Dickster
MB Enthusiast
I just found out the hard way. Consumer battery dead, and couldn’t open the boot lid - common problem apparently. Resulted in this:
New Owner SL55 AMG 2003
- Thread starter G7Wagen
- Start date
Dickster
MB Enthusiast
I had to break the light unit to access the mechanism - you have to push the white lever down. The other option is to drill a hole behind the number plate. So make sure you open the boot lid with the key in the event of a flat battery!
I would have just used the key.
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2019
- Messages
- 2,518
- Location
- Guildford
- Car
- E250 Avantgarde Estate, Alfa GTV V6, Vespa, Ducati, many bicycles...
Could you use a battery isolator? I use one on my Alfa battery in the boot and it works a treat. It means the alarm isnt on but of course you can’t start the car unless you can get in the boot using the key.
Dickster
MB Enthusiast
Apologies to OP for hijacking the thread, but yes, that’s what I’m thinking of using.
OP
OP
G7Wagen
Active Member
Thank you When! When I cleaned the car the water beaded so quickly I was shocked, It is super glossy, I think maybe it has had some sort of paint treatment, never had a black car shine like it.. v happy..
OP
OP
G7Wagen
Active Member
I will be trickle charging using an optimate4 can bus friendly charger. to condition the boot battery. Does using the key not open the boot when the battery is flat?
I think super glossy would suggest it's been ceramic coated, which would be excellent for you.
OP
OP
G7Wagen
Active Member
My existing brakes have a slight lip worn on the outer edge of the front discs, so in line with getting my car into A1 condition I ordered new front discs and pads from my friend at Mercedes.. they arrived this morning and the DPD guy needed a hand as they are pretty heavy!
Steve84N
MB Enthusiast
About 33kg for the pair...
hedgehogsdad
Active Member
Do you need a canbus friendly trickle charger or will any do? If so, why??
The R230 SL has a separate battery under the bonnet for starting the car. I would also be wary of isolating the consumer battery as the SL's are prone to raising loads of error codes when power is exhausted.
Yes, the mechanical key will open the boot even with a flat consumer battery but lots of owners never have a need to use the mechanical key and when they do the lock has seized through lack of use and/or lubrication. I test my mechanical key every couple of months to make sure the lock works.
OP
OP
G7Wagen
Active Member
Gret tip.. thanks!
Dickster
MB Enthusiast
Yes, that’s what I was (badly) pointing out in my post with the photos - the key often doesn’t work. The mechanism in the photo I posted is plastic and wears (mine is worn not rusty) until it doesn’t release…
OP
OP
G7Wagen
Active Member
Ah OK that now makes sense... Will be checking mine today..
OP
OP
G7Wagen
Active Member
A few updates... on my owning experience
Still not changed my brake discs, but the current ones are good for now. Soon.....
New consumer battery in boot (mid August) has improved my car as some of the features that didn't work are now working, memory seats, soft close (more on that in a minute) dimming rear view mirror.. all now working..
A month ago I went on a trip to a friend and the car got an absolute soaking.. rain on and off for days... when I got home I discovered to my horror the boot was soaking wet.. did all the usual things, removed the boot liner into my house for a few days to dry out . I dried everything I could and put a small portable dehumidifier in the boot.. that pulled about a litre of moisture out.
I appeared to have got away with it.. and thanks to this site and its great contributors I swapped the boot seal for a new one and put the pics here :
R230 Boot Seal Leaks | Bodywork (Thank you RedSpecial the OP)
Have been enjoying the car a great deal, always turning heads with its looks and sound... However.
Yesterday everything seemed to be fine... at a friend's house showing them my car.. roof down all unlocked, when suddenly the soft close on the boot stopped working, after literally 50 previous trouble free uses.. I put it down to experience and drove home, only to find I couldn't open the boot, and the remote fob flashed the indicators, but didn't lock/unlock the doors.
Bugger.
Lots of industrial language uttered... and today I began looking at the issues.
Luckily I followed advice and checked the key worked in the boot lock last week.. so I was able to open the boot with the emergency key.
I still have to lock and unlock the doors boot with the emergency key though.
Checked the Central locking fuses in the bin behind the drivers seat... not blown.
Cannot hear any noises from the pump with mechanics stethoscope..
But... the door unlocks with my keyless key, but the door button doesn't pop up.
No locking happening from dash button or either fobs both of which have new batteries.
New battery in boot is showing 12.5v and left it on the trickle charger all day to be sure.
I checked some fuses in the engine bay too but no blown ones.
I can only deduce that the pump is malfunctioning or broken.
I have read that the impeller can self destruct with no warning and therefore not operate anything..as it cannot generate a vacuum or pressure.
Its been about a month since its soaking, (with no doubt previous ones too judging by the rust on the seal bracket)
and everything has worked flawlessly (once the boot battery was replaced.)
One thing that has not worked since I got the car is the massage/lumbar seats which I believe (someone correct me if I am wrong) is also connected to this pump? but I believe the pump disengages this air circuit when it detects a leak?
Tomorrow I will remove the pump and have a look and see if there is any possibility of fixing it.
If its electronics are water damaged, I may go for a recon one.. I don't fancy a short grand for a new MB one.
I have some questions for the audience who have been here before..
I found a simple pump removal guide? (this guy is excellent)
With the removal of the pump generate a fault code in the car needing an unwanted trip to a dealer?
Is it better to disconnect consumer battery first or just pull the yellow block fuses behind the drivers seat??
I plan to follow this guide and strip the pump myself. to check the impeller.
I would expect it would be a good idea to check the pipes under the seats for splits etc.. as the soft close was working I will not dismantle that until it doesn't work anymore.
Anyone done the seats before? do I need to remove the seats?
Lots to do...
Still not changed my brake discs, but the current ones are good for now. Soon.....
New consumer battery in boot (mid August) has improved my car as some of the features that didn't work are now working, memory seats, soft close (more on that in a minute) dimming rear view mirror.. all now working..
A month ago I went on a trip to a friend and the car got an absolute soaking.. rain on and off for days... when I got home I discovered to my horror the boot was soaking wet.. did all the usual things, removed the boot liner into my house for a few days to dry out . I dried everything I could and put a small portable dehumidifier in the boot.. that pulled about a litre of moisture out.
I appeared to have got away with it.. and thanks to this site and its great contributors I swapped the boot seal for a new one and put the pics here :
R230 Boot Seal Leaks | Bodywork (Thank you RedSpecial the OP)
Have been enjoying the car a great deal, always turning heads with its looks and sound... However.
Yesterday everything seemed to be fine... at a friend's house showing them my car.. roof down all unlocked, when suddenly the soft close on the boot stopped working, after literally 50 previous trouble free uses.. I put it down to experience and drove home, only to find I couldn't open the boot, and the remote fob flashed the indicators, but didn't lock/unlock the doors.
Bugger.
Lots of industrial language uttered... and today I began looking at the issues.
Luckily I followed advice and checked the key worked in the boot lock last week.. so I was able to open the boot with the emergency key.
I still have to lock and unlock the doors boot with the emergency key though.
Checked the Central locking fuses in the bin behind the drivers seat... not blown.
Cannot hear any noises from the pump with mechanics stethoscope..
But... the door unlocks with my keyless key, but the door button doesn't pop up.
No locking happening from dash button or either fobs both of which have new batteries.
New battery in boot is showing 12.5v and left it on the trickle charger all day to be sure.
I checked some fuses in the engine bay too but no blown ones.
I can only deduce that the pump is malfunctioning or broken.
I have read that the impeller can self destruct with no warning and therefore not operate anything..as it cannot generate a vacuum or pressure.
Its been about a month since its soaking, (with no doubt previous ones too judging by the rust on the seal bracket)
and everything has worked flawlessly (once the boot battery was replaced.)
One thing that has not worked since I got the car is the massage/lumbar seats which I believe (someone correct me if I am wrong) is also connected to this pump? but I believe the pump disengages this air circuit when it detects a leak?
Tomorrow I will remove the pump and have a look and see if there is any possibility of fixing it.
If its electronics are water damaged, I may go for a recon one.. I don't fancy a short grand for a new MB one.
I have some questions for the audience who have been here before..
I found a simple pump removal guide? (this guy is excellent)
With the removal of the pump generate a fault code in the car needing an unwanted trip to a dealer?
Is it better to disconnect consumer battery first or just pull the yellow block fuses behind the drivers seat??
I plan to follow this guide and strip the pump myself. to check the impeller.
I would expect it would be a good idea to check the pipes under the seats for splits etc.. as the soft close was working I will not dismantle that until it doesn't work anymore.
Anyone done the seats before? do I need to remove the seats?
Lots to do...
OP
OP
G7Wagen
Active Member
And just so I am looking in the right place... the PSE Fuse is in the black fuse holder behind the drivers seat with the 20amp yellow fuse?
OP
OP
G7Wagen
Active Member
Update..
Initially I removed and stripped the PSE Pump and replaced the impeller with a new one, even thought the old one was not broken. tested the actual pump part off the PSE to a satisfactory 3bar and then rebuilt it and refitted PSE pump into car...
nothing..
no central locking..
after a short while the battery started to lose voltage quickly...and my optimate could not replace the voltage quick enough.. so to save the battery I removed the negative and positive leads... and pulled the PSE 20amp fuse (yes it is the one in the black holder) after three days of optimate 4 charging I recovered the new battery.
After lots of thinking.. and having noticed the PSE pump had tool marks from a previous repair, so had probably gone bad, so I decided to order a new OE one from MB in case I waste half that much on a recon one with other issues.. £867 later.....
I fitted the new PSE pump today and replaced the fuse, all the central locking functions are now working, including soft close.
the battery seems to be holding its charge. Although there was no water in the pump area, I have to assume that the electronics failed due to age or water ingress. Poor design putting electronics on the floor of the boot.
All functions working on the car.. no warning lights...
One thing did surprise me.. when I completely disconnected the rear battery, the boot light was still on.. also the alarm was still able to be set, and the locator lights (see me home) were lit... obviously the computers were using the battery in the front and diverting power to these systems.
Time will tell... but hopefully the car is sorted for now... boot seal needs redoing... as I did something wrong when i fitted a new one . and it leaks.. (hiding it in the garage until its sorted..
iCarsoft MB II winging its way to me from the Bay so I can check all the systems properly.
John
Initially I removed and stripped the PSE Pump and replaced the impeller with a new one, even thought the old one was not broken. tested the actual pump part off the PSE to a satisfactory 3bar and then rebuilt it and refitted PSE pump into car...
nothing..
no central locking..
after a short while the battery started to lose voltage quickly...and my optimate could not replace the voltage quick enough.. so to save the battery I removed the negative and positive leads... and pulled the PSE 20amp fuse (yes it is the one in the black holder) after three days of optimate 4 charging I recovered the new battery.
After lots of thinking.. and having noticed the PSE pump had tool marks from a previous repair, so had probably gone bad, so I decided to order a new OE one from MB in case I waste half that much on a recon one with other issues.. £867 later.....
I fitted the new PSE pump today and replaced the fuse, all the central locking functions are now working, including soft close.
the battery seems to be holding its charge. Although there was no water in the pump area, I have to assume that the electronics failed due to age or water ingress. Poor design putting electronics on the floor of the boot.
All functions working on the car.. no warning lights...
One thing did surprise me.. when I completely disconnected the rear battery, the boot light was still on.. also the alarm was still able to be set, and the locator lights (see me home) were lit... obviously the computers were using the battery in the front and diverting power to these systems.
Time will tell... but hopefully the car is sorted for now... boot seal needs redoing... as I did something wrong when i fitted a new one . and it leaks.. (hiding it in the garage until its sorted..
iCarsoft MB II winging its way to me from the Bay so I can check all the systems properly.
John
