trumpet1

This morning as I was backing out of my garage, I slammed on my brakes after hearing my car hit something. Guess what??? The garage door only opened up half way and completely ripped off my roof antenna !!

The 3 wires that connect to the antenna were sticking up out of the glass roof and the antenna was laying just forward to its mounting location. Fortunately no body or paint work was involved but there is no telling what they are going to have to take apart to fix this mess. Damn garage door!

MBfiend

Sorry about the garage damage.

BUT, I did get a chuckle when I saw the ad below your post.

trumpet1

That is freaking hilarious. I just looked at that.

Actually what I think is the problem is the sensitivity control on the opener needs to be reduced so that it doesn't stop for a minor bind.

vonbeeler

Seems like there is always something. Rock chip in glass, nail in tire, door ding, scratch, lost expensive key, rip off antenna..... gotta laugh a little at that one now but I'm sure you your language at the time might have been a little offensive. My 3 year old son threw a bar of soap down the toilet. We thought it would dissolve but after 3 weeks my wife decided to call Roto Rooter. She just called me to say its resolved but my bill is $525. Always something.

tyltan

It happened to me once. The garage door closed while I back my car out. It hits the rear window and came back up. Lucky, not paint, body or any damage at all.

trumpet1

I'm just thankful it wasn't worse. If it had involved replacing the pano roof, paint work, body work, ....then I would have been very sick. I just got back from the shop and they think they can have it repaired by Wednesday. The part is ordered, to be here tomorrow morning, they will have to get access to the C pillars as the wires run down both Left and Right C pillars. They are breaking it down now (removing the headliner) so that when they get the part, it will be just a matter of reversing the order of disassembly.

Quote was $950 for labor and parts.

MBNUT1

Don't feel too bad. I just had my E3504matic repaired (headliner had to be removed) because a limb from a neighbors tree feel on roof. Luckily they were able to fix it without having to paint it. But Jeez its not even safe to park in your own driveway. Speaking of being unsafe to park your car check this out http://www.mercedesshop.com/shopforu...d.php?t=238456

benzmodz

I think they call it lubrication.

trumpet1

No, I keep it lubed every 6 months with a special grease. It has happened several times before but only about once a month or so. The sensitivity switch needs adjusting. It detects an obstruction erroneously from time to time.

Just one of those things that happens.

sosh

Mine will only stop for an obstruction while going down. On the way up nothing will stop it unless the button is pressed. Thought most were like that

trumpet1

That is the way it should work but my wife's door did the same thing 3 years ago and she did damage to the top of an SUV in exactly the same way. It went almost all the way up (4/5 of the way) then stopped short just enough to cause damage at the very top of the vehicle. She backed up and clipped the top of her SUV we had at the time. From then on, she always looks before backing up like I always do (except today of course).

In my case, it only went 1/2 the way up. It's almost as if the doors have a mind of their own to know how far to open up enough to fool me into backing up, yet be down enough to do damage.
Aggravating as H***.

Kar don

just do what i do and open the garage door before you get in the car and wait for it to be all the way up. You don't want to be starting the car when the garage is closed anyway as you wait for it to open.

trumpet1

You can be assured that is what I will do from now on.

cjf_moraga

Yikes! Sorry to hear about that. Hope your baby gets better soon.

Chris

trumpet1

Thanks Chris. Hopefully they will have it ready tomorrow because we are going on a trip for Thanksgiving.

JohnH4260

I feel your pain... sorry to hear about your antenna. Thankfully no damage to the body.

Chucky300

$950 for parts and labor? I once had mine knocked off in a car wash (the only time I ever went to a machine wash) - the "slappers" knocked it right off. My bill was $550 ($300 for the part $250 for the work).

I don;t know how they fixed it - or what they had to go through but $950 seems a bit steep. Did they explain the charge?

trumpet1

They got it fixed yesterday (2 days total....not bad) and it is gooder 'n new. They did a fabulous job with it.

Brad, they did tell me it was going to be close to what you were quoted but the pano roof was more difficult to work with. They did tell me this better not happen again because the original antenna was mounted with plastic clips (which I saw). For some reason, the new hardware contained metal clips and if it is snatched off again, it will break the roof requiring a new roof.

Chucky300

hehe gooder 'n new. Glad its back to normal.

I never could understand how these things are not BONDED to the car - on my previous car, the 02 S500 - my father did me a favor by removing the snow from the car - and accidentally hit the GPS antenna - knocking it off. He swears he merely tapped - and I really do believe that. Anyway - the dealership gave me a break because they felt a bit on the lenient side. (thankfully).

valiumvilla

I think there could be other reasons for the failure of the garage door. It can be stopped in the middle of its accent by the sun. The electronic eyes on the door may catch the sun at a certain time of day and at a certain time of year and cause the door to stop in the middle of its opening. This, of course would be of interest only if your garage doors faced toward the sun during the day. The "cure" for this is to cut a piece of garden hose about 1.5 inches long and put it over the electric eye to provide a hood so to speak and thus prevent the sun from triggering the door to stop. Just another idea but worth considering.

sosh

Never seen one effected by sun light. I have 2 and both face into the afternoon sun. Work perfectly at all times. In fact I have seen "electric eye" type sensors work perfectly outside in all light conditions.

jbanks

I have had situations where the door would not go down because of the sun. So it does happen. I might have had it happen on the way up too but I don't recall.

xolinlevh

same here, ours has that laser trip sensor thing to detect if somethings under the door, but ours goes right back up if anything is under it, even if it hits something it goes up all the way....