Electrical gremlin - advice needed.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
From: Chicago, IL
2000 E55 AMG
Electrical gremlin - advice needed.
I have 2 slight electrical issues which presented this morning, need some assistance....!
1. As I was backing out of the garage, in 'R', the passenger side mirror rotated down like always...and then up, and down again, and up, and down again. Put it in Drive and it returned to the up position. Back in reverse, it did the same thing.
2. Driving along went to crack the window open. Hit the button and it went down about an inch and stopped by itself. Wouldn't go back up. Parked the car and cycled the ignition (turn off, key out and wait for all lights to go out, turned back on). Window went back up ok, but wouldn't come down again. Repeated the steps above and got the same partial down/nothing result. Arrived at work and windows wont go down.
Any thoughts? Weird that the two things happened on the same day or are they somehow linked?
I've also had the SRS light on the dash for a few weeks which I'm confident is the seat sensor needing replaced. The airbag light flickers on the passenger side with a passenger in the seat. (again...is this somehow related?)
I replaced the driver window regulator this summer, but it has been working flawlessly since.
It has been freezing cold here, not sure if that would be of concern. I've been avoiding moving the windows in case they were stuck frozen and over-stressing anything.
I appreciate any insight anyone can give as to possible cause/solution etc!
1. As I was backing out of the garage, in 'R', the passenger side mirror rotated down like always...and then up, and down again, and up, and down again. Put it in Drive and it returned to the up position. Back in reverse, it did the same thing.
2. Driving along went to crack the window open. Hit the button and it went down about an inch and stopped by itself. Wouldn't go back up. Parked the car and cycled the ignition (turn off, key out and wait for all lights to go out, turned back on). Window went back up ok, but wouldn't come down again. Repeated the steps above and got the same partial down/nothing result. Arrived at work and windows wont go down.
Any thoughts? Weird that the two things happened on the same day or are they somehow linked?
I've also had the SRS light on the dash for a few weeks which I'm confident is the seat sensor needing replaced. The airbag light flickers on the passenger side with a passenger in the seat. (again...is this somehow related?)
I replaced the driver window regulator this summer, but it has been working flawlessly since.
It has been freezing cold here, not sure if that would be of concern. I've been avoiding moving the windows in case they were stuck frozen and over-stressing anything.
I appreciate any insight anyone can give as to possible cause/solution etc!
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 283
Likes: 0
From: Metro ATL
2001 E55 AMG (sold)
It has long been said that weak batteries will cause gremlins like this. Perhaps the cold weather and a marginal battery is combining to cause this behavior. I'd go get a load test on the battery before you are left stranded.
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 13
Likes: 0
From: Chicago, IL
2000 E55 AMG
Update: day after, everything still seems to be functioning as normal.
Put car back out in the cold at work...everything fine...back in my garage at home...fine...this morning...a-ok.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 283
Likes: 0
From: Metro ATL
2001 E55 AMG (sold)
EDIT: I was thinking. If there was any up or down resistance that was abnormal (ice/stiffer seals/etc), then it might have caused the random wierdness. I know if you have an obstruction in the window, it will disable the express up/down until you reset it. I'm pretty sure that when the express is disabled, the 2nd detent of the switch doesn't work. Sometimes it can be hard to just hit that 1st detent of the switch, especially when driving, or if you're wearing gloves.
Last edited by billbillw; Dec 19, 2013 at 11:34 AM.
