Disco Display!!!

[RoyDavis]

Hey guys, aint been on here for a little while but i started my car the other day and all of a sudden the dash board turned into a disco!! Practically every light on the display was flashing on and off and basically going nuts, I had a feeling it was something to do with the climate control as sometimes the display on that goes dull for some reason and ive also had problems with the climate control working........so i turned it off and the lights stopped flashing, the warning came up saying faulty display visit workshop. But at the same time the red SRS light stayed on and the warning said something about the SRS faulty visit workshop.

So any ideas?? Im guessing i need to take it to the workshop! But is it likely to be something that costs me the earth?

 

[television]

Could be just a sensor in the seat or seat belt,,only possible on STAR

 

[RoyDavis]

Cheers Malcolm, last time i had a problem with a sensor it cost me 160 quid! haha. I guess i'll take it down my local specialist and get them to plug it in and see.

 

[television]

Cheers Malcolm, last time i had a problem with a sensor it cost me 160 quid! haha. I guess i'll take it down my local specialist and get them to plug it in and see.

I wish that there was another way,,the loose wire under seat is very common. It still needs STAR to tun the light out once on

 

[Cole@MBS]

All the lights flashing on the dash, this is more then a loose connector!!

As Malc righty said, a short test is the next move!!

 

[cleverdicky]

Thanks to issues with mine I've made some inroads to why these 'coincidences' are occurring. I think there should be a ****** great notice at the top of the forum.
Possibly this fault, mine, and countless others are, we're told the fault of sam. Though no one knows which one untill the magic 'STAR' box appears. Sure these kits are franchised!

Well if its true and certainly looks that way. There is a flaky 64pin cpu smd in the rear sam and also used in many other areas, of MB and some other high end? cars for all sorts of control. Its a general purpose motorola chip MC68HC908AZ60. There's extensive posting on another US MB forum, with re-postings even on this one.
Aside from reprogramming or replacing (complete with recoding) it seems this little ABSOLUTELY crucial device is as reliable as a thirty year old ZX80. With stories of poor programming (too fast) and even temperature related (dont like the cold).
Its a ****** disgrace.

Like you and me and possibly thousands of many other poor sods, none the wiser, looks we are no different than the tax payers of a labour Govt. and expected to keep paying out for the same failures.

 

[television]

Thanks to issues with mine I've made some inroads to why these 'coincidences' are occurring. I think there should be a ****** great notice at the top of the forum.
Possibly this fault, mine, and countless others are, we're told the fault of sam. Though no one knows which one untill the magic 'STAR' box appears. Sure these kits are franchised!

Well if its true and certainly looks that way. There is a flaky 64pin cpu smd in the rear sam and also used in many other areas, of MB and some other high end? cars for all sorts of control. Its a general purpose motorola chip MC68HC908AZ60. There's extensive posting on another US MB forum, with re-postings even on this one.
Aside from reprogramming or replacing (complete with recoding) it seems this little ABSOLUTELY crucial device is as reliable as a thirty year old ZX80. With stories of poor programming (too fast) and even temperature related (dont like the cold).
Its a ****** disgrace.

Like you and me and possibly thousands of many other poor sods, none the wiser, looks we are no different than the tax payers of a labour Govt. and expected to keep paying out for the same failures.

The front SAMs on a 203 are near impossible to get to bits

 

[Alex Crow]

but quite cheap now, circa £250. ok, not peanuts but cheaper than an instrument cluster. our local main dealer keeps the w203 front sam on the shelf, no longer a milton keynes item. this fact tells us a lot...

one might expect there to be common failures with these units, indeed there are, but there are always new ways they fail too. had one the other day that would not allow the dip beam to be turned off.

 

[Alex Crow]

The front SAMs on a 203 are near impossible to get to bits

malcolm, nothing is impossible. what size hammer were you using?

 

[cleverdicky]

Well I dissembled my rear one and that wasn't the easiest. Quite well built, but poor design.
I'm going to be buying a new later one if mine cant be recoded.
At least has an updated cpu (I guess still prone to failure though with its inherent poor design)
Thing is even though CAN was meant to be failure proof, there's no fail safe for a sam failure or partial failure. Look what happens when a server or hub goes down on the network. Chaos!
Still 'Only' two hundred quid - brand new, 75 from dronsfields (when they have one)

http://www.partscatalog.ru/mercedes/1/car/203/046/69N/203.046/69N/54/064

 

[RoyDavis]

you guys have totally lost me!! Basically your saying that whatever the problem is its going to cost me about 200 quid or more? That sucks!! Is it something major that i need to get sorted quite soon?

 

[television]

Well I dissembled my rear one and that wasn't the easiest. Quite well built, but poor design.
I'm going to be buying a new later one if mine cant be recoded.
At least has an updated cpu (I guess still prone to failure though with its inherent poor design)
Thing is even though CAN was meant to be failure proof, there's no fail safe for a sam failure or partial failure. Look what happens when a server or hub goes down on the network. Chaos!
Still 'Only' two hundred quid - brand new, 75 from dronsfields (when they have one)

http://www.partscatalog.ru/mercedes/1/car/203/046/69N/203.046/69N/54/064

At least they leave the part number on them,,it was not so long ago the they ground of the face of the IC's.

Also I tried for a part today for a TV £165 and the new TV is sold new for £125

 

[cleverdicky]

another that surprised me was that it wasnt potted. i.e. encapsulated with hard gunk resin.
No wonder the poor blighter gets cold.
ROYDAVIS, if your up for it mate. Take out the sam, take off the cover, and GENTLY without going mad, play a hot air gun over the ic's.
Was going to do that with mine last night but never stopped raining.
If you notice any improvement it was either a dodgy ic or bad connection.

 

[television]

another that surprised me was that it wasnt potted. i.e. encapsulated with hard gunk resin.
No wonder the poor blighter gets cold.
ROYDAVIS, if your up for it mate. Take out the sam, take off the cover, and GENTLY without going mad, play a hot air gun over the ic's.
Was going to do that with mine last night but never stopped raining.
If you notice any improvement it was either a dodgy ic or bad connection.

Many in my own trade say that freezing in the freezer will restore memory devices. Potting is no longer used in these things