afbenaza

I just got a 98 CLK320.
my other cars have a considerably further range for the door locks on the key fob.
with the 98CLK, i have to be within 2 feet of the driver's side door handle for button presses to be active.

is there any way to increase the operational range of the key fob or reciever inside the car?

City Rat

Great question. I'm very interested as well.

stim141

I think the transmitter in the fob slowly degrades over time. If your battery is fresh two feet is pretty poor. On mine the position of where you press it in relation to the car seems to matter. Passenger side is much worse then driver's side. Front is best. Also try the key to ear trick - it will double your range. Put the tip of the key at the base of your ear and press the lock or unlock. It does work.


If you've dropped your key a few times the range seems to be effected. Tried a relatively untouched original key and the range is much better than the key I've used daily for the life of the car - since 2000.

demon.bloom1

i think i remember reading somewhere that the the door lock portion of the remote is a line of sight type thing (akin to the remote for your tv) and that the receiver "eye" is in the rear view.... meaning that to aim the front of the remote, the part that goes into the ignition, at the rearview mirror thats on the inside of the windshield should give the best results.... im not sure where i read that but give it a try ans let us know if theres any effect

hotdog1954

look like you guys have a problem some ware, I get 50-60 feet no problem from line of sight mines a 2001 had it ten years now and the key fob are cracking a lot and have dropped them on the hard floor loads of times but good as gold !!!!!

dlbehrns

I can unlock my 99/320 with the fob in my pocket from 20yards away. technology is great when it works.

Aussiesuede

There is an infrared receiver (little squares) in each door handle which are line of sight only, and have the short range you describe. Contained in the overhead domelight is an FM receiver which receives the longer range transmissions from the FOB. Sometimes that FM receiver loses power.

Question, Do you experience intermittent failure of your overhead dome lights? They dray their power from the same source as does the FM Receiver. You can remove the overhead domelight assembly and check for any contact corrosion. Sometimes just removing, and then resetting the metal power bar that you see when you remove the dome light assembly. Sometimes the only thing that'll work is to replace the entire domelight assembly.

A1EK

You should be able to press that button from a much greater distance around 30+ meters. The remote as people have said does not need to 'See' the car only when you press and hold the button for auto window operations .

Likely that you have a damaged key fob, try the spare or buy a new one.