Advice Please....Mercedes or independent?

[orangeboy]

Posted a few weeks ago, relating to an electronic draining issue on my W211 (2004)

I have just spoken to an independent guy near me in Spain, who after an hour and a half of diagnosis, tells me, he needs to replace the auxiliary battery in the front of the car before he can proceed with the diagnosis. He also says the battery control module is giving error codes, and may need to be replaced, or possibly flashed.

He cannot get my command to come on, and says it will have to be removed to check what is wrong with it.

He says the car is losing power through one of the main cables in the boot.


Cut a long story short, should I continue with someone who I´m not 100% about, or just bite the bullet and take it to Mercedes? It´s difficult when there appear to me multiple things wrong, and I have no idea about complex electronics or how many hours it takes to repair them.

I can see this bill stacking up and up. At least with Mercedes, I would have more faith that the problems actually exist.


Cheers fellas.

 

[techcareuk]

electronics diagnosis in these cars can be an art!

did all these issues happen at once at the same time? if so i doubt its muliple equipment failure and more likley a single cause!

normal mechanics with diagnosis systems can often resort to expensive trial and error replacmets to get to the bottom of issues they dont fully understand, even Mercedes dealers can!

unfortunatly you are often in the hands of the man with the star machine, I would find a good one you can trust!

I recently had a drain issue with my S-Class, cut a long story short i found the answer with the help of a forum and it turned out to be the keyless go module not shutting down.

My answer is, if you are not from an electronics background then speak to lots of people in your area, do your homework and find a good diagnostics guy, this may or may not be a mercedes dealer.

 

[markjay]

As above, it is all down to the technician working on your car, and a good one may or may not be working for an MB dealer.

Personally I prefer to work with an Indy, because you get to talk to the people who do the actual work on the car, while with MB dealer the car disappears into the workshop and the information is conveyed to you either through the receptionist or through the 'service advisor' (which is just a glorified receptionist anyway).

 

[orangeboy]

The problem started when the command kept coming on when the car was turned off.

Now, whenever the battery is connected, it is draining the battery. I had to jump start it- which also was probably a mistake- but I had little choice. The Command doesn´t work at all now either.

I took it to one of these Kwik Fit type places, and they said it was the alternator- but they probably don´t have particularly specialised equipment. I don´t want to spend 450 quid on an alternator, for it not to be the correct fault.

This guy was just listing so many things, that I´ve got cold feet. He seems to be legit, but you can´t just go on their website, or forum posts. If had several people recommend him, it would be different.

 

[Sp!ke]

Does the auxilliary battery warning light eventually go off if you go for a long drive?

 

[orangeboy]

Yes, it used to go off after a few minutes.

 

[Sp!ke]

That would suggest that the auxilliary battery is OK in my mind but I am no expert.

Best wait until one of our resident guru's respond.

 

[John]

I would also echo finding a GOOD independent...

 

[techcareuk]

Orangeboy, sounds to me like you may have a similar prob to me when i had a battery draining problem in that you may have a faulty module preventing the bus from shutting down when the car is locked,
Mine was caused by the keyless go module keeping the bus alive and not shutting down as it should when the car was locked.

I went quite deep into tracing the drain, measuring current consumption from the battery when pulling fuses etc, it was draining at almost 3amps and should have been around 30ma (if i remember correctly) after locking!

here is the thread it may help if you follow some of the proceedures

Mark

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/elec...t-w220-strange-electrical-problems-after.html

 

[orangeboy]

Well I´ve had a host of problems recently.....after biting the bullet and taking it to Mercedes, they say my problems were caused by two faulty batteries.....not an alternator, or control module as I was led to believe.

My problem now, seems to be the command. It was working (although coming on intermittently) before I Jump started, then went completely dead.

Does anyone have any experience of a Command not working after Jump starting?

Could it be the fuse at the back of the Command? Or is it likely the whole unit is kaput, and not worth repairing?

How easy / Difficult is it to replace a Command unit?

Where is the best place to pick up one?


Many thanks.

 

[John]

I would still urge you to use a decent independent of the likes we see on here.

Where are you based?

 

[David-J]

We use a MB dealer in San Havier - Murcia region, called Demovil. VERY good service and as they charge local labour rates rather then the Dealer rates we are used to here in the UK - cheap as chips. Ask for Daniel, fluent in English, German & Spanish

 

[orangeboy]

I´m based near Malaga on the Costa Del Sol.

 

[orangeboy]

Yes, Mercedes have replaced the auxillary battery, and the main battery, and say there are no more faults.

However, they will not touch the Command unit, so it is still dead. In people´s experience, does this mean it is kaput? Or is there anything I can try?

It was working before I jump started it, so I presume something has blown.