Erratic parking/fog lamp flashing
Anyone have any thoughts on this. Very frustrating.

Anyone have any thoughts on this. Very frustrating.
Does the light flash if you haven't had the lights on? I have never seen the fog light flash







My mysterious blinking started about a month ago...
It is similar to the alarm blinking, but not exactly as my alarm sounds my horn, but this situation is silent.
I've videoed it for 40 seconds on July 3rd as I walked around the car.
While blinking, the red alarm signal light on the dash blinks at a different rate.
The blinking will stop with either a key fob 'Lock' signal or an 'Unlock' signal.
It will sometimes stop on its own, but may start up again like 5-15 minutes later with no action on my part.
Last edited by Kropf; Aug 25, 2012 at 03:08 PM.
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Sounds like we have the same thing going on, although my flashing has almost stopped this last week. My car will also lock itself when I am out of car, so I have to be careful about removing the key when I get out of car to get gas or I could be locked out. I am going to have to take car into dealership to solve this, I'll post my results from that.
My car was mfg on 11/1998 ViN 33G2XF818281 Originally sold in Spokane,WA but I purchased it here in So CA in 2005 at which time it only had 32,000 miles. I see you have Eibach springs; what is your impression of them?
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It is similar to the alarm blinking, but not exactly as.my alarm sounds my horn, but this situation is silent.
I've videod it for 40 seconds on July 3rd as I walked around the car.
While blinking, the red alarm signal light on the dash blinks at a different rate.
The blinking will stop with either a key fob 'Lock' signal or an 'Unlock' signal.
It will sometimes stop on its own, but may start up again like 5-15 minutes later with no action on my part.
I guess it's your siren acting up, the built in battery is probably going bad or somekind of short curcuit?
Sounds like we have the same thing going on, although my flashing has almost stopped this last week. My car will also lock itself when I am out of car, so I have to be careful about removing the key when I get out of car to get gas or I could be locked out. I am going to have to take car into dealership to solve this, I'll post my results from that.
My car was mfg on 11/1998 ViN 33G2XF818281 Originally sold in Spokane,WA but I purchased it here in So CA in 2005 at which time it only had 32,000 miles. I see you have Eibach springs; what is your impression of them?
Car will only lock itself if you don't open the doors within 30 - 45 sec. after unlocking it with remote.
I guess you have to remember to take the key with you all the time when you get out of your car.
I haven't experianced this problem on my car.
Seems like we all have different problems with our cars?




I guess you have to remember to take the key with you all the time when you get out of your car.
I haven't experianced this problem on my car.
Seems like we all have different problems with our cars?



If I open a door when the alarm is armed, the siren howls AND the lights blink. The Panic button also works fine and triggers the siren.
The subject of this thread is only the lights blinking (with no siren).
I lock mine whenever I'm away from home (and recently have the random flashing light problem). But at home, it's unlocked in the garage, and has never locked itself, nor have I ever seen the lights mysteriously flash when unlocked (and I just spent many hours in the garage this past weekend).
As stated earlier this year: "I put slightly used Eibach Pro-Kit springs in the front only (keeping the #2 pads), and the look and ride improved greatly! Front dropped about 1 3/4" (1.75").
I then put the Eibach Pro-Kit springs in the rear (again keeping the #2 pads), but the ride became very unpleasant. The rear dropped 2 3/8" (2.375") and the ride became so unpleasant that that same night, I put the original rear springs back in."
As noted, I later put #3 pads in the front on top of the Eibachs, and #1 pads in the rear on top of the stock C43 springs - leaving a bit of "rake", which I like.
https://mbworld.org/forums/members/k...p1030268c.html
Last edited by Kropf; Jul 31, 2012 at 05:28 PM.
I don't think there are any sensors built inside the doors that goes off if a purp gets inside the car.
# Do you get any alarm sound if you open the hood after you have activated the alarm, you have to wait a minute or less to get the alarm in motion?
# Trunk sensor should go off if you make a test.
However, i don't think there are any sensors in the doors.
Sit inside the car lock it with remote, wait a minute, then open the doors one by one from inside, let us know what happens.
it was a ruff, ruff, ruff estimate i did för 30 - 45 sec, maybe it's less but it feels like a lifesentence..................
Last edited by KJI3jflarryfe93; Jul 31, 2012 at 03:04 PM.



I thought I had discovered an interesting condition...
Since I have all LEDs in the parking lights and aftermarket HIDs in the lower driving lights (all of which flash when the problem re-appears), I tried leaving them both on one night, locked the doors, and watched for 30+ minutes from the diner window. Not a single flash episode! At another time, I left only the LED parking lights on for a couple/few hours, and no report of flashing. Since the LEDs could be on for days without draining the battery, I could live with that work-around.
But, after not seeing the flashing for awhile, the problem has re-appeared, even with my parking lights left on. So, I'm not sure if there is any connection at all.

mkoons, do you have LEDs or stock parking light bulbs?
Last edited by Kropf; Aug 25, 2012 at 03:05 PM.
I'll be going to dealership 1st week of Sept, need plugs changed & have to get some new Pilot Super Sports on first.
Will post my results.




It was doing it when I first got the car, and did it for months without me finding out what's wrong with it. I went around checking every bulb/wire on the lighting system and all the door locks, etc making sure everything was fine.
Siren works fine. Alarm functions normally if I trigger it in any way.
I crashed the car, got a new key, and the flashing went away. For a while.
It's back now. It goes on for so long it kills my battery in this cold weather. I thought I just had a bad battery, but it passes the tests (and I can't afford a new one right now), so I just kept jumping it off and going along with it. Few days later (after driving it 100 miles in a day, most days) its dead in the morning.
Finally my old-man neighbor walked over and knocked on the door and told me that "most nights the lights are flashing on your car. They flash for hours!"
They did it today while at work. Killed my battery again.
The headlights, fog lights, corner lights, tail lights, and all interior overhead lights flash. The brake lights and instrument panel lights do not flash.
I am curious. My horn has always only done the high pitch when I honk it. As far as I know, cars have a low pitch and a high pitch horn. Could it be detecting one of my two horns has failed? Neither goes off with the alarm, though.



With much thanks to my '99 C43 - AMG Orphan #99's current owner Joffrey Roa in New Hampshire, who I just met up with last week, I quote his texts to me...
Located just under the driver side front wheel well is the alarm siren. In this siren are lithium batteries that leak over time and destroy the electronics inside the siren. This causes the weird alarm issue.
I replaced that siren. The weird thing is that you won't find the part number anywhere at the dealer.:
There are lithium batteries in the siren as a back-up just in case thieves cut the battery. The siren would still work.
I had to pull the siren out to get the part number because even with the VIN number I could not track down this siren at the dealer.
Also, apparently, a lot of MB cars from the C class to the S class use this same alarm siren from 1999 thru 2005. So now that the lithium batteries in those sirens are hitting 10 years and more then the sirens will start to fail. I believe your E55 still has the same or an updated version of this alarm siren.
I just knew it couldn't be a wiring fault but it had to be something related to the alarm somehow. Pulling the siren was the big hint. The siren is probably half a pound so its very heavy to be just a "siren". Crack it open and you see the havoc that the leaking lithium batteries will have done.
The part number is 219 820 32 26. The one that was in the C43 is 220 820 32 26 ** but both parts look exactly the same down to the three pronged connector plug.
(** Upon checking the EPC, I think the original C43's was 220 820 28 26, as stated later in my post #24.)
When I met Joffrey, he also showed me how the new siren chirps like the newer Mercedes.
Last edited by Kropf; May 26, 2015 at 03:31 AM. Reason: Permission from new owner to list his name, etc.
I believe the PN for the upgraded Siren is 219 820 32 26 (Thanks for this one KOWALSKI!) (And great post KROPF!)
Going to do this this week, first I will replace my faulty Tow Hook switch and Alarm Siren and see if that fixes it.
Last edited by venturaexit; May 19, 2015 at 11:31 AM. Reason: more
I believe the PN for the upgraded Siren is 219 820 32 26 (Thanks for this one KOWALSKI!) (And great post KROPF!)
Going to do this this week, first I will replace my faulty Tow Hook switch and Alarm Siren and see if that fixes it.
my mechanic told me, the new siren design requiers a different size nut.
# 150 looks like a relay for alarmsystem.
from another forum friend on British MB forum, I received this cool info programming my CL-locking.
" 1… Close to the car, hold down lock and unlock buttons on the remote fob , together, for 6 seconds.
2…The Red led on the remote fob will blink.
When you now unlock, only the driver door and fuel flap will unlock, if you press the unlock button once again all doors and boot will unlock.
Repeat 1 and 2 above to undo this action, this is called Global locking and Selective locking, these instructions are also in the User Manual."
now i can feel a lil' more safer in my car with the other doors locked
Last edited by KJI3jflarryfe93; May 19, 2015 at 02:01 PM.
my mechanic told me, the new siren design requiers a different size nut.
# 150 looks like a relay for alarmsystem.
from another forum friend on British MB forum, I received this cool info programming my CL-locking.
" 1… Close to the car, hold down lock and unlock buttons on the remote fob , together, for 6 seconds.
2…The Red led on the remote fob will blink.
When you now unlock, only the driver door and fuel flap will unlock, if you press the unlock button once again all doors and boot will unlock.
Repeat 1 and 2 above to undo this action, this is called Global locking and Selective locking, these instructions are also in the User Manual."
now i can feel a lil' more safer in my car with the other doors locked



(Your C43 ...771743 is only 12 sequence numbers after mine ...771731 !)
For our C43s, I believe that you want Group 80 (Vacuum System), Subgroup 040 (Vacuum Pump and Connector), part #23 A 210 800 19 48 Central Locking Mechanism Pump.
Beware, footnote 423 states: ATTENTION!!! SPARE PART MUST BE CODED WITH HAND-HELD TESTER AFTER INSTALLATION IN VEHICLE!
Parts.com lists that as Horn/Siren $125.25 MSRP $167.
Again, my post #20 quoted my C43's current owner, and I'm unsure about the part numbers he included... I couldn't find 2198203226 or 2208203226 in the EPC for our VINs, and checking on Parts.com, the two parts don't even look interchangeable - the first a Siren (maybe the "upgraded" siren?), the second a Climate Control Module - so any new purchaser should verify these numbers. Maybe he erred with the second number - I'll ask him.
As I was searching the Internet for these parts, I found the following related forum thread:
W203 - Alarm Problem (Fixed)
(Your C43 ...771743 is only 12 sequence numbers after mine ...771731 !)
For our C43s, I believe that you want Group 80 (Vacuum System), Subgroup 040 (Vacuum Pump and Connector), part #23 A 210 800 19 48 Central Locking Mechanism Pump.
Beware, footnote 423 states: ATTENTION!!! SPARE PART MUST BE CODED WITH HAND-HELD TESTER AFTER INSTALLATION IN VEHICLE!
Back to your parts picture, part #155 is the Alarm Unit Siren and the current EPC states the part number as A 220 820 28 26.
Parts.com lists that as Horn/Siren $125.25 MSRP $167.
Again, my post #20 quoted my C43's current owner, and I'm unsure about the part numbers he included... I couldn't find 2198203226 or 2208203226 in the EPC for our VINs, and checking on Parts.com, the two parts don't even look interchangeable - the first a Siren (maybe the "upgraded" siren?), the second a Climate Control Module - so any new purchaser should verify these numbers. Maybe he erred with the second number - I'll ask him.
As I was searching the Internet for these parts, I found the following related forum thread:
W203 - Alarm Problem (Fixed)
"12 sequence numbers after mine" -COOL! (I don't know why I said COOL, but this is the kind of stuff only us car people understand)

http://epc.startekinfo.com I will subscribe!
"Beware, footnote 423 states: ATTENTION!!! SPARE PART MUST BE CODED WITH HAND-HELD TESTER AFTER INSTALLATION IN VEHICLE!"
EVEN THE ALARM SIREN? can I just DIY THIS INSTALL?
Thanks!


