MB-BOB

I was at the dealer yesterday and my technician taught me a secret sauce diagnotisc procedure...

If you have a factory installed Climatronic unit, you can perform a climate control system check, diagnosis, and reset of registers...

Press and hold the "Defrost" and "Recirc" buttons together, and release only when the lights on both buttons start to flash back and forth between them. This procedure starts a system self-diagnosis of all components, sensors, etc., and then resets all the settings to the appropriate normals. He explained all this to me in technospeak, but I didn't catch all the details. The test runs for about 15-20 seconds, then the lights stop flashing as all returns to normal.

Apparently, with use the system "settings" get changed. and can become out of sync, including settings for "Tunnel Mode," on and off trigger points for the compressor, etc. My tech said it should be done twice a year or at least at every A or B service. (yea, like all techs are trained, or remember to do this...)

Before the mod crew asks the obvious question, this easter egg works only with factory installed and configured Climatronic units (I assume with all MB models so equipped). Refits of Climatronic head units to non-climatronic equipped cars likely will not work, obviously because the components behind the bling-bling Climatronic unit are not Climatronic. Try it at your own risk.

tommy

Yeah, but does this roll back the odometer? :p

MB-BOB

Geez, I start a serious thread and our resident liberal conspiracy theorist chimes in... (hehe, just having fun, dude)

This easter egg actually works. Or at least the flashing lights work...

levelr123g

not to flame, butthis has been posted numerous times over the last year or so.

MB-BOB

I did an exhaustive search before posting this thread, and among the 5 pages of Climatronic threads I perused, this one is the only one close, but it covers a completely different set of functions activated by different buttons. I think this thread is unique.

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ht=climatronic

silberrosa

It is the same as those which have been posted before. Also, it is Thermotronic NON climatronic. It seems everyone gets this one wrong.

amdeutsch

Please post a link to your statement about the prior postings. MB-BOB wrote the book on searching as posted in his sticky.

MB-BOB

Let's not get hung up on terms... It's known as Thermotronic in Europe, but is marketed as Climatronic in the US. Since this website is hosted in the US, and the majority of members are Americans, it is often referred to it as Climatronic...

BTW, I searched all forums on the term "Thermotronic" also, and have found no duplicates to this topic.

revstriker

MB-BOB, what happens if you hold the two buttons while driving backwards in a tight circle??

I think this will change the outside temperature to whatever your Climatronic setting is.... Comes in handy when it's cold outside.

MB-BOB

pokerFACE

trench

This might still work with the Climatronic swap. My swapped unit can do the other Climatronic easter egg - showing the readouts of various sensors on the headunit.

I wonder if the same (or similar) procedure has to be done with cars equipped with an "analog" unit, after all they use most of the same hardware - the primary difference being the extra fan on the factory equipped Climatronic cars. Seems like from what your tech told you that the hardware components would still need to be reset just as frequently, no matter which version (analog/digital) the headunit is.

cliffybabe

Im gonna try it on my CLK, ill let u know how it goes

drb930

Bob,

I did this and the "Flashing Lights" never went out till i turned the key off and took the key out?
Does this mean i have a problem?

Thanks,
Dave

acr2001

I just want to point out that none of this climatronic / thermatronic nonsense matters. *EVERYONE* has climatronic or thermatronic, whatever you want to call it. This is a misconception that I constantly see on these forums. Those with the knobs instead of the LCD screen still have the same fully automatic climate control system which works in the same way. There is a short list of differences such as: lack of sun sensor, lack of charcoal filters, and single fan setting rather than dual fans. But it is still dual zone.

This procedure works on any W203.

BF_JC230

Which "Defrost" button do we press...as we can defrost the front screen with hot air and defrost the rear screen with electricity...

Thanks!
Jake

drb930

It's the Front Defrost Button and the Recir Button, they are right next to each other.

Dave

dbvolz

I've got a 2005 with the "manual knob" style A/C. Does this work for me too? I currently don't have my car, so I haven't gotten the chance to experiment. My A/C system seems out of sync sometimes, so maybe this will help...

billbugger

Since we have the same car, I'll try it on mine and let you know.

mleskovar

Not true. You need to look at the differences between the the 230/240 and the 320 systems. There are four more stepper motors in the 320 system and passenger and driver footwell and fresh air are routed independently.

dbvolz

JLD2k3

I tried this today and the blinking went on for over 10 minutes on three different trips. What does that mean?

mleskovar

It means one or more of the stepper motors are not synching and you have a problem.

drb930

Mine didn't stop blinking either.
How is the diagnosis go from here?

acr2001

I pretty much said that. The 320 gets dual fans w/ more stepper motors. I couldn't remember all of the differences at the time, I have the MB PDF somewhere around here showing the diagrams.

My point is, both systems still have the same computer behind them driving the same functionality with the mentioned exceptions. A lot of people seem to think the 230/40 system without the screen isn't automatic or something.

The trick this entire thread is based on works on both systems, so the first post is wrong about that.