Hi all,

I recently got a 2021 GLC, and am having difficulty syncing the garage door opener in the car to the opener in the garage. The unit in the garage (with the motor and such) is rather old; I'd estimate it was put in in the mid-90s, and the last time I set up a remote for it, I had to set DIP switches in the remote itself. It doesn't have a learn button or anything of that nature. Based upon what I can see from Mercedes, both in the manual and through various online tutorials, I may be able to sync the remote by holding down both the appropriate button on the rear-view mirror and the open button on my remote, and a yellow flashing light on my mirror will eventually turn green. I've had no success with this; however, various places online have mentioned that the method Mercedes has documented doesn't always work and there are some different methods to get this done.

With this in mind, I'm wondering if anyone has had luck syncing the garage door opener in the car to an opener of similar age, and if so, if you have any tips/tricks you might offer? If this is possible, I'd like to get it working, but after a couple of hours, I'm wondering if I'm trying to do something that simply isn't going to work at all and isn't a "me" thing, but a "you have an old garage door opener" thing. Thanks in advance for your time.

 

take a photo of the motor , especially the back where the push buttons are supposed to be. It seems that there are two procedures for syncing a remote , one is the rolling code type and then the other must be for one like yours. Also, go on youtube and see. I know syncing a remote is always a pain. I always do it but cant figure out what I actually did to make it work. Its always a surprise when it works. Good luck

 

First step would be finding out if your garage door opener supports Homelink. It might be too old. Homelink I believe was released in the late 90s, but wasn't really starting to get mainstream until the early 2000s. The first step to pair the remote is the same for older openers that use a fixed code and new openers that use a rolling code. The latter requires a second step, but if you can't even get your remote to pair then chances are yours simply doesn't support Homelink, assuming the remote you are using still actually works with your garage door opener, maybe check the battery first.

 

Good ideas about Homelink.
A few years ago I was in the same situation. A call to the Opener manufacturer (Craftsman, but most are the same manufacturer) had them send me an adapter that plugs in and re-transmits the car signals as Homelink compatible. I think it was free.

 

Your remote should be compatible if it's from one of the major US manufacturers. The car has a wide learning frequency range, that covers openers from a long time ago. I've programmed several Homelink cars to mid-1990s openers without any issues -- but the instructions aren't always clear. Look on the back of the remote (or on the opener label) for the frequency or manufacturing date -- I think 1993 - 2005 openers used 390mhz and 2005 and later use 315mhz. The car can learn these, and many other frequencies from 280mhz to 868mhz (per my 2020 MY manual).

First -- unless you have other doors saved on the buttons you can't recreate, always clear the memory first. That is done by holding the two outside buttons (Left and Right, but not Center) down for 20 seconds (or until the mirror indicator light turns green). Whenever I have had issues or the buttons in the car don't work right after programming them, I've ALWAYS solved it by doing a reset. So now, I always reset first, even on a new car.

Second -- you have to get the selected button on the mirror into learn mode. You do this by holding the rear-view mirror button down for up to 20 seconds, until it flashes. If it flashes immediately after you start holding it down, don't let go, but rather KEEP HOLDING IT, and you'll see the flashing pattern change after 10-20 seconds (I think learning mode is a flashing yellow LED in the GLC). Release the button on the mirror, and immediately go to the third step below.

Third -- Hold the door remote very close to the buttons (like a couple of inches away) and press/hold the button on the remote. The light on the mirror should switch from the flashing yellow to green (solid or blinking). If solid green, you're done. If blinking, then you need to now link the learned button to the opener (rolling code). Whether solid or flashing green, try it anyway -- I haven't had to program a rolling code to the opener on my last few cars...

If you need to program the opener, check the opener instructions for how to program it. Many of the pre-2005ish units are a two-person job for Home Link (someone has to press/hold the button in the car, while someone else presses the button on the opener), as the sequence was designed for programming handheld remotes (so you would have the remote in one hand, and press the button on the opener with the other -- you need REEEAAAALLLLLYYY LONG ARMS to do this yourself when the transmitted is in the car). For newer openers, you put the opener in learn mode by quickly tapping the LEARN button, and then have some time to press the button in the car.

If you can't get a green light, try another remote if you have one as the battery on the remote may be weak. If not, try a new battery in the remote (if not changed in the past year) -- I've had some remotes that didn't work for programming because the battery was getting weak.

 

On a side note when I just got home with my new 2020 GLC I was attempting to sync garage door opener which took several attempts. I was in the car messing with it and my wife was in back arranging trunk stuff. Garage door finally syncs and closes while my back hatch is still open- shutting garage into my hatch - got my first bad scratch on my car not even being home for 20 minutes. Trip to dealer next day for touch up paint. It’s always that first scratch that hurts most.

 

Ouch! I always do this with the car in the driveway since I have to be able to reach the garage door opener for the learn button anyway and the car would be in the way.

 

It's well past a year when you asked, but I hope I can be helpful to others who come looking for this in the future.

I JUST had the same issue, and JUST solved it, using a combination of tips from here and elsewhere.

I have a 2020 Mercedes GLC 350e, and one of the Homelink buttons was already programmed to one of our garages. So I needed to program a second button to a second garage.

Here's what I did, since I DID NOT WANT TO RESET THE WHOLE SYSTEM (and lose the programming of the first garage/button).

You will need to park your car close to the garage you want to use.

You will also benefit from a SECOND PERSON who should stand inside near the garage door motor unit (where the LEARN button is -- locate this button on your unit).

Have a hand-held REMOTE CONTROL for that garage (that is already properly programmed) with you in the car.

Then, while sitting in the car:

HOLD DOWN the button that you want to program and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the LED light turns into A SOLID YELLOW color.

Once it turns solid yellow, put the hand-held remote control 1-3 inches away from the homelink/mirror and PRESS DOWN the button on your remote control. Depending on your system, you may either need to PRESS AND HOLD, or to PRESS FOR 2 SECONDS, then release, then PRESS AGAIN for 2 seconds. The only way to know, I think, is to try.

The LED light will, eventually, turn to SOLID GREEN. Once it does that, either signal the person inside the garage to hit the LEARN button -- just tap it, don't hold it -- or jump out of your car, hit the learn button yourself, and then scoot back to your car --

Once that learn button has been hit on the main unit, press the Homelink button and release it. Then wait a second, and do it again - press and release. Then wait a second and press and release it a THIRD time. In theory, this should set the programming, I had to hit it a FOURTH time for it to work because: who knows?

You may need to try this multiple times before it works. I have no idea why. But this is the method that finally locked it in for me.

Good luck!