drone
New Member
A bit of history , my son frequents the Ashford car auction looking for cars, he saw the 55 reg s203 and put a cheeky bid of £300 long story short he won it. Whilst it was a one owner car and it had a virtually full service history, it hadn't been cared for and consequently he expected some issues with it. Most of them were associated with a loose battery connection but one dogged us (I acquired the car 12 months ago).
I'll describe the fault so you may be able to identify if you have a similar problem.
Every time when in really cold weather the car would start but the dash pod and associated equipment including the multifunction switch ceased working, let it run for 5 mins or so stop the engine and the key had to be removed before the engine could be restarted when everything worked. Ok until about a month ago when it just gave up the ghost and wouldn't liven up the dash pod etc. I left the car for a couple of weeks until son came over and he was adamant it was the battery (I'd just bought a new one btw) he ran the car 30 mins and away it went into the same routine, ie start run for a few mins , stop and restart with all features.
Codes it threw up included central gateway , relay 15 and 15R and can bus failing to communicate. I drove the car and when getting out managed to drop the key. I then found I couldn't lock the doors remotely and had to shut the front doors, get in the back and push the dash mounted lock button. Not ideal.
I did change the batteries. Coincidentally the insurance renewal for my SLK was emailed to me and when reading through the schedule noticed that key damage was covered without impinging on NCB, I thought I wonder.
Sure enough the same cover was on the s203, one lengthy phone call later and the next day the insurers locksmith came out made a new key and off he went.
The problem has gone with the new key. I tried the old key and the problem is back. So scratch one old key and just operate the new one.
I drone on at length as it may well help someone else in the same situation.
FWIW the locksmith had to get the data to programme the new key via "lost all keys" programme, he mentioned this and also said the old key may well have been giving rise to other issues.
I renewed the s203 car battery last November and stored the old one in the dry. My Kia 4wd battery had drained completely(yesterday) so I managed to get this one in situ and checked the voltage 12.71V after a winter without charging in a shed and it started it straight up so it's never been the battery.
I'll describe the fault so you may be able to identify if you have a similar problem.
Every time when in really cold weather the car would start but the dash pod and associated equipment including the multifunction switch ceased working, let it run for 5 mins or so stop the engine and the key had to be removed before the engine could be restarted when everything worked. Ok until about a month ago when it just gave up the ghost and wouldn't liven up the dash pod etc. I left the car for a couple of weeks until son came over and he was adamant it was the battery (I'd just bought a new one btw) he ran the car 30 mins and away it went into the same routine, ie start run for a few mins , stop and restart with all features.
Codes it threw up included central gateway , relay 15 and 15R and can bus failing to communicate. I drove the car and when getting out managed to drop the key. I then found I couldn't lock the doors remotely and had to shut the front doors, get in the back and push the dash mounted lock button. Not ideal.
I did change the batteries. Coincidentally the insurance renewal for my SLK was emailed to me and when reading through the schedule noticed that key damage was covered without impinging on NCB, I thought I wonder.
Sure enough the same cover was on the s203, one lengthy phone call later and the next day the insurers locksmith came out made a new key and off he went.
The problem has gone with the new key. I tried the old key and the problem is back. So scratch one old key and just operate the new one.
I drone on at length as it may well help someone else in the same situation.
FWIW the locksmith had to get the data to programme the new key via "lost all keys" programme, he mentioned this and also said the old key may well have been giving rise to other issues.
I renewed the s203 car battery last November and stored the old one in the dry. My Kia 4wd battery had drained completely(yesterday) so I managed to get this one in situ and checked the voltage 12.71V after a winter without charging in a shed and it started it straight up so it's never been the battery.
