hjbondar

I could use the collective help of this very informed forum. Here is my tail of woe.

Tech data: 2001 C320 with Bose system

History: Sound system went silent after son and daughter lmatch in cabin (girl 7 and boy 10 years old/Girl won as usual). My wife blames loss of sound on kids! No CD and No Phone messages now appear when you ht the CD or phone buttons. Radio continues to fire up and show stations.

I inspect car to find that there is a 4-6 inch pool of water in the rear trunk well where the geniuses at Mercedes have located the amp - with the connector at the bottom!

Needless to say, the amp was visibly rusted and seemed an obvious point of failure. So, I acquire a replacement amp on eBay, plug it in, nothing happens.

not to mention that I had already cleaned out the water and, sinceVery reluctantly, I bring it in to MB for a diagnosis. I recieve a call back saying they had found water in the trunk where the amp is located, cleaned it out and that I needed a new amp - cost $1200 (P and L). I chose it had not rained in the 2 day interim, their finding water was a spiritual miracle! For the water accumulation theorists, save your keystrokes as no water has re-appered since.

I asked if they were sure this was all, since I knew my replacement amp did not fix the problem and was of a mind to rip out and replace the factory system if it was going to cost much more. The service manager responded that we'd have to take it "Step by Step." After a short conversation about this approach, he reluctantly agreed to plug in an amp they had in stock to verify.

Next day: I get a call to inform me that it was not just the amp, but that the wiring harness was compromised and the estimate now stood at $5680!

Yesterday: I get the car back, having chosen to pass on the $5680 path. I take the conenector cover off and find that the 12v supply had so sev, erely corroded that the wire was no longer attached to the connector. "Aha," I think, this is clearly the problem. To validate, I by passed the connector to provide the amp with voltage and ground, plugging in the fiber optic cable to turn it on. (Note: I verified that the fiber optic cable is sending a red signal to the amp)
RESULT:: NOTHING. I should note that I did not have the speakers connected, but assumed I would get at least a minor hum or switch click noise as a sign of life. In any case, this leaves me very frustrated, with no clear next step to take.

I would prefer to get the system fixed as oppossed to replaced since my wife, whose car it is, has no desire for a more powerful or feature rich system.

Here are the possibilities I have identified and the questions I have. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated:

Possibilities:
1. The ebay amp is no good.
2. The ebay amp, which does not come from a C320, will not work on my model - even though it is exactly the same size and has the same plug connector
3. The system needs to be re-intiialized anytime a new component is installed.
4. The fiber optic "In" works but the "Out" doesn't, bringing the whole system down.
5. The amp worked, but without the load of the speakers, would not give off any life signs (unlikely as the NO CD and NO PHONE messages continued to show up on the HU screen when the associated buttons where pushed)

Questions:
1. Is the Bose amp model specific?
2. Is a re-set needed?
3. Does anyone know where I can get the ebay amp tested - or a way I can do it myself?
4. Has anyone else had this water issue happen?
5. Any other HELPFUL advice?
6. Is there anyone besides me who would like to have the Chairman of Daimler Chrysler forced to drive their car for life as a punishment for the insanity of allowing this car's electronics to reach the market?

Thanks - Harvey Bondar Redwood City, CA

sirenebekim

Mr Bondar,

This is the craziest thing I have ever read, $6k for an audio system. Unreal.

1. Yes its model specific
2. To reset, take out the fuse for the radio system, turn on the acc for 15 seconds, turn off, replace fuse, turn back on.. OR hold the power button on the radio for 5 seconds when turning on the car.. Not sure which one works but both have been mentioned as reset algorythms.


3. I dont think you can test it past turning on, since the remote is basically DB2 optic signal, that tells the amp "OK, previous units are on, your turn". But you might be able to check if power is making it through the amp to ground, if so I THINK the amp is OKAY. Connect amp to 12v source, with no ground. Put spectrometer into (IN LINE) mode, and connect one wire to ground of the amp, and the other to ground of earth. If you can get power to go through it, I Believe you might be ok... somoene with more experience plz comment on this

OR

test the speaker output for power, if it does have power, check the OHM rating.. if your ohm rating is w/in spec, I bet the amp is OK.

Also, your whole optic system might not need replacing, try replacing the optics from the last "connector" or "optic splice" back to your amp. Their should be a connector on top of the passenger side wheel fender, probably wrapped so undo the tape around the harness. Also check your optics for bends, probably not the problem in this case.


Take out your factory harness and CHECK THE HARNESS not the amp, for voltage when you turn on your vehicle. The water probably popped a fuse. If you dont have voltage, keep going up the wire-schematic untill you get to the battery to find your fault. This is tedious work but it does work. Take the amp to a local stereoshop and see if they can do anything with it. Call them first and tell them its a bose mercedes benz oem amp. Also, test the speakers using a 9v battery. Goto the back harness and connect each positive and negative wire to the 9v batter. You should hear a pop noise on each speaker if the wire connection is still good. This should also give you some kind of knowledge of how your harness is functioning. If there is no pop, then your harness is probably bad, or you didn't hook up the pos/neg accordingly while doing the 9v test. Search the forum for speaker color codes, unless someone can post them here for you.

4. I havent heard of this. How did the water get in the trunk? Ironic, they want bookoo bucks for their engineering whoops by putting the expensive electronics in the lowest part of the trunk not counting the spare area.

5. Try using a after market system rather than the oem. This sucks, but at least youll have sound for about $1000 rather than $5k. Use a aftermarket headunit, and a amplifier. Since you had damage, i wouldnt use the OEM speaker wiring. Re-wire everything, and put your new amp ON THE TRUNK LID rather than the floor like everyone else in the auto industry.

6. No, because one day i would like to work for them.

oh yeah dont disconnect your battery when doing this... but im sure you know that by now


May God be with you

hjbondar

Sirenebekim - Thanks for your fast and informative reply.

I will try the reset with the old amp.

The harness is providing power. I have already checked the 12v in with a voltmeter. It appears to be a constant 12v, whether or not the car is turned on.

I wanted to confirm one point. The amp I have is from an SLK with a Bose system. It is exactly the same amp from all outward appearances. Same size, same mounitng holes; same input connections. You indicated these are model specific. I take that to mean a C320 amp is not interchngeable with the SLK, even thought they are both Bose, fiber optic amps? IS THAT CORRECT??

In answer to your wuestion, the dealer claims that a drain hole plugged and caused the problem. As the dealer has zero credibility, I really don't know. I do know they charged us for an SRS component that they never put in!!! What Gall!!

THANKS AGAIN - HARVEY

sirenebekim

I'm not 100% sure if the amps are interchangable or not.. I would guess, now this is a guess with some science behind it...

Since our cars use fiber optics for everthing, the slk and the C class would have different components. For instance, the information on the SLK's speedometer read out is probably different than the C's. If the units are in different order, they wont work. Say, in the c class, you install a cd changer. You have to have the cd changer in the correct order in the loop with the amp and the head unit for it to work. Using that, I think that the amps aren't interchangable, because different cars have different electronics that startup at different times in the loop. The electronics on the loop have a milisecond time frame where they can tell their "server" , "Hey, I'm here". This acknowledgement must be within that time frame, or the server understands those units are not there. This will break the optic loop. With your situation, I would say that your amp probably has a different time frame setup than the C class amps would have, based upon the fact that the SLK has different components than the C. If they do have the same components, my theory is whack, but I'm pretty sure they don't. Try private messaging sunman on this one, he's really smart about how the loop works and has alot of experience retrofiting components such as what you are trying to do.

So the dealer says the drain hole was plugged.. that sucks man now im gonna make sure my drain plug isn't clogged!


If your getting power to the amp, its not the fuse. Does your head unit turn on? If so then your fuse is fine. Do you have a cd changer or tele-aid? Check the fuses to these components as well, if they dont power up they will break the whole loop. THey might be tied into the radio fuse, but probably not.

Also, is there anything else wrong with your car? Even if it seems unrelated, it might not be...


good luck

i know how much it sucks not to have tunes.. sometimes my audio 10 doesn't output sound when i turn on the car... i've tried time and time again to fix it but I think the audio10 itself is faulty.... I'd like to buy another when this one finally craps out.

Onizuka

You can probably get a new system at a lower price...

RES

Side note check the little vent on the side of the well. It goes out behind the wheel well and if it is dirty and stays open all the time or is damaged it could be letting water in. I tried looking this up on the Mercedes service disc but have not found any information exept that they claim we can install the I-pod kit on cars from 2001 through 2006??? Have to look into that, I will do some more reading tomorrow.

hjbondar

Yes. And thanks to all members on this site, particularly Sirenebekim who was very generous with the time he spent on his reply, and to the BenzWorld W203 forums.

It turns out that--

1. My original amp still works! This amazed me since it was sitting in water.
2. The problem was entirely in the AMP (note that is the name of the connector company, not an abbreviation for amplifier) connector to the amplifier. The connectors for both the high and low amperage 12 volts feeds were corroded.
3. From my experience it appears that the low amperage 12 volt line(copper) delivers the signal to turn on the amplifier. If this is the case, I would presume that the fiber optic loop subsequently conducts a status check to see that each component is working.
4. The ebay amplifier that came out of an SLK also works indicating that the amplifiers are not model specific - assuming the speaker config is the same.

Thanks again to all those who responded and to those who provided the previous postings that enabled me to track down the problem.


with appreciation - Harvey

SeaCoupe

Awesome to hear! Way to go Siren.

Glad you saved the dough!

Do, figure out why there is water coming in though.

E

sirenebekim

hey thanks for posting that those amps aren't model specific, that clears up alot of thoughts i've had about its system... I'm glad that everything worked out for you, and you didn't have to spend $6k.. That is this forums best quality

hjbondar

Yet another ding for the dealership (SF Mercedes) who claimed they fixed the source of the leak.

It rained todau and I am seeing water in the same area. When I have a chance to test it I will let you know.

Harvey

yeuchau

wow that sucks
good luck

Mercus

Dude, you need to have a discussion with the manager at the dealership. Say that you will contact MBUSA and file a complaint. I guarantee that you will at least get a free detail out of it.

RES

I love it when a plan comes together Make sure to check that rubber flap vent if its curled or dirt has stuck it open that could be letting water in.

sirenebekim

try going to the dealership and talking to them first, I tried filing complaints first and got NOWHERE, and one less dealership to take my car to.