vishrao

The rear passenger door on my 2003 MB S500 W220 does not open. The lock on it goes up and down with the FOB and also from inside the car when the ignition is on but the door does not budge. Not sure if the child lock is activated or what.

The car has little under 100,000 miles on it and I want to keep it for sometime because it drives like a charm. Is there a way to get the door to open?

One shop I took it to tells me it will cost around $2000.00 to replace the entire door panel. The PSE system also may have completely conked out and spending something like $1400 for it makes no sense. All I want is to be able to open the door as and when I want it. I will lock it manually.

Jazz

Fried Chicken

Good ****ing luck. If you ever get it open, leave it open and immediately replace the door latch mechanism.
The dealer will do it for like $1.5k, you can do it for like $700.

Have the same issue on my rear-left door. The door is pretty much unusable. If you get any hint that the other door is starting to become problematic, immediately replace the door latch or your rear passengers are going to be crawling in from the front.
Mercedes somehow managed to make something as simple and established as a door unreliable.

wallyp

It could be something as simple as a small steel rod becoming disconnected between the lock/unlock actuator and the latch mechanism. It isn't a pneumatic problem if the lock knob goes up and down. The real problem with getting this fixed is that you need to take the "door card" (the inner upholstered door panel) off to open the door and reconnect the rod - and you can't get the panel off with the door shut. The standard work-around seems to be finding a used matching door card, and cutting yours off the door. You can dye one if you have to. Do a LOT of research first.

vishrao

Well, I took it to a legitimate Benz repair shop where they had to reboot the PSE pump and by doing so they hosed up the entire car door system and the trunk. Now I can't open the trunk or any of the doors. The PSE is completely shot.
I am wondering if replacing the PSE would clear out the entire system and enable the doors to open. Even if I can open the three doors that were opening fine earlier I will be satisfied. Of course the trunk would also open with the fob.

I want to know if he PSE pump replacement is a straight plug and play kind of an option. Would I have do anything to reprogram it through the Star system which I sure don't have?

wallyp

The more you know about the system, the better your chances of getting it fixed at a reasonable cost. Start here:

https://www.benzworld.org/threads/w2.../#post-5758758

tusabes

You can buy used PSE pump on eBay for about $175. It will probably work right out of the box for basic functions like door and trunk locks just plug and play, although if your car or the donor car had different options such as massaging seats, they do need to be reprogrammed using the factory SDS computer.

yes, the door latch fix is very simple but it does involve damaging the interior door panel, again you can buy a matching interior door panel very cheaply on eBay. Maybe less than $100 for one door panel. So for less than $300 in parts and an hour, labor, a good shop can do this no problem.

That’s if you find a good shop. One that is OK with using used parts. Many will only install new parts that they source at full retail price. but These cars cannot be kept economically if you insist on that type of work.

vishrao

Does anybody know what the average life of a PSE pump is? Mine conked out at 99000 miles. I see folks selling a used pump with over 125000 miles on eBay for around $175 and up. Really wonder if these are not a good option if they are nearing the end of their lives.

tusabes

it has nothing to do with average life . The pse pump destroys itself when an air line is leaky causing the pump to work overtime and burn up . They can last forever in a system with no leaks . They can last ten minutes in a system with a massive leak before burning up


but it sounds like you are just taking to shops without looking at it yourself . you need to verify your pse pump is bad first

The pse pump can be rebooted simply by pulling the 20 amp fuse under the passenger side rear seat bottom cushion . Open the plastic panel under the seat , remove and replace the 20amp fuse and see if your pse system functions again

vishrao

I did the reset several times prior to taking it to the shop and the doors were opening just fine albeit with a short delay. But after I took it to the shop they rebooted it which I am assuming basically means pulling the 2 power connection cords on the pump and putting them back together. It never restarted again. So how do you explain that? Simply removing the fuse and putting it back does not reboot the system.

The reboot was done to find out why that one door was completely shut. By doing so all the doors quit working altogether.