Hi,
I have a problem with my year 2000 E240 Estate (W210, I think). Yesterday on the way home from my son's birthday party the heater-fan control went haywire. Switching to the off position seemed to make the fan run faster, and switching to max speed seemed to slow it down somewhat.
That's fine, I can live with that. However at 4am this morning I was woken (and also I suspect most of the neighbours) with the alarm going off! I wasn't sure at first that it was my car since it wasn't as loud as it normally would be. I went outside to check and found that the door would not unlock. I had to use the manual key to unlock. There was no response when I put the key in the ignition. No noise (except the alarm) and no lights on the dash. The car was (and still is) dead.
I decided to disconnect the battery which was a feat in itself since a) I couldn't open the rear doors, b) the child-locks were on so I couldn't open then from inside, c) two large child seats were in theback which meant I couldn't wriggle into the back (hard enough without the child seats) and d) it was in the dark and freezing. EventuallyI managed, with some (actually a huge amount of) profanity, to disconnect the battery. Of course I wasn't surprised when that made no difference to the noise, since I suspect that the alarm/immobiliser has a backup battery.
Eventually (after about 90 mins the noise faded and stopped).
What is likely to be the problem?
Can I fix this without too much expense (I am still stinging from a £1600 bill to get the wheel bearing and brakes fixed a couple of months ago)?
If it's the immobilizer, can I just bypass it or remove it?
Any steps to troubleshoot would be appreciated.
P.S. Realized that the MB Handbook is crap. Fine when reading it smugly after having bought one but no ****ing Good(Tm) when reading at 4am.
I have a problem with my year 2000 E240 Estate (W210, I think). Yesterday on the way home from my son's birthday party the heater-fan control went haywire. Switching to the off position seemed to make the fan run faster, and switching to max speed seemed to slow it down somewhat.
That's fine, I can live with that. However at 4am this morning I was woken (and also I suspect most of the neighbours) with the alarm going off! I wasn't sure at first that it was my car since it wasn't as loud as it normally would be. I went outside to check and found that the door would not unlock. I had to use the manual key to unlock. There was no response when I put the key in the ignition. No noise (except the alarm) and no lights on the dash. The car was (and still is) dead.
I decided to disconnect the battery which was a feat in itself since a) I couldn't open the rear doors, b) the child-locks were on so I couldn't open then from inside, c) two large child seats were in theback which meant I couldn't wriggle into the back (hard enough without the child seats) and d) it was in the dark and freezing. EventuallyI managed, with some (actually a huge amount of) profanity, to disconnect the battery. Of course I wasn't surprised when that made no difference to the noise, since I suspect that the alarm/immobiliser has a backup battery.
Eventually (after about 90 mins the noise faded and stopped).
What is likely to be the problem?
Can I fix this without too much expense (I am still stinging from a £1600 bill to get the wheel bearing and brakes fixed a couple of months ago)?
If it's the immobilizer, can I just bypass it or remove it?
Any steps to troubleshoot would be appreciated.
P.S. Realized that the MB Handbook is crap. Fine when reading it smugly after having bought one but no ****ing Good(Tm) when reading at 4am.
