Hi,
I recently purchased a 2005 e320 cdi w/150k, I previously owned a 116 and a few 123s, so I figured a "newer" diesel would be great again and I have heard mostly good things about the om648 engine. The engine looks and runs like new, the injector area is so clean , not even a small sign of the "black death" these engines can suffer from.

Ok, now for my problem, I have a few of the common problems associated with the e-class cars.
first: Neither the key fob, the button on the drivers door nor the escape button open the trunk. also the third brake light didn't work and the trunk interior lights didn't work either.

After doing some research, broken wires seemed to be the most common cause (just like the wiring on my 2001 eurovan) . there was one broken wire( grey/white stripe I believe the escape button 12v+) no change in any of the problems. I then traced and ohmed all grounds and pertinent power feeds. all are good.
I eventually realized the plug for the latch was not plugged in (red flag) . I did manage to get the third brake light working and the lp lights work as well.
after I plugged in the latch, to test the escape button, the trunk now opened via the hand latch when the doors are unlocked. success.
no not really, I then found out why the latch was unplugged. in motion the dash turns red and displays " trunk open"
I assume a normally closed contact in the latch is probably dirty. and since the trunk interior lights also probably have a timer safety feature to avoid draining the battery and the switch has to
work in order to reset the timer to allow the lights to work again, tomorrow I will open the latch and see if it can be repaired.
so I won't know if this solution will work until tomorrow, but my question is: doe this have anything to do with the fob,door button and escape button or might the rear sam be bad?
the previous owner just had the main battery replaced and I have read many posts describing catastrophic problems during battery replacement. this worries me as there seems to be no definitive reason for this.
I've logged hundreds of thousands of miles in om617 equipped cars with only regular maintenance , batteries,water pumps,lift pumps. my wife and I are enjoying this car but I am disappointed in some of the ridiculous problems newer Mercedes have.
if anyone has more insight into the rear sam unit , mabey pin outs, I would appreciate any help.
thank you mbworld

I do things like this normally, I am currently rebuilding the 6 speed in my 2006 lancer evolution mr , I have access to all my ecu driven cars, and I tune my evo even the mivec maps.
160k miles original trans, t-case,engine 28.5 psi since 35k turbo needs rebuilding but you would too pushing that much air for that long.

thanks guys