Imtiaz Kiani

I am told to replace front SAM to diagnose further problems before we get to Command replacement at a local MB Dealership. The vehicle abruptly shut down. It was towed to service centre replaced 1 002-542-26-19 RELAY. The vehicle started again. Front right fog light is out, COMMAND is on but only main MB logo appears. navigation back up camera Bluetooth is all out. AUX plays music though. I am told by service advisor that diagnostics has no code now and we have to troubleshoot tracing for hours. Authorized 3 hours of tracing at $169 an hour. I need your advice. I cannot believe that MB cannot fix the vehicle. Vehicle is in great shape. Primary and Secondary batteries were changed in 2016-2017 by MB Dealer.


CLUSTER READS MULTIPLE MALFUNCTIONS - CHECK AND REPORT
CAUSE: CONNECTED BATTERY CHARGER. R AND R RIGHT FOG LAMP COVER AND FOG
LAMP. CHECKED FOR POWER AND GROUND, 0.68V NOT OKAY. CHECKED FOR
CONTINUITY FOR GROUND AT FOG LAMP PLUG, 0.1OHMS OKAY. R AND R
FRONT BUMPER. CHECKED FOR POWER AT THE MAIN BATTERY CONNECTOR,
FOUND 0.68V NOT OKAY. R AND R COVER OVER BATTERY. CHECKED FOR
POWER FROM THE FRONT SAM, 0.68V NOT OKAY. DISCONNECTED PLUG
FROM FRONT SAM, FOUND FRONT SAM HAS CORRODED. NEW SAM REQUIRED
TO START
54 REQUIRES FRONT SAM
644 CPA2
TUM REQUIRES FRONT SAM TO START - $1310 PLUS HST
INSTALLED (2.5), IF COMMAND IS NEEDED
- $10,200 PLUS HST INSTALLED (1.5)

Command Part # 164-870-39-89

Front Sam Part # 164-900-41-01

The link below says these part numbers are something else?.

https://www.mbpartscenter.com/contact-us

Max Blast

$10,200 for a Comand unit? GTFO!
First, get your car out of that dealer and find an independent MB mechanic. This car will eat your lunch money if you let this dealer Continue writing things like that.

The only thing they’ll find in three hours of troubleshooting is how much they can run your bill up.

more info needed here as to how this condition happened. Is the battery recent? Low or dying battery gives a bunch of weird failure modes before quitting completely.

I had a 320 CDI that also abruptly shut down for various reasons, but the chief one was water intrusion in the front and rear Sam units caused by water pooling in the battery compartment and in the trunk. If you have water in the car to where front and rear Sam are that far gone that replacing is the only option; odds are the rest of your electronics are toast and your car is parts car - sorry. I would not throw any more money at it after confirming that condition.

Imtiaz Kiani

The dealer said to change the new battery. But than I told him it was changed 2016-2017 by them. The truck is in overall great shape and was driving very well. Clean under the hood and underbody when you look at it. The service advisor also suggested to rather put after market Command unit on it. Parts are not available in Canada and are to be ordered from Germany back order.

Truck was imported from GA- USA in 2015. Maintained very well all along. It sounds odd that it is at a stage to be part out and no good to drive.

DennisG01

What Max is saying (and this would be pertinent to ANY car that has it's electronics below the floor) is that it's not about what you see on the outside - it's the inside that counts. If water has gotten into sensitve areas (a leak) then that could 100% explain the problem. Whether or not it has... and whether or not it's isolated to one area/component is still up in the air. Don't condemn the vehicle yet - but it is something to be aware of.

It seems they did some smart diagnosing and found a bad voltage reading at the SAM and also that the SAM's plug was corroded - to me, it seems like they're on top of things. But, do they have a "known-good" SAM that they could experiment with?

The note about the Command is just a side note.

FYI, $169/hour for an MB dealership is actually pretty fair. But certainly a competent Indy would be a little less.

Max Blast

5 yrs service life for a replacement battery is normal. Try a new battery.

as Dennis says, find a known good Sam to swap in or try to clean the old one.

the key here is to viciously control costs.

if your electronics are corroded you then decide if it’s worth throwing $5-$12k CDN after a car worth the same, particularly with all the other inherent diesel issues this car will present you.

lkchris

I believe Mercedes NA has COMAND units in its rebuilt parts program.

Imtiaz Kiani

If I get it removed from a 2008 GL 450 would it work? What would be needed to swap command units?.

Max Blast

there might be a programming needed to ensure the Comand unit is properly separated from its mother vehicle, and properly coded to yours. Not sure about this, but that would be about the worst case extent of it. Figure out why your car isn’t starting first though.