MercedesBent
Active Member
Hi All....urgent help needed please.
C180 1994 Elegance
Had a new stereo fitted a month ago (nothing special, just a basic CD Radio)
All been fine, except the electric arial was a bit sticky on retracting (noticed it first day of buying carr 4 weeks ago)
Gave it a clean with a cloth and WD40 wiped up and down it..all working fine.....until today.
Driving back from lunch, started car and radio didn't come on and arial didn't extend.
First thing I thought.....'fuse'. Sure enough the 10A fuse for the arial had blown....popped in the spare (ignition off of course) and that went ping before my eyes??
Drove to the garage and got some spare fuses....put another in.....'ping'
That is the limit of my electrical knowledge, so drove to radio place and said waht has happened, can you check all OK as radio was not working either and only been happening since replaced stereo.
Young lad did the fuse 'ping' trick first, then stuck in a 15A, went to the arial in the boot and did some thing with a 10A and 2 bits of wire...turned on the car and the radio came on, but the arial was not working...eithwer reception wise or extending wise.
He says the arial is at fault and has locked, when turning car on and trying to come up, is blowing the fuse.
Anyhow...have booked into MB dealer for Tues 22nd to fix/replace arial unit and they have requested I leave it for 2 days in case they need parts.
Hourly rate is £75 + VAT.....am quietly crapping myself as don't really want a £400+ bill for replacing an arial.
Any suggestions as to what others might think, how much I should expect to pay for an arial and how much labour etc.
Could I buy any old electric arial and are they just 'plug and play' type installation??
Thanks
MB
C180 1994 Elegance
Had a new stereo fitted a month ago (nothing special, just a basic CD Radio)
All been fine, except the electric arial was a bit sticky on retracting (noticed it first day of buying carr 4 weeks ago)
Gave it a clean with a cloth and WD40 wiped up and down it..all working fine.....until today.
Driving back from lunch, started car and radio didn't come on and arial didn't extend.
First thing I thought.....'fuse'. Sure enough the 10A fuse for the arial had blown....popped in the spare (ignition off of course) and that went ping before my eyes??
Drove to the garage and got some spare fuses....put another in.....'ping'
That is the limit of my electrical knowledge, so drove to radio place and said waht has happened, can you check all OK as radio was not working either and only been happening since replaced stereo.
Young lad did the fuse 'ping' trick first, then stuck in a 15A, went to the arial in the boot and did some thing with a 10A and 2 bits of wire...turned on the car and the radio came on, but the arial was not working...eithwer reception wise or extending wise.
He says the arial is at fault and has locked, when turning car on and trying to come up, is blowing the fuse.
Anyhow...have booked into MB dealer for Tues 22nd to fix/replace arial unit and they have requested I leave it for 2 days in case they need parts.
Hourly rate is £75 + VAT.....am quietly crapping myself as don't really want a £400+ bill for replacing an arial.
Any suggestions as to what others might think, how much I should expect to pay for an arial and how much labour etc.
Could I buy any old electric arial and are they just 'plug and play' type installation??
Thanks
MB
