Lots of electrical problems, any connection?

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

You may have read that I had a problem with my remote locking and that the problem has now returned. In addition to that, the very next day, my radio has given up the ghost. I can receive no stations at all (prior to this there had been pops and bangs and the stations had "faded in and out").

I have also had problems with my cruise control and speed limiter periodically failing.

Putting aside the issues of these things happening on a 2003 car, can anyone think of some kind of electrical problem that may affect all of these things or is it likely to be just a coincidence?

btw, I have spoken the the garage about the radio and they say if it is an aerial problem, the aerial connection is under the roof lining so is very difficult to get to. Any comments on this?

The car is due in for a B service and an MOT next week anyway but I now think they will have a lot of things to look at:

Idle lumpy
Radio doesn't work
Remote locking does't work
Cruise control Periodically doesn't work
Speed Limiter Periodically doesn't work
Economy Dropped off (getting about 5mpg less on the trip to work)
Lumpy gear changes (although this may just be a "feature" of C-class gearboxes)

 

[Blobcat]

Idle could be Plugs/leads, jberks had similar on his E240
Economy, what are your tyre pressures like? You will also use more in the winter due to more electrical draw

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

Tyre pressures are ok. I recently had new tyres put on the front and the guy at the garage set all the pressures for me. I did wonder if that could have caused a drop-off on the mileage but the tyres are exactly the same as the ones that came off (only with a legal amount of tread )

I would have thought there would have been more electrical draw in teh summer/autumn as I was using the Aircon all the time...

Hopefully they'll replace the plugs as part of the B service, especially as I have told them about the lumpy idle. It's not REALLY bad, just not as smooth as I would expect from a V6 Merc.

 

[eric242340]

your rough running problem and poor economy are tied to the same problem. B service should fix this problem. However your electronic problems could stem from low voltage supply. Computers go a little crazy with low voltage. Tell your garage to check with Star D for low voltage problems. and have a nice day

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

Someone on the site menationed about a voltage regulator problem (recall) on the altenator on the 6 cyl engines. Could this be causing any problems if my car has it?

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

Malcolm, your pretty good at this stuff. Could you think of a unified cause for these problems or do you think its all just coincidental?

 

[television]

With me being off air for a couple of days,I am a little behind, to me it all sounds linked to one thing, low voltage somewhere. I will try and look your car up this evening, to if this is a common factor.

Malcolm

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

Thanks Malcolm

 

[Shala]

With me being off air for a couple of days,I am a little behind, to me it all sounds linked to one thing, low voltage somewhere. I will try and look your car up this evening, to if this is a common factor.

Malcolm

All my problems started after I had the battery disconnected & had my amp wired in. Could it be earthing? maybe the wiring in between the passanger footwell to the door. Because now my remote radio signal isn't working, sunroof & heated mirror.

 

[television]

All my problems started after I had the battery disconnected & had my amp wired in. Could it be earthing? maybe the wiring in between the passanger footwell to the door. Because now my remote radio signal isn't working, sunroof & heated mirror.

I think that your problem is that it needs a re sinc for the alarm.

Malcolm

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

Just as a follow up to this, I was driving home last night and my sat nav died completely. It is now an ex-sat nav. It was plugged in to the cigarette lighter at the time. So that is the radio - died, the cruise control/speed limter - died (intermittantly), remote locking - died (after being resurected earlier in the year), sat nav - died.

Now I know the sat nav is an after market one but I do wonder if it got spiked. Could my car be producing electrical spikes that are killing all of these electronic items? It could always just be a co-incidence but this does seem like rather lot of co-incidences.

There is a post somewhere on the forum about a recall on a voltage regulator on the alternator. Tony Purslow recon this doesn't apply to my car but having read the details on the post I'm not so sure. As a fairly non-technical person "voltage regulator" sounds to me like it could cause spikes if it isn't working properly.

Any ideas?

 

[television]

You may have read that I had a problem with my remote locking and that the problem has now returned. In addition to that, the very next day, my radio has given up the ghost. I can receive no stations at all (prior to this there had been pops and bangs and the stations had "faded in and out").

I have also had problems with my cruise control and speed limiter periodically failing.

Putting aside the issues of these things happening on a 2003 car, can anyone think of some kind of electrical problem that may affect all of these things or is it likely to be just a coincidence?

btw, I have spoken the the garage about the radio and they say if it is an aerial problem, the aerial connection is under the roof lining so is very difficult to get to. Any comments on this?

The car is due in for a B service and an MOT next week anyway but I now think they will have a lot of things to look at:

Idle lumpy
Radio doesn't work
Remote locking does't work
Cruise control Periodically doesn't work
Speed Limiter Periodically doesn't work
Economy Dropped off (getting about 5mpg less on the trip to work)
Lumpy gear changes (although this may just be a "feature" of C-class gearboxes)

Omni, if your car is a 203261 there is a problem with the antenna amp that is fixed to the rear screen as it can become detached due to incorrect gluing
This can upset the RF locking and give very poor radio reception.

re your last post i am still triying to work it out as the ciger lighter is fed from key 1 (thats battery) but cruise and all the other things are run form the engine (alternator) is your car a 203261.

Malcolm

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

203061 (I assume you are talking about the first park of the VIN code).

It does have the problems you mentioned though, poor reception and dead RF. Now the radio has died altogether. In fact the radio and the locking died within a day of each other.

Thanks

 

[television]

Cant help thinking that one of the SAM's may have gone down. The amp mentioned earlier could cause it all, Its a known fault

Malcolm

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

what's a SAM and how should I approach the subject with Tony Purslow. They have run it through a Star diagnostic test. Takes about 45 minutes apparently.

 

[television]

A SAM is not a dirty old man, its a device that aquires signals from various parts of the car, the one in the rear picks up the RF for the remote locking and many other things, You have another in the front that picks up the things like speed etc. all of this runs through the CAN BUS and checks seats mirrors etc,everything to do with driving the car.
A SAM (signal acquasision model) is a device that goes to sleep ½ hour after you have stopped the car, and only draws a few milli amps,the rear radio aerial amp thats fitted to the rear screen also picks up the RF from the key, this in turn wakes up the SAM's that get the car ready for you to drive.

they are easily blown when changing a battery on the C class. the SAM's are with the fuse boxes scattered around your car 3 I think.

As I said earlier the aerial amp breaking away could have locked up the SAM's and need to be cleared of fault codes.

Malcolm

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

Thanks Malcolm, that all sounds very much like what could have cused the problem. They have ordered a new aerial amp but the locking still doesn't work. Maybe they are witing to fit the amp before resetting the RF incase it breaks it again.

The fact that the cruise control is skipping out may mean that there are problems with both the front and rear ones that you mentioned. Which I guess brings me back to the original point. Do you think there could be one overriding factor that would cause both to die?

 

[television]

Thanks Malcolm, that all sounds very much like what could have cused the problem. They have ordered a new aerial amp but the locking still doesn't work. Maybe they are witing to fit the amp before resetting the RF incase it breaks it again.

The fact that the cruise control is skipping out may mean that there are problems with both the front and rear ones that you mentioned. Which I guess brings me back to the original point. Do you think there could be one overriding factor that would cause both to die?

The locking will not work without the amp,as it is the rear window that picks up the signal, i think that with this fixed and codes cleared you will be a happy bunny.

Malcolm

 

[OmniCognateNeutronRangler]

I think you're right. In fact I posted a thread ages ago about how my radio reception was bad an kept having loud "popping noises" all the time. I suspect the amp was going then which is what caused the remote locking to fail the first time. Then it went altogether which caused it to fail the second time.

Thanks Malcolm.

 

[hawk20]

Lumpy gear changes (although this may just be a "feature" of C-class gearboxes)

Auto box on C class is not normally lumpy. I did 26k miles in my C class over two years and the box was as smooth as the S class. Really. It is usually a matter dealers can fix fairly quickly.

Sorry to hear about all your troubles. You have had far more than your share. When you've got it all fixed and have time, let us know if Service Plus is taking care of all the bills. If so I hope it is some small consolation.