When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Followed your instructions today. Had 4 wires of the bundle severed.
Brown wire was cut all the way, 3 others were damaged.
After the fix everything is working as it should.
Reïnstalling the panels cost me the most time. Now I'm again.
Thanks again from a
Hayo
Just joined 5 minutes ago. I googled information after my garage charged me $517.31 to put a new handle on my trunk and it only works with the key inserted in the lock. I am very upset as its NOT FIXED! SO, I cancelled the check and tomorrow I am going to try this method. I am a woman and sick of paying ridiculous expenses for this vehicle. After googling a different issue a year ago, found the cam shaft problem (?) took my vehicle to another garage and had it fixed properly. Now my 2008 E 350 is half dollar and billing me to death.
Question: Will this process posted by hbamark work on my vehicle?
Lic plate light not working, 3rd break light and trunk not operable(no power at all).
Just registered to say thanks for the clear instructions, it meant even this idiot was able to easily and safely do the repair and save some money at the same time.
Anyway, much dash. I'm now inspired to do more DIY. I've been getting these headaches lately, so I'm off to find a brain surgery forum...
I have a cls 550 2008 I checked behind the left side carpet and followed the wiring looking for a broken wire there was no broken wires but I found a brown and red wire disconnected from somewhere I believe that is causing the problem I am not sure where to connect the wire I might have to remove the cd changer to be able to get better access any advice ?
[LEFT]thankyou for your help worked a treat great job
So glad I found this forum. Thanks for the advice. Had this baffling problem fixed in ten minutes. It would have been five minutes if I hadn't crimped the wire through the plastic trim loop and had to start again.
Thanks for great advice. I found one wire broken and it took me ten minutes to fix. It would have taken five minutes if I hadn't crimped the wire through the plastic trim loop and had to start again. This forum is a belter.
found the brown wire broken...easy fix but my central locking, trunk locking and radio antennae is not working. Is there another wire in the bundle that controls these items? Thanks....
Ed
[QUOTE=konigstiger;6901472]Definitive diagnose have someone pull fault codes. “Could” be alarm siren unit (common) or antenna amplifier behind left c-pillar.[/QUOTE
it hard to believe all this could go wrong....third brake light, license plate lights, trunk lock not working, radio antenna, remote key not working and have some of these not be related.
If the brown wire was broken then none of the electrical parts attached to the trunk lid would lose their ground return and stop working. (trunk, 3rd brake light, and license plate lamps).
If another wire was broken there is a chance it was a hot and shorted taking out a fuse.
Suddenly no lights on the close/lock buttons in the trunk. Also no license plate lights. Trunk won't close except by hand. Search indicates I will find broken wires, usually the larger brown one. Fixed this issue on an 07 E63 today. It is a bit frustrating working with the side panel only partially pulled away but it can be done. There is a black plastic sleeve that wraps the wires (maybe ten of them or so) and right at the end of is where the brown wire broke. Others seemed to be okay. I pulled it free of the bundle, stripped it, twisted and soldered, then shrink wrap. I cut back the black plastic wrap stuff so that the point of stress changed, also then wrapped everything with electricians tape. All working well now. Thank you to all the posters who addressed this issue.
Reviving this thread and hopefully someone can help me and provide a little insight. On my 2003 E500 I thought I had this exact same issue with faulty trunk, 3rd brake light, and license plate lamps. Turns out my third brake light still works and my Canbus LED license plate bulbs had just gone bad - replaced the bulbs with new ones and they work fine now. My trunk release will not work from the key remote but the handle will still unlatch it. Also, my driver's side trunk light (LED Canbus bulb) will flash on for a brief instant every 5 seconds (passenger side works good). When I put in a regular halogen bulb it stays on fine. My Depo LED tail lights are having issues as well - the upper LED brake lights are not working, driver's side will come on for an instant and then go out back again. Put back in my original standard bulb (non-LED) tail lights and they work fine. I checked all my fuses and pulled off the carpet liner in the trunk and checked the bundles at the hinge arm and everywhere else for pinched or broken wires but found nothing. There's so many wires back there wrapped with the black tape though - could be a frayed wire hidden somewhere that I just couldn't see. Everything had been working fine for over two months with the new Depo tail lights - don't know if it's all related or a completely separate issue. Funny how both the LED tail lights and trunk light on the driver's side have the flashing issue, but with the halogen bulbs they do not - different resistance and power draw maybe. Thanks to anyone who has electrical know-how on these cars.
Last edited by Bahnstormer; 02-12-2017 at 04:09 PM.
So i fixed this brown wire about half a year ago and now another problem came up. The trunk lock opens but wont open the trunk for more than 5cm. When opened manually all the electrics work and when pressing the close button it only closes halfway, when pressing the button again it closes all the way and locks. Fuse and wires checked. Anyone know whatsupp?
A big thank you for the info on this fix. My son slammed the boot(trunk) yesterday and all the notes popped up on the dash. Fixed it in 30 minutes. I think part of the problem is the zip tie that holds the loom in place, it adds just a little too much tension. If you solder, heat wrap and just tape it up well, it will hang between the foam and the lining and no more problem. Saved me €300, Cheers, D...
My trunk power button stopped working in driver door and trunk lid. I called my buddy who is a service advisor at a MB dealer and he advised could be a number of things, but certainly hundreds of dollars to fix at a minimum. I Googled, found this thread, realized I also had brake light and license plate lights out, followed instructions and this worked perfectly for my 2008 E63. Called my buddy back and he said they charge $450 for wiring harness fix! I did not solder the wires, stripped back plastic, twisted, and wrapped in electrical tape, it was the brown wire. Here are a couple pics. Works perfectly now, Thank you for a great post!
This picture combined with the original instructions was perfect. Pretty much exactly there, the brown wire was disconnected.
In my recent investigation into my non-working power trunk I took a long hard look at how the cable moves with the trunk opening.
The issue is that at the very closed end of range, the cable coming off the hinge is pointed almost straight up, and bends down fairly hard. It is this extreme flex point that causes the failure. The brown ground wire is the thickest and therefor the one that breaks first.
When you do the fix, recheck how you attach the bundle an do what you can to minimize the tight bend at the closed end of the trunk hinge swing.
06-12-2015, 07:03 PM
Fixed!
again.
