Central locking on my 02' C180 Sportcoupe

[nei]

Hi gurus I have been searching on the internet for a solution and I found ppl here most knowledgeable here. Wish soneone could shed some light on what's been annoying my for a while. Basically, I have bought a year 2002 C180 Sportcoupe, everything has been amazing apart from the remote lock, the radio control is definitely not functioning as I never managed to lock/unlock from more than 30 cm away from the car, the infrared works occasionally, if I point the key to the receiver next to the driver's door handle, it does lock/unlock sometimes. I found it more likely to respond when the engine is hot, at least it locked more happily after I drove for a while, unlocking from cold in the morning has been a lot less pleasant, over 60% of the time I had to stand next to the car and keep pressing the key for minutes, sometime wiping the receiver with my finger did the trick but I really felt embarressed and have had to use the metal key to lock and unlock. I did take the car to a local dealer and the engineer said it's a know issue, the solution would be a replacement of the rear window(wth???), the engine cable and something else at a cost of 2000+ EUR. I mean c'mon for that money I could have hired someone to rush to the car and open it for me before I approach... and I really cannot appreciate Merc's solution to a known issue. Please, could any one suggest anything or do I just have to live with that because I'm really not spending 2k EUR to fix a ****** lock which, not to mention, is a known issue. Help!!!:cry:

 

[nei]

btw, call me an idiot I bought a spare keyfob on eBay and asked Merc to program it for me, the guy told me the only way to get another key is to order through them at a cost of 350EUR...

 

[television]

You have both RF and IR locking , and the RF is done through the amp in the C pillar that is known to be a problem when it fails.

The close range is IR and works on the sensors in the handles or mirror.

You need to check the IR beam by holding the key in front of a digital camera

 

[nei]

Thanks Malcolm, I just took a picture and it seems my key is working fine? In fact I even had my key checked in a local garage and the receiver there picked up the signal from at least 2 meters away, the key is definitely doing both but did I just hit the jackpot to have both receivers not working?

 

[qask]

My c180 coupe central locking with the key and radio are also not working, the windows are tinted if that makes any difference. What is the solution?

 

[turbopete]

sounds like the amplifier in the c pillar. this knocks off the FM signal to the radio and means the range on the remote locking is reduced to about 30cms from the door handle at best.

 

[qask]

Where would the c pillar be located and I have been told i need to buy a new aerial amplifier, anywhere I can get these second hand as Original price is very high?