Merc AMG

It has been a long time since I have had the time to enjoy this board, please excuse my absence...

A few days ago I get a call from MB Customer Care about an alarm signal from my car. I am home this week (using vacation time) from work. So I go outside to my garage, and the car and garage doors are in same position as the night before (ie locked and alarm active). Customer Care rep explains may have been a silent or error alarm.

Not until later in the day when I enter my car; do I realize that the chirp signal that usually sounds when the alarm activates or deactivates, is no longer sounding. So I call MB to see if there is a way for me to fix this, she has me try the panic button, and the lights activated, but still no sound from the siren. She tells me there is a malfunction with the siren and I will need to take the car to the dealer.

So my beautiful Beast has to go to the dealer for the first time for something other then schedualed maint. Ended up being fairly painless though, they replaced the Siren in about an hour and I was on my way.

Problem came when I got home and activated my alarm;,,,out comes this retarded,lazy sounding "beeeep,,,beeeep,,,beeeep". (while at dealer we listened to only the alarm, which I'm not that used to hearing, so I did not notice the difference.) >The sound of the new siren is a quieter,longer, different tone beep. As opposed to the orriginal siren short tripple "ChirpChirpChirp" that I loved. I hate the new siren! Nothing on this car should be retarded nor lazy, and this siren sounds like it is both!

So I call my service rep, leave a message asking him to pull the part # from the old siren so we can replace this one with one like the original. I also explain the problem. He calls back after doing some research and explains; "the part we pulled from your car has been superceided by a new part by MB. They had a lot of those sirens going bad (we have replaced several here) so they replaced it with a new one. I tried to look up your old part # and was not able to show any availability, I even tryed parts suppliers outside our normal suppliers, and no one had this part. We may get a further update for this part or related software, and will be glad to switch out or update for you at that time."

I explained to him I really don't like this new alarm siren and would be willing to pay for a third party siren if they would replace out this funky sounding one for me. He told me that he normally suggests not using any third party parts, due to the possibility of shorting out a system. He did say that he had a resource for comunicating customer feedback to MB and would also find out if others complained about the new siren replacement. So I asked him to relay my severe disliking of the new siren. Not sure if that was just BS or not, but he said he would let me know what he finds out. And thats were we left it...

So I know this pales to the performance decreases many are experiencing after ecu flash upgrades, but it really pains me to take my car in and get it back not as nice as it was before...I know its only an alarm siren,,,but I really don't like it...

Has anyone else had their siren go out and had it replaced with one that did not sound as nice? My car is MY06 Sept 05 build, So I wonder; if the siren that came in that car is no longer available, and been replaced by this new one, are MY06's with later 06 build dates getting a alarm activation that souds like "beeeep,,,beeeep,,,beeeep" ,or "ChirpChirpChirp" ? if you have a newer 06 please let me know. Or if you also had your siren replaced with one that sounds different let me know. I did a search and did not turn up like problems, at least not the E55 forum.

Also if you know of how to obtain an original siren replacement, (or even a comparable third party part), I am most interested...

Fast55

I have a late build '06 and haven't had THAT part fail....yet. I have several issues with the car, but that isn't one of them. If that's your only problem, count yourself as fortunate. There are many aftermarket sirens available. The dealer is full of it to say a different siren might "short out" something. It's just a sound maker that runs on 12VDC, and it works or it doesn't. Try a reputable car stereo/alarm shop, they can offer you a few different types.

Merc AMG

I know this question is a bit silly, but does the alarm activation signal, on your newer 06, sound like 3 short chirps, or 3 long beeps??? And do you like, dislike, or are indifferent too?

Courious to know, as if they did discontinued the siren in my car, newer ones must get the new siren. I suppose if I never had the other siren I would have never missed it, but with the orriginal sounding so cool and this one so lame, I do miss it.

I agree with your comment about a aftermarket part, although it does do a little more then just make sound (I don't profess to know squatt about this) , but there is also a relay signal sent to the marker lights from the unit, I belive.

Fast55

I still have the original short beep-beep-beep. I doubt the siren itself is responsible for sending power to the marker lights. More likely it's a relay that sends the short power pulses to both the siren and the lights, but anything is possible. Again, a good stereo or alarm shop could tell you, and even if the relay is a part of the siren, there's no reason a separate relay and aftermarket siren could not be fitted. Good luck.

Redbud

I have a 06 CLS 55 with a build date of Jan 06 and my alarm is the old "chirpchirpchirp" type. Same alarm as my old 06 CLS 500 with an 05 build.