Snipe656

Recently in our 1992 500SEL the driver side door speaker has been making a horrible crackling and guessing it has blown out. To replace this what has to be done? Going to guess the door panel has to come off but not sure so figured best to ask before possibly jumping into something. Another thing to note is the stereo just recently has been making a random high pitch noise, much like a poor cassette tape screeching so perhaps the problem is beyond the door speaker.

Peter Guenther

I had a similar problem, took the door apart and discovered the speakers were fine. The bad news is that you probably have a bad "Bose" amp. The amp is a seven channel feeding 11 speakers (2) in each of the front doors, (2) on each side in the rear deck, (1) in each rear door, and (1) behind the rear view mirror. This amp is located over the drivers side rear wheel, and is $800 at the dealer, Becker still rebuilds them and so do some authorized repair facilities for $400 or so! Speakers do go bad, but unless you abuse them probably not.
This is a very common problem see links, they shopw amps being repaired
http://www.mercedesradiorepair.com/
http://www.beckerautosound.com/

Snipe656

Thanks, I actually talked to Becker yesterday and explained every thing. The person there said he thought it might actually be the tuner going out and explained a couple of things to try to verify if it is the tuner or the amp. Planning to try those out tomorrow afternoon.

Peter Guenther

You can swap the right and left channels once you get to the tuner, I would suggest sending in the tuner and the amp if in doubt. The audio shop that did mine also did the tuner at the same time just for good luck. It seems the culprit is a capacitor that goes bad and is used in both items, usually the amp goes!

Snipe656

The tuner I priced out and I think it was below $200 but the amp at the places Ipriced out was around $600, have not tried those links you provided yet. So from a cost stand point, kind of hope it is the tuner. The CD changer also needs to be sent off for a rebuild or replaced, been ignoring that need for a long time. Got to love electronics as they get older

Peter Guenther

My changer also went out on my 92 500sel, It would not eject, a little gear falls off a motor shaft. I think I am a good mechanic, and was trained as an electronics tech many years ago, taking the changer apart and finding the gear was a real experience. I dont use it much anymore, I dont think there is a replacement for it but again Becker claims they can rebuild them also. Their web page also lists a local shop in Houston, check it out.