Tiburonsteve

Got my E300 three weeks ago. I'm having two issues.
The browser wasn't working when the car was delivered and was fixed. Now when I open the browser I see a web page, then everything freezes. If audio was playing it stops. No menu controls work no buttons work for navigation audio or anything else. I discovered that turning off the ignition and opening the drivers door restores the functionality--as long as I don't use the browser. The second issue- my wife says she feels a sort of thud from time to time coming from the front of the car. She's not sure if it's some kind of alert or something that's not supposed to happen. She can't describe it any better. I'm hoping for some input on either or both issues. Thanks.

Mike__S

OK, wild guess time. Your car has a computer system problem that may be a leaking power supply, a faulty cable, or it may be a memory fault.

When we buy cars today we also buy a computer system, complete with computer system type failures unrelated to the mechanical car parts that might fail. The computer system uses a network architecture called a CAN bus that involves coded digital signals to control various modules and actuators, all traveling on one or two of these CAN bus pathways.

This is why a door open signal and/or going from run to auxiliary power status can seemingly clear up a problem with the radio. At least in simple terms. I would bet the thump is a dirty signal pulse of low frequency getting to the radio via its power supply. Short, sharp and because of the low frequency, impossible to tell exactly where it is coming from. And, I will bet the door open issue and the thump are part of the same defect. If the nav and radio use the same power supply you may have your answer solved right there.

First thing to suspect is a bad power supply leaking electronic interference to the radio sub-woofer and also halting the Nav/Radio operation. Check power source with ignition on vs ignition off and door open. The second most likely problem would be bad RAM in one of the control computers or Radio/Nav unit. Third, a damaged or improperly connected cable somewhere that is causing the high speed data bus to become glitchy.

Normally the computer system will send itself error messages that can be read by technicians. Hopefully this is the case here, so go to the dealer with this note as a suggestion. Probably swap out the nav unit or related component would be a good first guess in this case. But, be prepared for a bit of wait and see on this problem.

If no error messages on board, and changing out the Nav/radio set does not fix it, it should be escalated to MB Germany. Maybe somebody somewhere has seen the same problem before. It will take a really sharp electronics specialist to trace the cause without error codes.

This may all sound far fetched, but I'd wager a beer.

ADD0514

I got the E300 along with another brand new car last July. Both have problems but the E300 suffers far more maladies and the communication between the SA and the shop technician has been spotty. So I've been resorting to video taping the issues with my smart phone, upload it as an unlisted video on YouTube complete with the description of the issue, then email the link to the SA. I have the record/proof of the problem, there's no need to explain to the SA, no unwanted aggravations.

Hope this helps.

BeachBunny

@TiburonSteve: The reason this "trick" works is that COMAND is sent a Power Off command once you open the door with the ignition off. You'll notice this is also the time when the radio will stop playing audio as well.

Something to try: System > Reset. It'll wipe out all of the settings and put it back to factory defaults, but should clear whatever is stuck in the browser. You might want to back up your settings to a USB drive or SD Card and restore your data after the reset. Ideally, you would be able to clear the cache of the browser, but it doesn't sound like you're able to get that far.

What's the configuration of your W213? Do you happen to have Lane Tracking or similar on it? It might just be Lane Tracking's feedback buzzer going off. (May seem obvious, but I could see how someone unfamiliar with it might think something's wrong).

@Mike__S: Unfortunately, for better or worse, you're describing Mercedes about 15-20+ years ago. Now, what you've described is 100% true for something like a Nissan/Infiniti. Haven't pulled apart a Lexus yet to know how they work.

Today, Mercs have multiple networks on them, all digital. Even the lowly W203 C-Class (~2000-2006) uses a separate fiber optic network to pass audio between components. I believe the W212 has 5 or 6 separate networks. Not sure what the W213 has. Each of them functions with different protocols (languages) and different speeds. Distronic/Drive Pilot run on a 10MBps network, very similar to the Ethernet networks you'd find on your home/office computer.

Body control (What Merc calls the door systems) and audio aren't connected. Audio's going to be digital, and with the W213, I'm assuming they're using digital Class D amplifiers as well. Power surges & the like aren't going to be passed by or even noticed by the amplifier.

I've had a ton of issues with my W212, and got to learn about the nuances of the different networks and systems on the car.

Mike__S

Thanks for the info. I was guessing for sure.