Sat nav weirdness...

[Rashman]

I'll be taking the car to MB later today to have them investigate some weirdness that the sat nav is displaying at the moment.

A few of us met up last weekend and took a trip down to Southend.
We met at bluewater, then stopped of at the Lakeside services to meet one other attendee and then headed to Southend.

Sat nav map and location tarcking was working fine until we entered Essex

From then on, the sat nav got completely confused and struggled to determine where I was.
The little triangle in the middle of the screen was moving as normal and the map was moving as I travelled, but it located me about 5-10 miles away from where I actually was
Actually, it never showed me having crossed the Dartford crossing.
The sat nav locator just stayed hovering over the Bexley area, even when we were in Southend.

This continued all evening.

There was a time about a year or two ago where the sat nav would have a "moment" whenever I passed Bluewater.
I had a relatively old sat nav disc back then, so I put it down to the road layouts having changed, confusing an old sat nav disc.

I bought the up to date sat nav disc last year and that issue never happened again.

But this latest issue is new.

I went out to the garage last night to see if the sat nav had sorted itself out, assuming that it was just having a moment that evening.

But the sat nav still thinks I'm just south of London

I put my old sat nav disc in, to see if the new disc was corrupt.
But the old disc had me located at the same place

Put new disc in again and it still showed me south of London.

I'm hoping that the wizard that I usually get working on my car at MB can resolve this without too much drama...

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Its probably confused as it has finally left your garage and cant remember what its meant to do

 

[Rashman]

Its probably confused as it has finally left your garage and cant remember what its meant to do

lol.. bloody joker!

I am alittle annoyed by it though.
Just randomly decided to play up

Someone suggested that it may be a faulty antenna perhaps?
Whatever it is, I'm surprised and annoyed that things just pack up like this

 

[whitenemesis]

I'd guess the GPS antennae has failed.

Check the info bar at the bottom of the map, how many satellites does the system see?

 

[BlackC55]

+1 GPS antenna is faulty.

 

[Rashman]

I'd guess the GPS antennae has failed.

Check the info bar at the bottom of the map, how many satellites does the system see?

Hey bud, hope you are well.

Ah, I didn't know that the screen showed this information.

I'm due to take the car to MB at lunchtime.
Hopefully they'll identify the problem quickly.
I'm also hoping that, if it is just a replacement component that's needed, they'll have one in stock.

I hate not resolving an issue. Immediately.

 

[Rashman]

+1 GPS antenna is faulty.

Hey Olly,

Yes, that certainly seems to be the collective verdict.

Hopefully they can fix this issue today...

 

[BlackC55]

Hey Olly,

Yes, that certainly seems to be the collective verdict.

Hopefully they can fix this issue today...

I expect they will have to order the part in. They can be a bugger to fit too.

 

[Rashman]

I expect they will have to order the part in. They can be a bugger to fit too.

That's wonderful news....

 

[Chrishazle]

I reckon it's not just a case of shock at leaving the garage and getting dusty, it's your sensible car objecting to being taken to Essex - didn't happen when you kept her in Kent!!

 

[Rashman]

I reckon it's not just a case of shock at leaving the garage and getting dusty, it's your sensible car objecting to being taken to Essex - didn't happen when you kept her in Kent!!

lol

Yes, I had a little chuckle that the thought of this too.

It was a monumental vehicular protest!

 

[BlackC55]

It is attached to the rear screen under the roof lining.

 

[whitenemesis]

Hey bud, hope you are well.

Ah, I didn't know that the screen showed this information.

I'm due to take the car to MB at lunchtime.
Hopefully they'll identify the problem quickly.
I'm also hoping that, if it is just a replacement component that's needed, they'll have one in stock.

I hate not resolving an issue. Immediately.

I am well thank you Rash

Still enjoying the AMG experience!

Hopefully they will have one in stock. I know the guys at Comand generally fit the replacement antennae on top of the cluster, so simple job to whip out the COMAND and plug in the new aerial. MB may want to replace the existing set-up, which would be far more involved...

 

[Rashman]

I am well thank you Rash

Still enjoying the AMG experience!

Hopefully they will have one in stock. I know the guys at Comand generally fit the replacement antennae on top of the cluster, so simple job to whip out the COMAND and plug in the new aerial. MB may want to replace the existing set-up, which would be far more involved...

Good to hear you are still enjoying the AMG fever

Yes, I am hoping it will be a relatively easy fix.
I am expecting a certain amount of trim-pulling but I have a really careful guy at MB that I always ask works on my car, so I'm not panicking too much about that.

It's just an annoyance really.
Just want it fixed. Now!

I'll see what transpires later today...

 

[BlackC55]

The whole interior has to be removed and back to a bare shell..... HUGE JOB

 

[Rashman]

It is attached to the rear screen under the roof lining.

What throws a spanner in the works, is that my comand seems to have been fitted by the Tamworth MB.

It seems that my car originally came with the Audio20 unit.

I've also been told that MB have instructions on how to retrofit the comand and, in doing so, usually locate the antenna in amongst the instrument cluster.

So it may need abit of sussing out first before they know where the problem lies...

 

[Rashman]

The whole interior has to be removed and back to a bare shell..... HUGE JOB

Olly is not without jokes either....

 

[Rashman]

Ok,

Got in the car to head to MB.
Sat nav still showing I'm in Bexley
Muscled my way through town.

Half a mile up the road, glanced at sat nav and it's now showing the correct location :bannana:

Drove to MB anyway.
Had a chat with a couple of the guys there and explained the events.
They were as unsure of the cause as I was.
One suggested that radio waves etc can effect sat navs and cause interference.

I asked if they would be happy to plug the car in anyway but they said that there was no point while the car was not displaying any problems.
They also said that the car would not log errors relating to the sat nav

They advised monitoring it and calling them if it happens again.

So, 4 possibilities, as far as I'm concerned:

1) There may have been some sort of interference that temporarily made the sat nav freak out.

2) There may be an underlying issue and may present itself again at some point. Going to have to wait for that.

3) The car now has preferences as to where I drive it and had serious beef about entering Essex. So much so, that it refused to acknowledge crossing the Dartford crossing

4) The sat nav did have an issue but, upon realising that I was taking it to see a technician, decided to heal itself to avoid being pulled about and pawed at by a techie

Whichever it is, the car is fine now and displayed no issues on the way home.

 

[Chrishazle]

Simples Rash - 1 and 2 are explained by 3, 4 just demonstrates the female nature of things mechanical - perverse, unpredictable, bloody minded etc!!

Stay south of the river, you know it makes sense!!

Good to hear all is back to normal with minimal fuss and expense!

 

[BlackC55]

The command system does log fault codes with regards to GPS errors. GPS antenna codes come up easily when there is a fault. Sounds like they were just being lazy.