adx

The last 3 weeks, my battery has been dying on me. It all started when I had my car serviced 3 weeks which they also did a recall fix. Since then, my battery would die after 3 days of non use. MB did a diagnostic for 3 days and could not find anything wrong so they went ahead and replaced the battery last week. Well, my battery died out on me this morning with the new battery and the last time I used the vehicle was 3 days ago. I contacted my service rep. and he thinks that the gateway module may be continuously on causing the drain. However when they did their diagnostics, they could not determine what was causing the drain. Anyways, it looks like they are going to replace the gateway module and hopefully it solves the problem. Has anyone experienced this problem? BTW, I just realized everything seems to stem around 3.

goldberg

Hi

Do you remove the key from the ignition at home?
I have heard of battery drain when the key is left in the car.

Larry

adx

I use the keyless option. To lazy to put the key in the ignition.

Vetluver

I have had it happen twice. I suspected my subwoofer and disconnected it from the battery and it did it once again. I have had it checked since then and nothing was found. It has not done it again. You don't have any added devices such as phones, radar detectors etc? They might be the culprit.

adx

I do have a radar detector but it has never affected the battery before. I spoke with my Service Rep. and the recall fix they did which appears to be the culprit behind this battery drain was a software update to the gateway control module. When they had my car last week troubleshooting through this problem, they could not figure what was causing the battery drain. So they went ahead and replace both my battery and the gateway control module. Obviously, this did not fix the problem as there is something causing the battery to drain. The only electronic component updgrade in may car is the radar detector. This sucks since MB wants to keep my vehicle for a good 3-4 days to troubleshoot, maybe longer.

hliu21

Hey ADX,

What you're going through is exactly what had happen to me !! It started after the brake recall. My car died out on me 2-3 times after couple of days. MB changed my battery twice and alternator. They still couldn't find the problem. I got so fed up, I was about to file a lemon car. It got so complicated that they had the floorman involved. After couple of weeks at the dealer, they finally found the problem. They told me something was wrong with the computer software. If you would like, you could have your service advisor contact my service advisor at Penske MB for advice.

adx

Hliu21 - that is the exact recall fix they did on my car which involved updating software related to the brakes. Would you mind telling me the name of service advisor and a phone number. I will have my service advisor contact him. I appreciate your help on this since the techs at Fletcher Jones don't have a clue on what's causing this battery drain.

hliu21

I don't think my service advisor remembers me by name. His name is Eddy Aravanitopoulos (he's greek...long last name) and the foreman is Paul Lunardi. They could look up my file by License Plate: AMGV8K. If not, just let me know what information do they need to look up my file. Good Luck

Penske Motorcars
2010 E. Garvey Ave. South
West Covina, CA 91791

626-859-1200
Direct Line: 626-859-1285

adx

Thanks. Appreciate your help.

Jrocket

I think I have the same problem here.They just did the brake recall,and now the car is dead.NO power at all.

Any help would be appreciated.

AmenMercedesGo

I had the gas tank leak fixed this week while I was out of town. My wife picked up the car Thursday and by the time I got back Friday night to try it out the battery was dead. I had all the updates done three weeks ago when they fixed the ESP malfunction. Do you think I got the same deal with the brake and software updates. I want to point my Dealer in the right direction Monday morning.

Jrocket

My car has been in the shop for 2 days now,they think they have it narrowed down to a faulty (SAM) Signal Acquisition and Actuation Module that keeps turning itself off and on when it shouldnt.It only took 10 hours of sitting for the battery to be completely dead,but after I got the car jumped it has been fine...so we'll see if they are right or wrong.

Atleast they gave me a brand new C230 for a loaner.....butterflys are passing me going down the road but its better than nothing.

AmenMercedesGo

They replaced my battery control module and mine works. Wish they had the same luck with the gas tank leak. I had to return it this morning: it was leaking worse than before they fixed it.

Jrocket

I would think that any part that leaks gas,even the tank,would be not only an easy fix but a mandatory replacement at that.I doubt they would have a repair/patch fix for something like that.

Hope they fix it before a larger problem occurs,like fire.

whoover

On my S55, same dead battery problem was a bad rear SAM. It's pretty common I was told. Once upon a time, cars had fuse boxes. Now they have multiple SAMs that go flaky at the drop of a hat. After they replaced it my windows wouldn't work. They replaced a window control module and the right side-view mirror no longer returned from it's reverse-dipped position. So they replaced another control module. What was wrong with fuses?

My other gripe is that even though battery drains seem to invariably be caused by bad SAMs, they have a diagnose procedure that tests about a million other things first so they can charge 3 hours on top of the repair. I'll never have a Mercedes that's off warranty again so it's not my problem, but it's irksome. (I have had an extended warranty agree to pay for a repair but not all of the diagnose time, so that's not quite true I guess. But paying a hour of a $1,500 repair is relatively painless. Still, I'm convinced half the time the tech knows just what's wrong but does two hours of diagnosis because that's the procedure.)

BMWEATR

YES JUST HAPPENED TO ME ITS THE SEATS!! its a seat module in stuck in open loop go to dealer!

stevebez

It strikes me the dealers are a complete bunch of replacement specialists ... and I am being polite here ...

If something goes wrong they turf the old part and stuff in a new one ... no one cares why the compoenent failed int he first place, and I doubt Mb ever get to analyse wy, what, what, when etc on the faulty part - thats why the W211 has had so many persistent faults in its life...

If there is no code telling the mech what to do - he sits there scratches his head for about a second then says "Car is within spec", and marches off satisfied he has done a good job. What is the world coming to!