Dnasty

I recently took my car to a "pro" audio place to install an existing amp and set of subs in my trunk. They worked fine for about 2 days with very minor flickering... I had planned to take it in today and have the guy add a capacitor to the setup to see if that would fix the minor flicker. Then suddenly I stop somewhere for a moment and when I get back in my car to restart it I get the longest crank noise ive ever heard and no start. The car was cranking for about 10 seconds and not starting... I finally got it to start after 5 unsuccessful cranks and I drive it back home and call the audio place. They tell me to bring it in so I do the car seems to start right up this time. I take it down to the audio place they first remove the amp car wont start again... (more long cranks). They tell me the cars battery is bad even though it's a year old and none of this was an issue until they installed this amp (which worked fine in a 1998 e320 btw). Not to mention they spent damn near an hour trying to charge the battery of the car using a cable that had been duct taped together and wasn't powering their battery charger. Fast forward to them getting a new cable that will successfully power their battery charger, they charge the car and it starts right up. I have them install the cap on it anyway since I figure there's nothing to lose at this point and since none of them really had any answers or explanations I figured the cap would save the drain on the battery. I then try to leave car wont start again has to be jumped after the cap installation. It has check engine light and the low battery accessory light on int he dash. I drove it straight home from here but on the way noticed that the amp wasn't even on anymore. When I got in the garage I notice the only thing on is the light for the amp... it is not powered on and neither is the capacitor. I hooked it up to my garage charger for about an hour car starts fine all lights on dash are gone check engine etc. but amp still does not power on and neither does the cap. So now I have non functioning amp, non functioning cap and a battery that has to be manually charged. Very sorry for the lengthy post I just have no idea what to do and neither do the technicians who serviced it so I am kind of in a bind.

unlukky

Sounds as if theres a problem with the amp. The original problem sounded as if the amp was powered all the time with no remote. Maybe that was drawing the battery and eventually burned the amp?
Just guessing.
John

Dnasty

Well I took it back and the reason everything was shut off is because a power cable was loose from the inline fuse. Everything is back working again and I have a cap but I'm almost sure the battery wil drain on me again. I was thinking as you did that he amp was draining from the battery while the car was not on but how would I find this out? The installer ran the remote to a 12v cigarette liter in the trunk. I asked why not one of the accessory fuses that was right there and they said this was the safest and best way. i know back in the day they used to warn against leaving things in cigarette lighters because they said it drained the battery while the car is off that couldn't be the case with an 06 Benz could it?

unlukky

Hopefully one of the bigger brains chimes in here, but I believe the cig lighter to be always hot. Try the one in the front. With the car completely off try and engage it to heat the element; if it gets hot you have your answer.

Dnasty

Just checked the cig lighter seems to be inactive when the car is off. What is really confusing me is that this drain occurs over the course of many days and gets progressively worse. I went to autozone and got a good readout on the battery so I am assuming I have a good battery.. and if the alternator was an issue wouldn't this be happening more frequently like everytime I drive the car? It worked fine in my 1998 e320 and this amp gave much worse light flicker on that car but I never had this battery drain/starting issue.

Dnasty

I was wondering if leaving the car unlocked leaves certain accessories on like the cigarette lighter? Ive been keeping the car in the garage and unlocked around the same period of time as these starting issues have been happening and it just hit me that mabye this could be the issue? Is it possible it could be draining the battery if the car is left unlocked?

mschamberger

I never lock my car when it's at my house and it sometimes sits for weeks in the garage when I'm out of town. Except for the time my battery actually shot craps (3 years ago) I've never had starting issues. Just my experience.

Michael

Dnasty

Today I was driving the car and it seemed to have died while the car was running.. I was not even aware this was possible. Is this likely a battery or an alternator issue? I was at a stop light and the car simple shut off check engine and battery lights turned on luckily someone gave me a quick jump and I drove straight home but can anyone anyone identify what the issue is likely? I've had both alternator and battery tested both gave good readings. I've been charging the battery at home on occasion which might lead to these good readings but how does one decide what the issue is? The car also apparently will turn off if it is idle in park for too long.