janineanne

This forum was very helpful in diagnosing a serious electrical problem with my husband's 2006 CLK-350. Let's see if our luck will hold with a long-standing but minor mysterious electrical problem.

He has had the car since 2009. I can't remember when this started happening, but it was in the first few years. 99% of the time the sound system works fine, but every now and then he will start the car to find there is no sound. There is power to the stereo, the buttons and station display are fine. This will last for an indeterminate amount of time, through several stop-start cycles, until suddenly he will start the car and there is sound again.

There is some kind of an electrical short associated with this failure, because we've found that if we leave the car sitting for long enough while it is in "no sound" mode the battery will drain.

Any ideas? He doesn't want to have it investigated unless he can take it to the dealership while the problem is happening and so far it has never happened at a convenient time. Besides, they could easily start it and find nothing wrong. But if we had a good idea of where to direct them to look it might not be quite such a money pit to get it fixed.

Thanks in advance!

Rudeney

I'd pull the fuses for the sound system and see if that helps reset things. Try 64 (front SAM), and 26 (cabin fuse panel).

janineanne

Just to make sure I understand - are you talking about pulling and re-seating them while the problem is happening, to see if that fixes it? Or replacing them with new ones? Thanks!

91ser

I'll say this, when I pull a fuse, I personally replace it with one that lights up when burnt out. They are a bit more expensive, but its super awesome in the dark when the fuse lights up and you just know which it is. No guessing, just fixing.

megacrazy

I would check the amp. I've seen this be the problem multiple times before with the same symptoms. It could also be a cabling issue...assuming the fuses are all ok.

Rudeney

Pull the fuses and check them - obviously if blown, they need to be replaced, but removing them kills power to the circuit which will "reboot" the device.

91ser

If its an amp, I have a few different styles for the clk. I think one for the bose and one for the hk system.

janineanne

Apologies for the basic question, but how does one check an amp? Neither of us is what you might call mechanically inclined. We can handle the fuses.

Of course it will all have to wait until it happens again, otherwise everything will check out fine I imagine.

megacrazy

If you know someone who has a good, working one, you could swap and test it out...or check ebay and pick one up for about 100$. Make sure all the connections between the headunit and the amp are not problematic first...and disconnect power...see if that resets anything.