Dashoto

Starting yesterday the Mercedes GPS has me tracking through a different state! I live in the Chicago area and it's telling me I'm in Kenosha, WI. One point even in the middle of Lake Michigan. The car is picking up 12 to 9 satellites when I check. I though it might fix itself but no luck after a couple days. Any guesses?

Only other oddity is the in car internet is offline too, coincidence, who knows. it's not a BIG deal hardly use the Mercedes navy. But I called MBi from the car and if they needed to send help, yes they have the car located in WI.

ill schedule a dealer service next week if the issue continues. Brand new 2017 E300 with 3500 miles.

Diesel Benz

Perhaps LI82.85-P-064727, unlikely the GPS antenna part if you can see 9+ satellites but the SW update instead?

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ml#post6920335

Dashoto

Thanks DB. I will share that with the dealer.

"vehicle positioning inaccurate"

Sounds like what I have. The vehicle positioning did drift because it was correct but during a 45mile (90m round trip) drive I ended up further and further away from my true location as it was indicating on the map. Now it has me in no mans land.

Ill update when I get word from the dealer. Thanks again.

Dashoto

Whatever they did, all fixed

Zavato

That's what the warranty is for!

Diesel Benz

Something does not match there. The first messages says there were 9 to 12 satellites visible but then the GPS antenna wire had a short.

The W213 antenna system is quite different from the previous models. This GPS antenna as an example (A2/23) has been moved to the wing mirror. I cannot remember if there was any explanation for that. Not very good to have coax cables continuously bent when the door is opened/closed. I think there were other antenna too, a phone antenna too, depending on options.

The HERMES module antenna with LTE might need to stay away from the GPS antenna but even this does not seem explain the new arrangement.

vic viper

Lots of antennas in drivers side mirror, no issues with bent cables as they are routed through the centre pivot point, so the movement is minimal.


Known issue with early GPS antennas, the new improved module has an end prefix #28 at the end of the part number.

Dashoto

DB, I'm not sure if this is of any consequence, but this morning on the drive into work I had 18 satellites tracking my location.

ua549

An antenna short can cause all sorts of anomalies. A short does not necessarily disable the antenna. GPS is based on time. Anything that disrupts it will affect the location calculation.

Diesel Benz

18 means the Russians are watching you. Or actually your car is following Russian GLONASS satellites too. Even if it was down to 9 totally, it should give enough satellites from one of the two (GPS or GLONASS) to find a fix but the car should see a clear sky and preferably be stationary.

The reason for many visible satellites but no fix is probably intermittent connectivity on the misbehaving GNSS antenna as Vic says (or shorts as the fault code says). It takes a long time to read the almanac and ephemeris data.

ua549, there is no signal passed by a shorted cable, no signal to measure time or anything else. Also time measurements were not working because of no fix. This short circuit cannot have been continuously present but the OP did not claim so either. RSSI works even on intermittently dropping satellite signals.

ua549

@Diesel Benz

Per the MB Repair Order the short was internal to the antenna and not to ground. The cable was not shorted. An internal antenna short can cause many anomalies including a distortion of the received signal.

An intermittent signal will not cause a timing (location) error. Locations will not be updated without a usable set of signals.

Diesel Benz

Right, I missed the "internal to the antenna" part. Actually have difficulties understanding what it means, what sort of a short is it.

Agree on the timing, I was not accurate with my comment. I was assuming the antenna working too infrequently to allow proper almanac/ephemeris reception and positioning does not work if this data reception is continuously interrupted.

Too much guessing anyway and it does not matter if a new, better antenna is a good fix.

tchracing

Actually the new improve module with #28 is already being replaced with the GPS antenna from W205. The latest partnumber to be used is 205 905 04 11. This solution looks to have solved the problem as far as we have learned.

TomC

RickInHouston

Just today I was suppose to turn on an upcoming street. The light turned red so I stopped. The car seemed to think I went a little too far and re-routed me around the block. I turned anyway, where I was initially supposed to. It then had me not on the street and posted a "road not mapped" sign. It took a few blocks to realize I was not off-road.

Smokey7422

How do you know how many satellites are tracking you? I'd love to try it out. Thanks.

joshg1001

If you go to the screen that shows the compass/elevation, it will show how many sats are currently tracking you. Its usually around 12 or something iirc

Egonvdv

had this happen a few times in the past but would be fixed after a reboot.

however driving home today the gps was way off & I can not seem to fix it.

Just before this happened I did two things today: wash car and reboot the system because the usb stick crashed -

I doubt either could be the cause?

ua549

GPS accuracy can be affected by number of satellites in use and signal strength. My standalone GPS radio often shows ± 20 - 50 meter accuracy. Anything that obscures line of sight to satellites such as a tall building will affect accuracy.



Egonvdv

I'm off by 20km at least…
problem was not fixed overnight...

ua549

Antenna issues can cause those humongous errors.

Egonvdv

could it be i damage the/an antenna when cleaning the car?

ua549

There could be water intrusion in the side view mirror housing where GPS antennas are located.

Egonvdv

Managed to fix it with a hardreboot.. and learned in the process that i never did the reboot correctly in the past:

before i would:
- press/hold off button (radio switched off)
- wait till mercedes logo would come back
- release off button / this would switch radio OFF again
- press on button to switch radio back on

But the correct way is
- press/hold off button (radio switches off)
- wait till mercedes logo comes back on
-keep holding off button
- radio switches off again
- wait tilll logo comes back for a SECOND time
- release off button, the radio now stays on

ua549

Thanks for the feedback.

Sudden

2016 year model and the GPS was losing contact after like 15 min driving. Same thing happened many times and replacing antenna fixed the problem. Did not get an explanation except it can happen.

Sudden