so I went out to the garage Wednesday morning...I unlocked my s500, and all my lights blinked good morning to me nice and bright as usual. I closed my door, and my cockpit sealed nice and tight as it always does. I put the key in to start the car turned it and to my surprise nothing happened! All that I got was a display defective msg!!! So I got on the fourms, and started searching. I found one very informative thread about opening and closing the hood. So I gave it a shot. To my second surprise of the day it was a sucess-the car started with no problems what so ever. I wasted no time taking it to RBM of Atlanta, which, is my local dealership. I tell my SA the issues that I am having with my car. He says "no problem" and sends me on my way in a 2002 c240 (slowly I might add) I call my SA on Thursday afternoon to check the status. He tells me after running numerous test, and checking my gauge cluster that everything is fine. He informs me that They just had to replace a bad battery. They assured me that there was nothing else wrong with my car. He said that they would keep it an extra day to run more test on the voltage so they could confirm that everything was fine. I got a call on Friday at 5:45p.m. (right before the service dept. closes) He told me that they ran test on the voltage, alt output, etc. and that everything was in "tip top" condition it would be $344.00 and I could pick it up !st thing in the morning. As I gladly arrived at the dealership to return the c240 I paid the cashier and anxiously await to hear my baby growling around the corner. Well as I'm standing in the pick up area I noticed that people who paid after me were getting their vehicles. Im like what the @#$#%$&!!!!! The only thing that came around the corner was my SA with a stupid a$$ look on his face! He tells me that my car will NOT start! He says that the battery is dead as a door knob, and says that it could be numerous things like: my SAM, etc. He pats me on the back and appoligizes for the inconvience. He puts me in a brand spanking new 2009 c300 sport with 500 miles on it. and tells me he will have one of the best techs start diging into my electronics first thing monday morn. So Im thinking this is going to be bad! He is going to call me and tell me that my bill is north of $3000 and he is just trying to butter me up. i've always been the kind of person to take a vehicle to the dealer warr or not but the last thing i want is them dissecting my car im no rocket scientist but i know how things work and i pick up on things that i'll say to them sometimes and there like "wow i didnt know that" and im thinking wow you should so Im driving home thinking to myself that if they put the battery in on Thursday it sat over night and they ran test Friday morning and there was no voltage loss. They ran test again the same evening right before close and the car started up just fine once again with no voltage loss. How in the world is it going to completly drain on friday night ?, and be dead sat morning. i guess my brand new batt. cells went out for a drink and never came back sorry for the long drawn out story but if anyone could help i knew you guys could

 

A common problem is a bad door control or seat control module. When they fail they prevent the CAN from "sleeping" (the car thinks you're still in it, maybe listening to the radio). This keeps a one amp drain on the battery, which will run it down overnight. Here's a good article on diagnosing these problems:

http://www.babcox.com/editorial/ic/ic030538.htm

It sounds like your dealer didn't bother.

 

thanks for the informative link i'll def. bring this to there att. in the morn

 

dealer finally called today and said it was my left front DCM he said they ordered the part and i could pick it up on monday $1300 and change later for parts and later does that sound about right ?

 

Sounds pretty steep, but not beyond the possible. How much is parts and how much labor? Does that include the battery that you probably didn't need? And how much time to diagnose when they obviously didn't have a clue?

 

i already paid for the batt when i went to pick up the car the first time and didnt get it. it was $344 then just for that so now it's $1376 just for the $500 DCM and $876 labor to diag. and fix not sure of how much time that they actually worked on my car funny thing is though my windows, seat controls and every thing else worked fine before i took it there in the first place i just had that Org. post issue of the display defective msg so now im at $1720 for a stupid lil msg that i slammed my hood that went away WOW my babys just digging in to her wheels and lowering allowance!

 

YOu have to learn to DIY some of that stuff or you will PAY.. the Module is just under 500 bucks.. WHo did the work RBM or carriage house?

 

yeah i know what you mean normally i am very very comfortable with any DIY i work on my hummer and i've pulled doszens of acura motors and race and work on my bikes all the time but after reading all of the threads about the very complex eletronics i didnt want to cause more damage than what was present and RBM is doing all the work i pick it up monday

 

i agree especially with mercedes they charge you up the wazoo for diagnostic and repair. and i noticed alot of times you can get the same parts NEW of ebay for alot less.

if you want you should check out the WIS program for mercedes, they sell it off ebay for like $10 but the nice thing about it is that it shows you exactly how to take out each part and install it. (its a bi*** to install the program though)

 

FYI. Don't be scared away from saving thousands by posters who don;t even do any of their own work.
The hardesd thing about a DCM is getting the door panel off without needing new clips. the rest is a peice of cake.
I figured it was RBM based on the steep price.. They have a nice shop but their labor rates and expertise conflict with one another..

I have visited them a few times while in Atlanta ( my 2nd home ).And I'm less than impressed. But it all looks great on the surface..LOL. I had an issue with then once where I installed a SAT module on a C class I owned and took it to them to activate an install the fuse and they were lost.. The shop forman came and "informed" me that my Navigation was from a G class so he couldn;t talk to the car. I told them if they put the fuse in like i asked them too they could.. Well they did and of course everything worked.. but I thought to myself.."Hmmm they spent all of this money on this shop allowing customers to veiw their work from overhead and don't even know that that also allows customers to see the tech scratching their heads when they are lost.."LOL
Needless to say, I was not impressed with them at all. But again, noce shop and lots of pretty ladies to stare at but thats about it.

 

If I were you I'd see if you can get some of the diagnostic time knocked off. As I said in my first post the DCM is a common cause of battery drains and the diagnosis is straightforward. The fact that some civilian on the internet could diagnose the problem while they were busy replacing the battery and scratching their butts ought to cause them some embarrassment. Tell them they should have properly diagnosed the current drain when you first brought it in and shouldn't have to pay retail rates for some mechanic learning the ropes on your dime.

Be reasonably polite but make the case. It can't hurt.

 

Amen!! That's a good point!!

 

thank you my06clk,whoover you guys both make plenty of since and my06clk you are very on point with the RBM is very nice shop with the latest equiptment with not a soul who knows hows to use it and plenty of ladies to DISTRACT you the whole time i didnt talk to a couple of techs until after they had my car so i could not pick there brains beforehand as usual. its like they keep them hidden or something needles to say i was not impresed with there knowledge i would'nt let some of them work on my daughters 90cc dirt bike but it is the dealer and if something does go haywire with anything they touched im sure they will take care of it. thank you guys so much again for arming me with the knowledge i needed whoover i will def.use the advise on monday when i pick it up but i'm a fighter and its hard to even look remotely polite when your my size covered in tattos most women look at me like i want to eat there babys maybe i'll just shake him up a little hmmm... nah i'll just stick to your advise thanks again man

 

I found one very informative thread about opening and closing the hood

can you tell mi more about ???????

I'm having almost same problem can't start my car to 2000 S430 the starter clicks for a second thats all it work be for it start duing that today any one any ideas ???????????
all electronics works fine inside and out accept (airmatic) only massage i have is ESP BAS

 

thanks again guys picked up my car the other day took your advise and they dropped the price to $1076 OTD instead of $1312 my SA at RBM told me that he could not discount labor only parts so he took off $236 off the price of the DCM