Car is E320 wagon 2002 with Bose, I added a factory CD changer 4 or 5 years ago with no issues.

The radio now comes on by itself - with the car off, no-one in it, no key. Restarted car and it was off but checked a few hours later and radio was on in the garage. Got in the car turned radio off, and it would come on again in about 20 seconds, started engine, stopped, removed key, did the same thing.

I pulled the fuse for radio under rear seat for now. I searched but did not find anything.

Next idea is to disconnect battery for a few hours or overnight and see how it behaves after that? Will I have to reset windows, sunroof etc after this?

I did a search but did not find anything similar.
Thanks
Paul

disconnected the battery for a couple hours - on reconnect it worked normally for about 4 days. Last night the same symptoms are back, radioo was on by itself, I got in the car - started it - turned off the radio - turned off the car key out - about 5 min later the radio came on again????

Pulled the fuse again.

I'll try disconnecting the battery overnight. Any way to be certain its the radio head unit?? Not sure what becker charges yet, if its as much as I'm guessing it may be better to get a new head unit - may not match the interior as well but...

So any advise????
paul

Spoke with the fiolks at Becker, indicated the symptom of the radio comming on on its own sounded like an alpine (not a becker) indicated they look identical and you cannot tell till you take it out. Figured they would have nothing to do with it then but he said they fix thos eas well same price $250

Still looking for others who may have had the same issue, what did you do?
If I spend $250 I think they will add an ipod connection for and upcharge of ? For that money I can get a new aftermarket radio that is likely better but may look out of place.

Did you find out what the issue was? I am having the same issue. 99 E300 Turbodiesel.
Thanks!

__________________
-disav

99 E300 TURBODIESEL Astral Silver 282K - AMG brakes, suspension, monoblocks, speedo & interior - Full Load Maxed on IP by custom Speed Tuning USA Chip - T3/T4 Garrett - EGR/MAF delete
98 E300 TURBODIESEL Alexandrite Green on black leather 289K
95 E300 DIESEL Green Queen 267K SOLD
84 300D 216k SOLD
87 300D 299K #22 head - intercooler - full load adj. - 8sec 0-60mph - SOLD
76 300D 214K SOLD

Have not found the root cause. However the head unit is working OK now - I did disconnect the battery a second time (overnight) and it has been more or less OK since.

Long term solution if it happens again is probably send it to Becker.

Excuse me while I get on my soapbox for a moment;
All the cool electronic features can be neat, impressive, fun... when new and they work. However, when they break things get much more complex and expensive to fix. With car-makers embracing all manner of technology and incorporating everything into centralized touch screens - HVAC, music/entertainment, GPS, etc. You now have a 4 figure bill when your radio, navigation, or heater control goes out - along with needing the high end factory scanner to actually diagnose the codes the system spits out.

Personally I'd rather simpler systems - with many of these features not included at all. I don't want the K$ navigation system built into the car when I can buy one with lifetime traffic and map updates for $150 and replace it every few years - or use the cell phone I already have to get the same info. Similarly I can buy a great sound system for a few hundred $ that I can hook the music device De-jur right into. I don't want a CAN bus to tell me when a light-bulb is out - I can get that functionality by looking at the dam lights.

Ah well - I guess I'm becoming a retro grouch.

I feel better now
paul

Is the car, by any chance, named Christine?

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Not yet
It has been showing "personality" indicating lamps are out - which appears to be a flaky brake light. It's never out when you have someone check after the dash indicator says lamp failure. Is brakes because it comes on when you step on the brake.

Guess I should change the bulbs and maybe the bulb carriers.

reviving a really old thread.

Well the original 2002 has been behaving itself for years. However this past may picked up another one W210 4matic wagon 2000 with low miles, it just started showing the same symptoms as well. Time to disconnect the battery overnight. Searching around again finds the same problem but no real fixes.

To add some actual content the bulb out warning got to the point where taking the brake light out and putting it back no longer solved the problem. Pulled the tail light and the point of contact for the brake light connection had burned through on the steel - figure it must have been having minor arcing for years to do that. Anyway, scraped off enough of the galv finish to get some electrical solder to tin a section then soldered on a tiny piece of crimp connector material . Working now for a week, we will see how long it lasts.

Paul