Hey guys, do any of you know a cheap fix to a leaking capacitor in the Bose Amp, I lost 3 speakers already and its pissing me off big time. I had to disconnect the speakers from getting them damaged. i really love the stock system and would like to retain it. As a kid i had lots of different systems, boxes amps, and i am out of it so I do not want to rewire the whole car and mess up the balance. I think Bose did a great job with the design of this very dynamic system. As a Audio/Visual engineer I have a right to make that statement.

So company in FLA is offering a rebuild for $300, another the whole amp for $500 with warranty. I think its silly to pay so much money for new capacitors, all they are just capacitors leaking out charge, should cost more than $30 in parts and some work on the circuit board.

Any input?

 

i had the same bose amp problem but i ended up just doing the bose bypass and getting aftermarket headunit. Haven't had problems since. Only downside is that the 4 speakers in the rear shelf don't work anymore but I'm taking those out and using them as ports for my subwoofer in the trunk. just thought i'd share.

 

As an engineer you could take it apart, just look for the small stand up electrolytics, get your solder iron and sucker out, and take them out. I think there are six to eight in each channel (seven channels) lots of heat sink screws, and of course put paste when you replace the channel amps. I hope you have not lost any foil in the circuit boards, just bridge it. I saw some amps when I took mine in, that looked horrible.Then throw the amp away and get one professionally rebuilt with a warranty. My opinion of course. I have all the tools, and skill, (electronic technician/broadcast engineer) but decided to just get one and avoid the problems!

 

Get one??? Where did you get it, and how much did you pay?, also how does your am sound now?

 

I removed it myself, and got an exchange unit from the local Becker service dealer. Go to Beckers web site they list dealers, there are others.
http://www.mercedesradiorepair.com/
http://www.carstereohelp.com/strmercedes.htm
http://www.beckerautosound.com/
I thought it was a bad speaker and took the door apart, never heard of the "bose amp problems" untill I asked my MB guys.
The local guy also replaced a few caps in the tuner part for an additional $50, the whole thing cost something like $450 with a one year warranty two years ago.

 

Peter, thanks for the info.