hello, i am in desperate need of your help

my car does not start. even worse, it now does not even accept any of my keys and i cannot turn the key to any power settings whatsoever! here's the story:

1) i got bixenons and hid fogs a little while ago, maybe 2 weeks ago. maybe five days later, my car does not start. when i put the key in, it was fine. i could turn on the radio, and my COMAND said something very close to "battery voltage too low. start engine or battery will die within 3 minutes". so i jumped it and drove it a bit, and it worked fine. it died the next day. i jumped it again, and drove it a bit, and it worked fine. again it died the next day...as a side note, the lcd dash looked and illuminated fine, but now the temperature reading in the bottom left said "+ 185F", which i thought was unusually high temperature!

2) so i called Roadside Assistance, who came in 1/2 an hour to my house and i saw the guy replace the whole new battery. he got a fresh one from his E-wagon and i saw him replace the whole unit. the car worked normally for maybe 4 days or so. but i know it's less than a week. lcd dash is bright, stereo works fine, and car feels and operates normal.

3) then the car dies again! i decide to jump it again, so it put the key in, put the gear selector to "Neutral" and then took off the parking brake, and pushed the car out of my garage. my garage is cramped so i can't park a car next to it and jump it. but i am able to roll the car out of my garage while it is off and jump it. the car works for fine. i drive it a lot, several hours. it works the next day...i guess the alternator was recharged when driving a long time. however, i did not drive it for one day, and now it does not start!

4) now it does not start, but it is even worse than before. it does not even recognize my key when i put it in; i cannot turn it! therefore, i cannot put the gear selector to "Neutral" to even push the car out! it is stuck in park, yet i cannot jump it in the garage cause it's too cramped.

*few things to note:

- car is a 2002 C32 AMG
- in total it has been maybe fewer than 10 days since my new battery.
- it is now worse than before as power is even more drained, yet the interval between driving the car has not changed...
- car operates fine if driven for long time the day before
- i just got aftermarket (but OEM) bixenons, but no ECU reflashed: not yet set to "xenons present" (haven't had time to go get it flashed at place yet)

long story short: my car battery died. i jumped it a few times, yet it still died. Roadside Assistance replaced a whole new battery at my house. the car worked fine for a few days, but it died again. it seems to have lost even more power, and it cannot even accept my key or turn on the radio or any lights!

please help me out and offer any expertise or experience with this or similar issues. i would really appreciate it! my car is completely stuck and i can't even put it into Neutral. i am hesitant to have Roadside Assistance bring it to the dealer, for fear of voiding my electronic warranty. do you guys think my warranty will be voided if they find out i have HID's and bixenons? thanks!

kevin

 

Hey bro,

I am not sure our problems are identical but I had something similar to that. About two years ago probably six months after i had the car, one day i went to start it, and my key wouldn't unlock the doors. So i thought it was the keybattery and went to replace it. Did that, still nothing. Got in the car and tried to turn the key, nothing, completely dead. So I jumped it, then drove it to the dealer. They said it was something electrical control that was messed up and was training the battery. Something with the eletrical system. SO they fixed it up and then I had the same problem again no more then two weeks ago for the first time since then. Took it to the dealer again and they said the same thing. You should take it to your dealer and get some specifics with them man, don't let them give you can crap, tell them to fix it.

 

Definate battery drain issue, very possible you caused it with adding accessories.... Warrantable? its anybodys guess as to whether or not they will catch it... I would say the front SAM has crapped out for sure, but I could be wrong.

 

Agreed. Definitely sounds like an electrical problem caused by the addition of BiXenons and HIDs. Did you do them yourself, or have someone else install them? If you did them yourself (or even if someone else did them), I would revert back to the original lights and see if that solves your problem. Then you can carefully install the new ones, making sure that you don't short any wires to ground or have some kind of short in the connectors. I'd do that before taking them to the dealer. They'll see that you don't have "Xenon=yes" yet and know that you didn't have it done by MB. Good luck.

 

hi guys thanks for the responses. i had the bixenons installed by a shop. i don't want them to void my warranty............maybe i could clear out my garage, jump the car, then drive it to get the "Xenons present" setting? would that affect the way they perceive my warranty at all? again guys, thanks.

 

I'm not sure about the W203's (c class) but my W211 E class had a very similiar issue (same warnings actually). My E was involved in a serious accident and after getting it back from the dealer we had this issue. It was finally resolved when the control unit that handles the duel battery setup was replaced.

Now I dont know if W203's also have this duel battery setup like the larger mercs...but if they do then this could be the culprit.