germany and one from Lithuania. The German one came first and worked, so really happy.

The other should be here next week I think if you want it pm me.

I don’t know what the cost of fitting it was because they did a lot of other things for me as well. Fixed broken air lines in both seats, sorted the boot catch and spent a lot of time looking for the problem which they first thought was electrical and cause by wet carpet under the passenger seat, small leak from window seal. I would guess less than an hour but can ask as I am there next week for them to change the main belt tensioner in the engine which squeaks.
 

C A R S E

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Yes, but as always check connections before replacing parts.
Hi,

I am also having locking issues with my R230, locking works via IR but both Remote locking + Keyless has stopped working.

Silly questions ALERT
1) Can someone please confirm, the right antenna (A2/65) is the one located on the drivers side of a UK car (RHD)?

2) I have Star finder (based on LHD) and it shows right antenna (A2/65) being located just at the bottom of the A pillar is this also the same even though steering wheel is in the opposite side?
A2/64 left hand antenna seems to be located further under the dash (per my photos)
 

C A R S E

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Just noticed I posted on this same forum for the same issue in 2018 .

I did resolve my locking issue back then (worked for 2yrs) by removing the Central looking fuse a few times (which maybe by no coincidence powers the A2/65 antenna ). Unfortunately the trick didn't work this time round though.

Can anyone confirm the A2/65 antenna (where RRCL signal us demodulated) is defo the one on the drivers side + how easy it is to remove please?

I did take a photo of my (RHD) R230 and think I may have spotted the antenna, but does look tight to get into if it is (maybe possible to access from underneath):
 

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zedmeister

zedmeister

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Just noticed I posted on this same forum for the same issue in 2018 .

I did resolve my locking issue back then (worked for 2yrs) by removing the Central looking fuse a few times (which maybe by no coincidence powers the A2/65 antenna ). Unfortunately the trick didn't work this time round though.

Can anyone confirm the A2/65 antenna (where RRCL signal us demodulated) is defo the one on the drivers side + how easy it is to remove please?

I did take a photo of my (RHD) R230 and think I may have spotted the antenna, but does look tight to get into if it is (maybe possible to access from underneath):
Just looking through the whole post, it does look like it's the right one, and accessed without taking the dash out. There is a lot of interesting info in the post so maybe a good idea to read through it all again. Good luck and let us know if you sorted it in the end!
 


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