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Just bought my first MB yesterday! Not good so far!
Hello all,
I bought my first "new to me" MB. It's a 2007 r350 4matic with a v6. I was told I was getting a deal because it ran a little rough and the engine light was on. Showed up at the dealer and it did indeed idle rough but once it was in drive and going it drove like a dream! The bliss wore off about half an hour later. We filled it with premium gas and I thought my son was just playing with the radio so I took off ahead of him up the highway. Called him 20 minutes later and he said the car wouldn't start. He had pulled away from the pump and the speakers on the radio weren't working so he shut the car off to see if it would reset it but then it wouldn't start back up. The lights and everything were working so it wasn't a dead battery issue although the red battery light was on. The voltage did read above 12 so it should have been fine. When I came back to help him and we googled everything under the sun for 3 hours and even tried jumping it which didn't do anything. We finally came across a video how to reset the service. Then the darn thing started. It was possibly because the oil change light came up and wouldn't run til it was reset. Regardless I was happy to be rolling again. The other thing I had noticed when we first bought the car was the xm radio didn't work. The way the message came up I thought maybe the car wasn't equipt with it. But when we were sitting at the gas station trying to diagnose it the xm showed the code to activate service which I did even before we got it started again. But when we got it started it acted like it didn't have service like it did before. It was minor in my mind and I figured it would be something I would figure out later. So we drove an hour up the road and everything was working for the most part. Cruise worked fine, the engine light was still on but I think because of the rough idling issue. We stopped about an hour up the road and I wanted to finally drive it. I got in it and there were 7 codes going on. Battery light, don't shift and bring to a dealer, sbs and some others. The cruise no longer worked but the car went down the road and the engine ran fine. I drove it 20 miles and then switched it back to my son. The cruise no longer worked for him either so I passed him so he could follow me and keep it steady. It was getting dark and the tail lights were working but when I got in front of him I saw that only the parking light on the drivers side was working and flickering. Weird... We pulled over and tried moving the switch to the different positions but nothing worked. We also tried doing the reset like we did when it didn't start earlier in the day but that didn't help. We decided to just get it home. It came home safely but when he shut off the car that damn parking light just stayed on and flickered as it had all the way home. Now the car wouldn't start again... Ugh. Tried that reset one more time and nothing. Took the key out and that damn light flickered all night long... This morning the car battery is dead (not surprised). Going to try and jump it but has anyone heard of such crazy things? I thought I was dealing with a running rough issue but it's also got something glitched in the electric. For the cruise to work then the next time not, the lights worked earlier in the day too, the satellite radio not working then working then not. Also the lock and unlock on the driver side door stopped working but the Windows still worked fine. I'm totally lost here... It's haunted is all I can figure out.
Welcome to MBWorld and grats (I think?) on your new purchase.
The dealer let you drive off without diagnosing or fixing her? Was this an MB dealer or an independent? To be honest, this has the markings of a great big headache as electrical gremlins can be a pain to troubleshoot. Gonna have to make friends or fine a shop with someone with a STAR system if you don't want to go through MB dealership to resolve.
We are no where near a MB dealer. We did get under the passenger seat and there was about an inch of water in the battery compartment. I tested the fuse box that is mounted on the side and everything has power. The dealer detailed the car prior to us buying it and the carpet was still soaked even a day later. They used a crazy amount of water in there! We dried everything up and tested the main battery. It was weak so we replaced it with a brand new one. I hoped that would solve the issue but when I hopped in the car with all the doors closed, prepared to have it actually start and knowing I would have to program the windows and ect, the damn thing doesn't recognize my key. It allowed me to turn it to the start position but the normal chimes and start up light flashes were not there. Only the mileage displayed. So I tried my other key, same thing. Could it be the eis?
It ran and drove off the lot fine!!! Wasn't until we stopped and the radio speakers weren't working that we shut it off and it wouldn't start again. Dealership says it's AS IS... I wouldn't doubt they knew of the issue.
It sounds like you got taken. I would drive it back to the dealer and demand your money back.
I agree.
Private sell is different from dealer sell. They should have 30 days and so many mileages warranty. This is not an auction sell as is.
You got robbed. It will cost you a lot of money trying repair those problems.
Note: The water in the battery compartment was not caused by the carpet detail. Water in the intake (battery compartment) causes a lot of electrical problems which caused by clogged air intake. This is a common problem and the MB awares of this so the maintenance is included by cleaning out the debris in the air box.
I agree. It was sold as is. No matter how much arguing I do. Will have to file a bb compaint. But in the meantime I am still working on it. The satellite radio was randomly working along with the radio and the speakers would cut out. After extensive searching, I believe they are all tied together along with the ir signal to the remote. I am hoping that if the ir signal work the key will as well. I read where you need to lock and unlock your doors before the car will recognize your key when the battery is changed. These all may be tied to the amplifier. I am searching for a short there.
I'm mostly about the water in the battery compartment... and if any moisture / water got into the computers etc? (especially given all the electrical gremlins you're getting).
I don't have much information on this sorry, but perhaps on this route some of the others more knowledgeable may point out what to look out for etc?
Best of luck !
Man, the only SAM experience I have is with my w203 which houses it's sam in the engine bay so now I know about the filter -> clog -> water -> battery/sam... guess what I'll be doing this weekend!
Thanks! That's where it
was, under the carpet on the passenger seat floor and guess what? It had water damage! Maybe from the gallons of water the detailers at the dealership used? Either way it's fried and I am on the hunt for a new one. Wondering if it's better to get new or used. I have read it needs to be programmed but also read it's plug and play. I'm wondering if it's the new ones that need programmed. I'm 3 hours from a dealer so I need plug and play.
I do not think that the water came from the carpet detail.
I believe that the water came from the clogged cabin filters box where it locates on the upper left of engine compartment.
Hi guys,
so i pulled the cabin filter and looked down... i believe this is the drain hole that needs to be checked ? Can someone please confirm
If so... thats a helluva lot of water that has to fill up before it goes into the cabin filter space and into the car ! ...
Thanks !
Hi guys,
so i pulled the cabin filter and looked down... i believe this is the drain hole that needs to be checked ? Can someone please confirm
If so... thats a helluva lot of water that has to fill up before it goes into the cabin filter space and into the car ! ...
Thanks !
Where is the cabin filter located? Our new sam will be here today and I want to make sure I have everything I can taken care of before I put the passenger side back together. Fingers crossed that the sam is the issue! Radio still works! But nothing else!
If you look in the air intake box as seen in post #16, take a look under the top lip there and you will see the filters.
The air box location: under the hood, behind the glovebox. Ie, when facing the front of the car with the hood open, left side against the fire wall. There are two metal clips you have to undo, and then the outer plastic assembly comes out.
If you look in the air intake box as seen in post #16, take a look under the top lip there and you will see the filters.
The air box location: under the hood, behind the glovebox. Ie, when facing the front of the car with the hood open, left side against the fire wall. There are two metal clips you have to undo, and then the outer plastic assembly comes out.
The sam came, we put it in and nothing. Acted exactly the same. Interior lights work, key still turns in the ignition, satellite radio and speakers still working as it did before with the other sam. I believe it was plug and play but I have something else going on. I was told it was that or the EIS but with the key turning, I have a hard time believing that. I'll order one on Monday but tomorrow I plan on testing all the relays and grounds. The one thing bugging me is the rear fuse box has about half the fuses that don't light up but aren't burned out either. I was told that you only get power to them when it calls for it but I don't think that's completely right. I would think I would have power to most of the fuses.
Guess what? No power to the front sam... I replaced the battery and still had the old sam in the car until I got the new one. Nothing worked except the radio, seats and the key does turn. Then tried the new sam and got the same response. Tonight I unplugged the front sam and everything is still the same! Ugh. So no power to the front sam at all. Where does the power come from? What next steps would you take???
Though it is a serving of mustard after the meal, with cars like this I do recommend spending the $300-$400 to purchase a pre-purchase inspection of a car by a certified Mercedes Dealership. They love to do this, as they can cross-sell repairs. They'll hunt for anything they can fix for you, resulting in you obtaining a very clear and pretty thorough report on the state of the car.
Water damage in these complex electronics cars are bad news.
If the problems are solvable, by e.g. replacing entire units with used parts or so, you may still end up with a descent car. I've learned to walk away from disasters and count my many other blessings, rather than have a black hole drain your peace and money.
Obviously no idea how bad your situation is. Hope you will find a workable outcome.
The front Sam gets it power from the small fuse box by the battery. The issue is not in the fuses you can see on the top but inside the casing...there are quite a few wires that go i and out of the box you will have to open it to test. Problem is is mercedes does not sell the fuses separately and will tell you you have to buy the complete module.
You can change them... I think it's either a 60 or 100 amp fuse. You have to remove the small fuse panel and the you can test the fuses inside with a test light. The fuses inside the casing of the panel look like these....
You can get them from marine parts store, eBay or Amazon etc they are made by blue sea.
03-20-2016, 11:23 AM
Just bought my first MB yesterday! Not good so far!
