inkm

"serious electrical problem...." according to roadside assistant.

on trip to New York:
- used keyless go:
pushed "start" button -> "select P or N" with red background light on. checked and confirmed that the gear was selected "P."

Pushed "start" button again. "SOS teleaid defective" light on. "Display defective" light on. Tried key to turn the engine on. Key wouldn't turn (locked). Wouldn't lock the car.ÊÊ All functions stopped. Nothing was working.

"Display defective" and "SOS teleaid defective" lights kept blinking. Called teleaid. They said, "it's an electrical problem. The only way we can do is to tow it to the nearest dealership." Waited for more than an hour.

Tow truck came and the guy unplugged the battery and re-plugged. He suggested not to use the keyless-go until it gets fixed. Car back to normal with several malfunctions:
- Sunroof doesn't work.
- ESP malfunction light on for a while (now ok).

Now...what the hell is the problem??? anyone?? any idea??? help...

ctouhey

Exactly the same thing happened to me on the July 24th. (I have a post about it.) However, it happened to the car I was dropping off to pick up my replacement, so I didn't worry about it. Sorry to hear about your experiencing the same thing. I waited a bit before reconnecting the battery and everything worked as normal. Let us know if you find out any more information.

nyca

there are so many posts regarding problems with keyless go, is this option worth it?

bmms8

we will get our replacement within 2 weeks, and we love our keylessgo. it is our favorite feature, we havent had any problems, and im sure anyone would like it if it was trouble free

jim256

I was told by my dealer that if you do disconnect or change the battery, or need a jump start for some reason, then you should return to the dealer at some point so that they can "reset" the systems. Apparently not everything will function as intended after a power interruption. If anyone has had to do that they may have more insight.

Otto

inkm,

your battery is low (near dead). because new e uses brake by wire (electric control, not tranditional fuild control), for your safe reason, you are not able to start your car while battery current is low.

the roadside guy merely gave you a jump start for your near dead battery, you have to go back to your dealer to reset a couple of things. (free but waste time) e.g. sunroof, steering wheel, chairs, etc. but you can search this forum, I believe you can find a thread teaching how to reset sunroof by yourself -- save you a trip to dealer.

if you drive your car in city or short distance frequently, you may consider to have a trickle charger. you can search for "trickle charger" thread as well. I bought one and I make sure my car batteries in the best conditon which is good for you lights in nights and your hk sound quality. it costs around 60 bucks. (you can charge your batteries once or twice in a month.)

Otto

NitroShredder

Actually, when I stopped home on my way to drop off my pre-NAV to get my NAV replacement I ALSO had a Battery warning. Just as I removed the keys from the ignition.. I got a RED Battery "Visit Workshop" warning. I began thinking.. I am NEVER going to get to pick up this NAV car. Sure enough... after a pitstop at home.. the car started up.. and got to the dealership sans any warnings/malfunctions.

Good luck with the malfunctions man!

Peter

Otto

• ESP
• AAC - automatic air conditioning
• Left and right front seats
• Steering wheel and mirrows
• Windows and sunroof

inkm

Thanks guys for your input.

Otto,

I don't think it's a battery problem. Windows and lights were working fine at that time. Plus, I have panoramic sunroof with solar panel. I've heard that solar panel recharges the batteries when the car is parked. I think it's the problem with the gear status function. All the functions have been locked (except for windows, radios, CDs, and lights) and whenver I clicked "start" button, it displayed, "please shift "P" or "N" to start your engine."

Well, I made an appointment with the dealer on the 15th of Aug. I'll keep you informed. In the meantime, if anyone had experienced this problem, please let us know. Thank you once again.

etenn

Did anyone mention any liquid in the gear shift area? There were some problems posted in the past that involved a very small amount of water or soda or something getting into the boot area arround the shifter. It shorted parts of the electrical system. I remember that the symptoms were similiar to yours.

Otto

if windows, radio, etc work. your locking problem may come from "wet in gear area" as etenn described.

mb car has this problem -- most of them happen in convertible ones, if your gear area is wet, for safe reason (system cannot decide the selected gear), the car is locked but you told us that a jump start can fix it. (the wet gear car has to be towed) so I think it is a battery problem because low battery may still allow you to use windows, radio but it may not have enough power to ignite a car.

solar panel provides interior ventilation based on
1. igniton "off"
2. AC control unit inactive including REST inactive

if your solar panel cannot provide enough power for fan, e.g. under cloud or shade, your fan is going to use the power from batteries, if your fan runs whole day then it consumes a lot of power from batteries -- you may not be able to start car with low battery power.

inkm

many thanks to otto, etenn, NitroShredder and jim256 for your kind explanation. i still have some comments on this issue:

"wet in gear area" is very interesting. i didn't spill anything and there wasn't any water or liquid inside of my car, but it was very humid.

the guy did not "jump start," but he disconnected one of the batteries and re-connected it right away. he basically restarted the car. the car was literally "frozen."

the other thing i'm thinking is my cell phone battery charger. it was the first day i used the charger in my car. there used to be no problem with my old c and e class. and the charger was taken out when this happened.

if anyone had this problem and got it fixed, please let me know. thanks again for your help.

Otto

inkm,

I found that new e (not old e)

if you use "cigarette charge" without key turned to position one or higher, your cellular phone charge will not work. but when you take the key off without taking out your cell charger, your battery is "leaking" condition.

the new e "cigarette" is tricky than other mb models (dual batteries design) -- that is why we cannot use the "cigarette" style of trickle charger for the new e. (work for all other mb models.)

I think this is another design fault. the solution is always using power from cigarette charger AFTER you ignite car and always taking charger out from cigarette hole BEFORE you turn off engine.

in your case,

you have to take out the cellular charger FIRST then turn off engine and get the key out. Do NOT leave cellular charger in cigarette hole after you take the key out.

Otto

inkm

hm.... very interesting.

by reading your comment, it seems to be a battery problem. if it is, then how did the guy restart the car just by disconnecting and re-connecting the battery (w/o a jump start)?

right now, seems all problems disappeared. everything is working fine (except for solar panel...this is little bit tricky. seems working, but it's not cool enough. it's still hot...).

ctouhey

My expericnce was exactly the same. You could remove the key, but the dash was still lit up. You couldn't turn the key. They disconnected the batttery and reconnected it and everything worked perfectly.

inkm

ctouhey,

do you know what caused this problem?

inkm

well i guess not. just realized you were the one who posted(replied) before.