Sgooter

Yesterday I journeyed across the FL peninsula from Cocoa Beach to Tampa, and I intended to use the GPS nav system to direct me there. However, I could never get the nav system to correctly display my present position. At the start of my trip, while sitting stationary in my driveway, the nav system showed my location as being over 80 miles south around the Lake Okeechobee area, and my heading (once moving) was always in error by 150-190 degrees! During the entire roundtrip, the nav system always displayed my position in the same general area around the big lake! I ejected and reloaded the DVD nav disc twice, but this fixed nothing. Prior to this incident the MAP function had always displayed my present position accurately, and the NAV function had performed correctly as well.
Has anyone else experienced this type of problem?
Any ideas on what exactly is wrong?
Where is the GPS antenna located on the SL500?

rajah996

Odd that you say that, because on Friday night, my
SL was showing me driving thru a big lake, while I was
actually on the turnpike in Orlando. I thought it was odd
so I just turned off the map and went to the CD view.
Maybe there is a GPS glitch for FL?

Sgooter

Thanks Rajah,
I thought of that possibility too, but I had with me a handheld Garmin GPS; so we turned it on and it locked on perfectly in the car and displayed our position accurately along I-4.
I tried out the SL's nav system again this morning and the same problem remains. If you can, try using your SL's nav system tomorrow and see if your GPS position looks correct or is still weird, and I'll do the same, and report the results here later in the day tomorrow. The mystery continues...

Sgooter

Same position error problem continues today.
I'll try to get a dealer to look at this tomorrow.

rajah996

I am currently at the office, and drove my Denali to work.
When I return home tonight, I will take the SL out for a
spin and see what it shows. I will post details upon my
return. I think it could very well be one of the GPS satelites
is all messed up for FL.

Sgooter

Rajah,
This afternoon I dropped off the SL with the dealer in Orlando for the initial (free) inspection, and to look into a few issues, such as the GPS Nav system. The service advisor was totally baffled about the GPS problem. I'll let you know if they find the problem and are able to fix it.

When I pulled into the dealership, the GPS showed my position as on Cocoa Beach -- as in being literally on the beach and headed toward the ocean. Fortunately, I was able to find a parking spot in the service area just before I would have plunged into the sea.

dmjohn02

had the NAV "freeze" on me a couple of times. example, the icon would display my correct position but suddenly freeze frame that position even as I drove several miles down the road. Issue seemed to go away after a restart of the engine.

Heading into MB South Orlando for a throttle stalling issue on Thursday...will have them look into the NAV issue as well.

rajah996

Haha, good thing you found that parking spot!

As for MB South, I tend to avoid them whenever I can.
They are not exactly competent in repairing cars. I have
found most of the time there response is "Could not replicate"
if its anything more complicated than changing tires/brakes.
Tire pressure system was going crazy in the S, they said it
was just the weather and it would go away. Took it to MB
Maitland, and they diagnosed the problem as one of the comps
being bad, and replaced it.

Sgooter

The MB shop in Maitland is my selling/servicing dealer. I haven't actually had that much experience with them, but so far they've been excellent.

Sgooter

The nav position error problem was self-induced!
2 weeks ago I obtained registration decals for entry onto a nearby military installation, and I mounted those decals in the prescribed position - top center of the windshield. In so doing, I blocked the GPS antenna from being able to receive signals. Once the decals were removed, the nav system worked fine. During those intervening 2 weeks I did not use the NAV or MAP functions in the COMAND system, so I didn't immediately notice the GPS problem.
So, now we (me, the service advisor, and you) know where the GPS antenna is located on the SL.