2008 e350 4matic radio shuts off randomly. It also tells me sometimes i have X amount of time till it shuts down. Another symptom is when i turn the car off the radio continues playing. Last but not least i cannot change tracks or stations along with volume through my steering wheel anymore. Those same buttons still work for everything else. All of this started happening after i had to jumpstart my car.

 

I had the same problem and it was a bad battery. New battery, problem solved.

 

Yeah, either bad battery or bad alternator. Take the battery out and give it a full charge. With the car off, switch to the temperature display and hit the reset button 3 times. Car should go up to 14.2-14.5 volts while driving, it would be less at idle. If you don't get that, bad alternator. System shuts off the power to convenience items when voltage drops below 11. Or take the car to an auto parts store and have them check the system, they will load test the battery and should also be able to tell you if the alternator is bad. I still have the original battery in my 2008, but I did have to change alternators.

 

Where is the "reset button" that you speak of ? I tried the black stick left of the guages. Think that reset milages on something ? Had the temp in the circle. Been having problems w/ youtube videos because many of them have different buttons.

 

Yes the black stick to reset the mileage is the reset button. You press it 3 times. Only works when you have the temperature display in the dash and the car is the on position but the engine isn't running. Also exactly what year and model is your car? This works fine on W211 which was 2003-2009 E320/E350/E500/E550.

 

Mine's a 2008 e350. I had the engine running. I was hoping to be able to monitor the alterantor while driving the car around and listening to the radio do the odd stuff it's done to see if the oddness corrolates with a low altrnator reading ?

Will try again before starting the car. Hopefully it will continue to show the alt info while being driven?

Thanks,

JIm

 

Yeah it doesn't work if the engine is running. Once it's on the display though, the display will be there when you cycle through the menus. So yeah, you can see what the voltage is while driving, usually in the 14.5 range. Usually you'll see something like around 11.8-12 volts or something like that depending on the outside temperature. Batteries under load have lower voltages than a freshly charged one with no load. When you crank it, it drops temporality until the engine is running and then can shoot up to 13 or more, but you don't get to 14.5 til you start driving and get the engine rpms up.