Help Please - GL450 Sirius Reception Dropouts
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Joined: Jan 2011
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From: Atlanta, GA
GL 450
Help Please - GL450 Sirius Reception Dropouts
Hoping someone else on this forum has experienced this problem and has advice. We have a 2008 GL450 with Navigation and Sirius Satellite Radio. We bought the car used in Dec. 2009 and have been quite pleased except for the satellite radio. On numerous channels, we get 5-8 second dropouts routinely even when there are no obstructions to the sky. We took it to the dealership several times and were told they "couldn't reproduce the problem." Then finally after about 5 trips, they produced a service bulletin from Mercedes stating that a firmware update was needed for the head unit (because the merger of XM and Sirius has reshuffled some frequencies they were using) BUT that an over-the-air update was considered too risky (might damage the unit if incomplete) and so at this time no fix was available.
That was almost a year ago, and the dealership is still telling us (as recently as last week) that there is no fix. We've called Mercedes corporate who tells us that, as far as they can tell, there is no reason why this unit shouldn't get a firmware update from the dealership. But the dealership insists that because our GL has a rear view camera, there is no fix for this head unit.
Has anyone else encountered this? The dropouts happen all the time and are annoying. And they seem to be on the channels that my wife and I listen to most frequently (of course).
-Cole Clark
That was almost a year ago, and the dealership is still telling us (as recently as last week) that there is no fix. We've called Mercedes corporate who tells us that, as far as they can tell, there is no reason why this unit shouldn't get a firmware update from the dealership. But the dealership insists that because our GL has a rear view camera, there is no fix for this head unit.
Has anyone else encountered this? The dropouts happen all the time and are annoying. And they seem to be on the channels that my wife and I listen to most frequently (of course).
-Cole Clark
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Joined: May 2007
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From: Scottsdale, AZ
2004 RX330, 2008 Scion xB, 2001 Honda Insight Hybrid, 2010 Toyot Prius v ATP
I've personally never heard of the need for a firmware update for Sirius/XM. I have heard of one for going from TeleAid to MBRACE (which I am not doing). But I also found that because Sirius has quite a number fewer ground repeaters (based on second hand information, so please don't flame me if I'm wrong), my Sirius drops out for a second or two at the slightest obstruction. I don't have 5-8 second dropoffs even then, unless I'm stuck under an overpass. But coverage also gets spotty in places with lots of buildings or in canyons. Could your geographical location be affecting this as well?
I've also heard the location of the antennae isn't really optimum for the sat radio system. But the overall head unit kinda stinks anyway, even still if what I'm hearing here from late model buyers is accurate.
I've also heard the location of the antennae isn't really optimum for the sat radio system. But the overall head unit kinda stinks anyway, even still if what I'm hearing here from late model buyers is accurate.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 2
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From: Atlanta, GA
GL 450
We actually got a transcript from the dealer that outlines the issue (from Mercedes) and mentions that there is (was) no fix as of yet because of the risks involved in an over-the-air upgrade of the firmware. The firmware updates was described as being needed because of changes that occurred when the Sirius/XM merger took place and certain frequencies were shuffled or re-purposed. The old pre-merger head units needed an update to accommodate these changes.
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Joined: May 2007
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From: Scottsdale, AZ
2004 RX330, 2008 Scion xB, 2001 Honda Insight Hybrid, 2010 Toyot Prius v ATP
Very weird. Now that you mention it, for a while every time I drove in to Phoenix (from Scottsdale) about two years ago, the Sirius would cut out and it would say something like "Updating Station List" for fifteen or twenty minutes. Usually I was where I needed to go before it finished. Either way, I don't have the type of problems you've had with yours and mine's a 2007. Really odd.
